American Water Charitable Foundation Water and Environment Grant Program

An annual corporate foundation grant program funding clean water, conservation, environmental education, and water-based recreation projects located within American Water service areas, including much of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The American Water Charitable Foundation runs an annual Water and Environment Grant Program supporting community projects that promote clean water, conservation, environmental education, climate variability response, and water-based recreation. Pennsylvania American Water and West Virginia American Water both participate, which covers a substantial share of the H2O service area. For the 2026 cycle, applications were accepted February 2 through March 6, 2026 through the Foundation's Benevity online grants system, with award decisions announced by April 30. Paper applications are not accepted. Applicants must be classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity, or be a K-12 public school, college, or university. Projects must be located within and benefit an American Water service area, and must be completed within 12 months of award. This is a good fit for watershed groups doing streambank restoration, rain garden and green infrastructure demonstration projects, storm drain marking, watershed education, and river access improvements. Groups should confirm their project footprint falls inside a Pennsylvania American Water or West Virginia American Water service territory before investing time in an application, and should plan to apply in the February window of the next cycle.