WeTap

What WeTap does

WeTap is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2008 by Evelyn Wendel and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The organization focuses on improving public awareness, access, and use of public drinking fountains as a means to reduce single-use plastic bottle consumption, address public health and environmental justice concerns, and counter mistrust of public drinking water. Its primary functional offering is the WeTap App, an iOS mobile application that enables users to locate nearby drinking fountains and filling stations and to contribute to a community-built mapping database — described as the first technology globally to map and access such infrastructure. Supporting offerings include the Tap Water Day campaign (launched 2015), the Teacher's Toolkit educational curriculum, and the 2028 for 2028 Olympics infrastructure initiative, which uses GIS-based suitability analysis to identify outdoor public locations for hydration stations across 2000+ Los Angeles sites.

The organization operates with a small team of 1-10 people, including a technology consultant, executive assistant, editor, and GIS analyst, supported by an advisory board with ties to LADWP, Climate Resolve, and Southern California water agencies. WeTap holds core municipal partnerships with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the CA State Water Resources Control Board, the City of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Unified School District, plus supporting relationships with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Sierra Club Los Angeles, and Climate Resolve. Its revenue model is donations-based, with tax-deductible contributions collected through PayPal; no commercial pricing, contracts, or paid tiers are disclosed. Founder Evelyn Wendel also chairs the Safe to Drink Work Group for the State of California, lending the organization direct policy influence.

Name

WeTap

Legal name

WeTap

Website

https://wetap.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

WeTap is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2008 that operates an iOS mobile app to map and locate public drinking fountains, serving general consumers in California through community-driven data and municipal partnerships with LADWP and Los Angeles.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drinking Fountain Mapping

akta.pro primary industry

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Solutions (BPAGALAI)

Keywords

• Drinking fountain finder
• Public water access
• Tap water promotion
• Hydration station mapping
• Nonprofit water initiative

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: WeTap is a nonprofit charity exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Donations are collected through PayPal.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WeTap operates the WeTap App, an iOS mobile application that allows individual users to locate nearby public drinking fountains and filling stations via location-based mapping and to submit new fountains to a community database. The nonprofit complements the app with the Tap Water Day awareness campaign, the Teacher's Toolkit educational curriculum, and the 2028 for 2028 hydration station initiative in Los Angeles, all funded by tax-deductible donations.

Product overview

WeTap is a nonprofit organization offering a mobile application-based platform for finding and mapping public drinking water fountains. The core product is the WeTap App, which enables users to locate drinking water sources and contributes data to a global fountain mapping database. Supporting offerings include the Tap Water Day annual campaign, educational resources like the Teacher's Toolkit, and the 2028 for 2028 initiative to improve outdoor public drinking fountain access ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tap Water Day: A campaign initiated in 2015 to improve access to drinking water in public places with drinking water education. Tap Water Day promotes drinking fountains and filling stations in schools, parks, recreation centers, libraries and other public places.

Products and services

• WeTap App iOS mobile application that helps users find nearby public drinking fountains and filling stations through location-based mapping; allows the community to submit new fountains and contributes data to WeTap's proprietary drinking fountain database.
• Tap Water Day Campaign Annual public awareness and education campaign promoting drinking fountains and filling stations in schools, parks, recreation centers, libraries, and other public places; co-launched with the CA State Water Resources Control Board and LADWP.
• Teacher's Toolkit Downloadable educational curriculum resource for teachers, focused on the importance of drinking water and supporting Tap Water Day classroom programming.
• 2028 for 2028 Project Initiative using GIS-based scientific analysis and mapping to identify 2,000+ candidate locations for new public drinking fountains across Los Angeles in advance of the 2028 Olympic Games, prioritizing outdoor public sites of high community value.

Quantifiable outcome

• First technology globally to map drinking fountains and filling stations
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015WeTap helped initiate the LADWP Hydration Station Initiative with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The partnership focuses on installing and maintaining public drinking fountains and hydration stations throughout Los Angeles.
• CA State Water Resources Control BoardcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-launched Tap Water Day campaign in 2015, which has since expanded throughout California. The partnership promotes drinking water education and access to public fountains.
• City of Los AngelescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Mayor Eric Garcetti to launch Tap Water Day and Hydration Station Initiative. City is hosting the 2028 Olympics with WeTap's 2028 for 2028 project focused on improving water access.
• Los Angeles Unified School DistrictminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization supporting drinking water access initiatives in schools, part of the broader Tap Water Day campaign.
• Metropolitan Water District of Southern CaliforniaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization listed as part of the organizations that support WeTap's mission, providing water resource expertise.
• Sierra Club Los AngelesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental partner organization supporting WeTap's mission. Announced hydration station initiative coverage in March 2024.
• Climate ResolveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory board member Jonathan Parfrey serves as Executive Director of Climate Resolve, a nonprofit working on climate resilience in Los Angeles.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Water.org: Major nonprofit co-founded by Matt Damon focused on sustainable water and sanitation access; closest analogue to WeTap in funding-model and WASH-activation category, though globally scaled and finance-led.
• Refill: UK-based app/movement helping people find places to refill water bottles for free; the closest direct product analogue to WeTap's app, with comparable crowdsourced mapping of public water access points though UK-focused.
• Water for People: Nonprofit working to end the global water and sanitation crisis with a focus on lasting access; directly comparable WASH mission and donation-funded model, with broader geographic scope than WeTap.
• Dig Deep: Nonprofit tackling the water-access crisis in the US and abroad, including First Nations communities; comparable domestic-underserved-population WASH focus to WeTap's social-equity framing.
• charity: water: Leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit funding clean drinking-water access projects globally; comparable to WeTap in mission (drinking-water access for public health) and structure (charity-funded, story-driven campaigns) though larger and internationally focused.
• Thirst Project: US-based nonprofit funding clean water access through youth activation campaigns in schools; closely comparable WASH mission and education-channel outreach to WeTap's Teacher's Toolkit approach.
• WaterAid: International NGO dedicated to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; directly comparable to WeTap's WASH mission and nonprofit structure, with deeper programmatic reach and global advocacy footprint.

Others

• Pacific Institute: Oakland-based water-policy research nonprofit working on global water challenges; adjacent rather than competitive — overlaps with WeTap on water-equity advocacy and California ecosystem, but operates in research/policy rather than direct-service.

Emerging players

• Surfrider Foundation: California-rooted environmental nonprofit protecting oceans and water quality; partial overlap with WeTap's LA base, water-advocacy mission, and grassroots activation model, though focused on coastal water quality rather than drinking access.
• Heal the Bay: Santa Monica-based environmental nonprofit focused on clean water and coastal health in LA; comparable LA geography, donor-supported nonprofit structure, and water-advocacy mission, with different technical focus (beach/coastal water quality).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wetap1
• Facebookfacebook.com/WeTapApp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wetap-org

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WeTap