World Vision International
33
19
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Federal Way, WA
Founded: 1977
Mission: World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Tags:
water, sanitation, borehole wells, rainwater storage containers, water-piping systems, irrigation, purification, contamination, latrines, laundry pad construction, hygiene
This organization has offices located worldwide. As the majority of our users are based in the U.S., the donation link is connected to the U.S. office.
This organization has offices located worldwide. As the majority of our users are based in the U.S., the donation link is connected to the U.S. office.
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Richard Stearns.
Richard Stearns is the second of two children of working-class parents in Syracuse, New York. He worked his way through Cornell University, earning a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology in 1973. After receiving a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Stearns began a career in marketing for several Fortune 500 companies, starting with…
See full bio.
Financial Data for US Office
Overhead Ratio:
11.61%
Total Revenue:
$1,221,382,724
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
P.O. Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716, USA
Twitter:
Story:
World Vision’s response:
No other humanitarian intervention produces a more dramatic effect on life than access to clean water and sanitation. It is foundational to all aspects of development, and often the first work World Vision does in a community.
Provision
Wells — In many regions, women and girls walk for hours every day to collect water that often isn’t even clean. In partnership with other organizations, World Vision has plans to drill 825 borehole wells in rural West Africa that will bring the gift of health and clean water to nearly 500,000 people over a six-year period.
Water-storage containers — During the rainy seasons in arid regions, World Vision helps communities collect, purify, and store fresh rainwater in safe containers for use later in the year.
Water-piping systems — We help transform arid land into fertile fields through the construction of gravity-fed clean water systems. In southern Ethiopia, for example, formerly unproductive land is now bursting with food thanks to a system like this that benefits almost 64,000 farmers.
Purification
Protection of natural springs — World Vision helps communities protect natural springs from contamination by livestock and wild animals.
Purification of water — World Vision supplies equipment to treat and purify water contaminated by bacteria, pesticides,animal waste and waterborne disease carriers. Procter & Gamble have provided 3 billion liters of clean drinking water in collaboration with World Vision.
Sanitation
Latrine construction — Because good sanitation improves human health and helps keep water sources cleaner, World Vision facilitates waste management by constructing latrines.
Laundry pad construction — World Vision builds cement laundry pads to protect water sources such as wells from contamination by detergents and waste water. Through the support of partners like you, our water projects have given more than 10 million people access to clean water and improved sanitation.
Expert Reviews of World Vision International
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Experts mention that World Vision International have a high presence and impact in Africa. They have large-scale projects that reach the poorest of the poor and impacts many communities.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Nearly all experts mention that two of World Vision strengths are they are well resourced and have strong staff.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
World Vision can improve by sharing their lessons learned, in particular providing mentorship to local smaller nonprofits. They also need more technical advisors to improve their field work and monitor their projects in the long-run.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Large-Scale Impact |
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N
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They have a large capacity to impact many communities and provide expert training and build local capacity. | ||
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N
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They have ongoing impact. | ||
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O
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World Vision is a huge organization with a far reaching program. They do good work, but there are definitely more efficient organizations. | ||
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F
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They have large-scale projects reaching the poorest of the poor, and are good at working at the community level. | ||
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N
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I'm providing a set of general observations for these large organizations, which I have interacted with over the years on multiple continents. The shared strengths of these organizations is access to resources, strong technical expertise, and broad comprehensive programs that have the potential to create synergy when integrated together in regional initiatives. | ||
Presence & Impact in Africa |
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Based on my time in the field collecting data as a PhD student, I noticed that World Vision projects were *everywhere* in sub-Saharan Africa. Following that experience, I have since had a few conversation with World Vision people and was always impressed with the scope and vision of their work. | ||
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N
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They have a high presence and impact through Africa. | ||
Large Outreach |
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N
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World Vision has such an amazingly large outreach system. Their projects all over the world reflect a diversity and ability to adapt and change to new environments. The necessity for unique and innovative solutions to barriers to implementing projects in such diverse settings is reflective of their strength as an organization. In addition, their ability to raise and allocate large amounts of money are an indication of good leadership and responsible practices. | ||
Strong Advocacy |
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N
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Their potential is enormous, and their advocacy capacity is immense. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
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Show:
X
Foundation Professionals (F)
X
Researchers and Faculty (R)
X
Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
X
Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Well Resourced and Strong Staff |
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N
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Due to the size, they are able to sustain operations in needy communities. Also they attract quality experts to work with them. | ||
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N
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Their staff and resources are their strengths. | ||
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They have a global presence and a huge budget. | ||
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R
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Public interaction - World Vision employees are often present at conferences and workshops, and seem to do a good job networking. I was particularly impressed with Dr. Emmanuel Opong of World Vision Zambia, who has an important perspective on delivering WASH projects to the poor without stripping them of their own resources for survival. | ||
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N
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They have a great leadership, well resourced and have a long term vision. | ||
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F
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Most of their staff are national of their countries. They also have leadership support to WASH. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
Show:
Show:
X
Foundation Professionals (F)
X
Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Focus on Local Development Work |
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N
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They should not try to do everything but focus on key issues of local development. | ||
Reevaluate Program Strategy |
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O
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World Vision has a great deal of funding and potential but they have some practices that are questioned by my colleagues. I believe in a business based approach to sanitation but that is completely undermined by expensive toilets provided for free by World Vision (I believe there's a project in Bolivia). | ||
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N
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They are big and need to find a way to really do WASH works because a lot of what they do includes too much entitlements and the communities can get spoiled and aren't learning to do WASH implementations themselves. NO MORE SITTING ALLOWANCES. | ||
Improve Partnerships with Others |
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N
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However, they have a tendency to treat smaller NGOs with arrogance. | ||
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R
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They are a large, well-funded NGO. I give them the lowest rating for several reasons. They are very poor collaborators. The organization tends to avoid working with other NGOs and partners, including from Ministries. I have been in places where they actively proselytize, withholding services (e.g.. food, etc) until after people participate in prayer meetings. It is very difficult to see the results of their work on the ground. They often do work not based on evidence for the approach, but on how they want to do things. I would not work with them again. | ||
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O
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Its water and sanitation interventions in many places remain opportunistic and are vehicles to creating and strengthening local organizations, which are aspired to be World Vision partners. This leads to a real democratic deficit around their interventions. They are also quite aggressive with local civil society organizations in a number of countries. | ||
Monitor Projects Long Term |
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To the best of my knowledge World Vision does not monitor their water supply projects over the long term, I think this would be an important addition to their work. Also, it would be great if we heard more about them through popular media, i.e.., Facebook, Twitter, etc. | ||
Provide Mentorship & Share Lessons Learned |
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They can help mentor small indigenous NGOs. | ||
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F
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They can share more of their lessons and best practices. | ||
Need for Decentralization |
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N
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The weaknesses, and why I struggle to provide a blanket rating, is that they are so large, each country-level office almost need to be rated as its own organization. In some countries I've been deeply impressed with their philosophy, strategies, and results, while in others extremely disappointed. Decentralization is critical for large agencies like this, especially in order to allow programs to be contextual and relevant in each region, however, the disparity in program quality suggests that a universal set of guiding principles and best practices could be applied more effectively across these organizations along with systems for accountability to ensure they are being followed. | ||
Improve Field Work |
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N
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Their field work is extremely variable and weak at times. | ||
Leadership
Richard Stearns
President
President
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
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