Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Publication Title
Geoforum
Abstract
Much of the research on strategies to address water insecurity in the United States has focused on government policy and community activism. Our research project investigates an overlooked set of actors: philanthropic foundations. Philanthropic foundations have helped to meet social welfare needs throughout much of U.S. history, intervening in areas like housing, community development, education, health. Philanthropic foundations not only meet people’s basic needs through grant-making, but they also frame how the public conceives of social problems and inform policy responses. In this paper, we document how philanthropic foundations are intervening in the issue of American water insecurity through their grant-making. Drawing on a dataset of 296 grants, we identify the number and monetary value of grants made by American foundations related to water insecurity in the U.S. and analyze which communities receive these grant funds, revealing geographies where the philanthropic sector is especially involved in facilitating water access. Beyond these quantitative and locational questions, our research examines how these philanthropic foundations frame the problem of household water insecurity (i.e., how do they explain its causes, how does it relate to other social challenges) and documents what kinds of change-making strategies they support (e.g., funding policy research, advocacy, direct resource provision, etc.).
DOI
10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104524
Recommended Citation
Heil, M. & Corray, S. (2026). Philanthropic foundations and water insecurity in the United States: Problem framing, interventions, and geographies. Geoforum 169: 104524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104524
Comments
This is the accepted manuscript of an article first published in Geoforum (2026): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104524
Copyright held by Elsevier.