Become a Waterkeeper
Do you lead or want to lead an environmental nonprofit organization to focus advocacy work on protecting your local watershed?
Do you have excellent leadership, communications, and fundraising skills?
If yes, we want to hear from you! Scroll down to learn more about how to start a Waterkeeper group and submit your information.
United as one powerful force, Waterkeeper Alliance fights for every community’s right to clean water.
From the Great Lakes to the Himalayas, Alaska to Australia, local Waterkeeper groups defend the fundamental human right to drinkable, fishable, and swimmable waters, and combine firsthand knowledge of waterways with an unwavering commitment to the rights of local communities.
Whether on the water tracking down polluters, in courtrooms enforcing environmental laws, advocating in town meetings, or teaching in classrooms, the Waterkeeper movement speaks for the waters it defends with the backing of local communities.
Do you know if there is already a Waterkeeper group protecting your watershed? Find Your local Waterkeeper and reach out to them to get involved!
Types of Waterkeeper Groups
Organizations
Licensed Waterkeeper Organizations are financially sustainable. They are voting members of Waterkeeper Alliance, each representing a specific waterway. Waterkeeper Alliance offers a variety of training, organizing, communications, and advocacy benefits to strengthen their programs so that the local fight for clean water becomes a powerful, coordinated, global movement.
Affiliates
Provisionally licensed Waterkeeper Affiliates are sustainable nonprofit organizations but may have limited capacity, and/or they may be Affiliates of a fully-licensed Waterkeeper Organization, representing a specific waterway. Affiliates are non-voting members of Waterkeeper Alliance but can utilize Waterkeeper Alliance’s benefits to strengthen their programs and develop the capacity to become, if applicable, fully licensed, voting Waterkeeper Member Organizations.
How We Support Waterkeeper Groups
Recruit
Waterkeeper Alliance’s Recruiting Department is responsible for expanding membership so that the local fight for clean water becomes a powerful global...
Advocate
Waterkeeper Alliance's Advocacy Department is responsible for championing change and building coalitions to fight pollution and protect watersheds. Through three core...
Advocate
Waterkeeper Alliance's Advocacy Department is responsible for championing change and building coalitions to fight pollution and protect watersheds. Through three core campaigns, our Advocacy team organizes, educates, campaigns, and litigates to ensure all habitable watersheds on earth are drinkable, fishable, and swimmable.
Train
The Training Department is responsible for setting up each Waterkeeper Organization and Waterkeeper Affiliate for success by providing the tools and resources...
Train
The Training Department is responsible for setting up each Waterkeeper group for success by providing the tools and resources necessary to be the most effective clean water advocates on earth. The Training Department designs and executes a holistic curriculum geared toward Waterkeepers in different stages of development, and helps share information about effective practices so that local Waterkeeper groups benefit from the experience and strength of the Alliance. The Training Department leans on the expertise of veteran Waterkeepers, staff, partners, and other experts to execute its work via virtual training, hands-on training, and mentoring. The result is a highly trained movement, armed with the necessary skills and knowledge to fight for clean water worldwide.
Organize
Waterkeeper Alliance’s Organizing Department is responsible for ensuring the needs of Waterkeeper groups are met, uniting them as a powerful global force and organizing...
Organize
Waterkeeper Alliance’s Organizing Department is responsible for ensuring the needs of Waterkeeper groups are met, uniting them as a powerful global force, and organizing their collective action. Their role is to see the big picture and context of the organization’s work and coordinate that vision across the global movement.
Become a Waterkeeper
Using the form, please briefly tell us about yourself and your work to protect your local watershed. Please include the following relevant experience:
- Leadership
- Communications
- Fundraising
Strengthening and growing Waterkeeper groups in the Amazon Basin
Through Project Osiris, Waterkeeper Alliance has prioritized the Amazon Basin as one of the world’s most iconic and endangered water bodies in critical need of protection. With an initial focus in Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador, we will recruit local and Indigenous-led groups to amplify their voices—and Indigenous knowledge—for the protection of the Amazon Basin and Rainforest.
Waterkeeper Magazine
Reporting from the front lines of the planetary environmental crisis. These are the stories you won’t find anywhere else covered in such depth and uncompromising force.
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Waterkeeper Alliance’s Recruiting Department is responsible for expanding membership so that the local fight for clean water becomes a powerful global movement. The Recruiting Department brings on new Waterkeepers and Affiliates–finding qualified potential recruits, guiding them through the proposal process, getting them licensed, and facilitating their hand-off for onboarding and support from other departments.