1001fontaines: Bringing safe and affordable drinking water to millions

1001fontaines enables the provision of safe drinking water to vulnerable communities, distributing refillable 20L bottles of water through entrepreneur-led kiosks.

Read more about their funding model for scale and the success factors behind financing their journey

Situation

  • Problem: Over 4 billion people worldwide lack safe water access, causing health issues, disrupting education, and perpetuating poverty.
  • Solution: Local entrepreneurs manage water kiosks, providing affordable, safe water within communities. They sell 20-litre packaged water to vulnerable populations at an affordable price.
  • Impact: Over 1 million people across Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Madagascar have access to affordable and safe drinking water through the provision of bottled water services.
  • Annual Budget: $4.5 million (budget of 1001fontaines HQ, but also has separate country NGOs).

 

Funding model at scale

1001fontaines provides sustainable access to safe and affordable drinking water by training local entrepreneurs to manage small water production and distribution units (kiosks). These kiosks become locally operating, lasting infrastructure in the community.

1001fontaines starts operations by raising the initial investment needed for infrastructure and entrepreneur training. They conduct most of their fundraising from their headquarters in France, transferring funds directly to local NGOs. Foundations provide the majority of the funding.

After this, they set up each water kiosk through a public-private partnership with the local commune. This partnership ensures access to land and water sources while making the infrastructure public rather than private.

Journey to scale

Shift from corporate partnerships to private foundations:

1001fontaines has historic partnerships with French corporates, such as Danone (a multinational food retailer) and Intermarché (a French retail company). Through these partnerships, they donate a portion of two weeks’ supermarket water sales to 1001fontaines’ Water in School programme. These partnerships represent just under 5% of 1001fontaines’ annual budget.

While corporate partnerships and individual donors brought recurrent income over the years, they proved difficult to develop at a pace matching operational growth. They found that private foundations became a more successful funding source. 1001fontaines intentionally allocated resources to raising funds from private foundations.

These private foundations provide more flexible, unrestricted funding that allows 1001fontaines to adjust their operational strategies based on learnings. This was crucial while the organisation was testing and refining its model, especially as they expanded to new countries to provide access to safe and affordable drinking water.

Increase in public funding:

1001fontaines recognised that to truly achieve scale and systemic change, they needed to better integrate their model into larger public policies and development programmes. The organisation invested in advocacy and networking efforts over the past 3 years to raise their visibility and legitimacy within the water sector.

These efforts enabled them to demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach to institutions like the Asian Development Bank. The bank then became interested in supporting the replication of the 1001fontaines model, suggesting geographies to explore and funding feasibility studies.

Three Success Factors in securing funding for scale

1. Transparent and data-driven communication:

1001fontaines confidently answers any questions from funders because they gather strong data and create operational plans. Their transparent approach to reporting on progress and challenges builds trust with funders.

2. Demonstrating a proven, replicable model:

Reaching breakeven on operations in Cambodia in 2020 marked a major milestone that demonstrated the financial sustainability of their model. Their ability to replicate the model in other countries like Madagascar, providing access to safe and affordable drinking water also attracted new funding.

3. Leveraging partnerships and networks:

Their advocacy and networking efforts to raise their visibility and legitimacy in the sector connected them with key institutions like the Asian Development Bank. This allowed them to demonstrate the potential to integrate their model into larger development programmes.

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