What can you buy with one dollar? A can of Coke? A pack of gum?

Instead, what about a year’s supply of clean drinking water for someone on the other side of the world?

Living Water International (LWI) is a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to turning donations into resources to provide clean water to the more than one billion people worldwide affected by the global water crisis. Since its founding 17 years ago, LWI has established more than 5,000 clean water projects in the areas that need it most, focusing on training staff and volunteers in each location, purchasing and providing necessary equipment, and offering their expertise for consulting solutions around the world. Projects funded by LWI currently provide clean water to more than 7 million people each day—your donation can go a long way towards saving yet another life.

Most of us are used to paying a premium for bottled water, but $20 seems a little steep, doesn’t it?

Not as far as charity: water is concerned. When you purchase a $20 bottle of spring water from the organization, your entire contribution will go directly into funding water projects in developing nations—and can provide one person with clean drinking water for the next 20 years.

Though charity: water is only two years old, they’ve already achieved remarkable progress: 111 wells in Africa and India have been completely built and are now providing clean water to their communities; 474 more wells are currently in the works. And you don’t need to take their word for it: the group is willing to back up its claims with photographs from Google Earth, illustrating their progress across the globe.

Through partnerships with companies like Saks Fifth Avenue, annual galas featuring stars like Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, and a PSA starring Jennifer Connelly, charity: water is raising awareness of the water crisis by making giving cool. So go ahead and buy an overpriced bottle of water from them—it’s an indulgence you can feel good about.

Water for People’s mission is right there in its name: to get clean water to the people who need it most. The organization takes a grassroots approach to helping communities, by building partnerships with local organizations who know the areas better than anyone else. Water for People has full-time employees working in Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia, Malawi, and India, where they can see, first-hand, the effect that their contributions are making.

Water for People is dedicated to providing clean drinking water, but they’re also set on improving sanitation through whatever means necessary. One of their projects in the impoverished community of West Bengal, India, is committed to cleaning up the arsenic-heavy public drinking water. By implementing filters and improving sanitation facilities, the group has helped more than 30,000 in that community alone obtain safe drinking water. By keeping their programs small and personal, Water for People believes it can do a greater service to the people in need of most help. Your contribution can make their mission even stronger.

For most families in Africa, obtaining clean drinking water can be difficult, grueling work. Now, thanks to PlayPumps International, it can be a fun game: the organization has come up with an innovative merry-go-round system that lets kids pump clean drinking water from a well while they play. In addition to providing clean water, PlayPumps can help children learn about diseases like AIDS, thanks to public health messages plastered onto the systems. Other advertisements provide revenue that will pay for the PlayPumps system’s maintenance for up to a decade.

The first 20 PlayPumps were installed in 1997, and the organization now has over 1,000 PlayPumps all across sub-Saharan Africa, and plans to implement an additional 3,000 PlayPumps within the next 2 years, which will serve clean water to about 10 million people in 10 African nations. For as little as $6, you can give a child ten years’ worth of clean water—not to mention a great place to play.

Water 1st International is a charity with a unique business model: rather than building their own projects in developing nations around the world, they look to locally-based nonprofit groups that are working on solutions to the water problem. Instead of telling local groups what to do with their money, Water 1st listens to the needs of the communities, providing funding to small water-related organizations in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Honduras, and India, which will create sustainable business models by requiring small fees from the people who use their services, ensuring that the enterprises will survive independently.

To raise money for the cause, Water 1st holds fun events around the US, such as the recent Beer Fun(d) Raiser, an evening of festivities that raised $30,000 to support their international projects, and the 5K Walk for Water, which raised more than $54,000. Water 1st also provides educational opportunities to schools, helping children become aware of the need for international aid. The group also relies on contributions from generous donors – a $50 donation could pay for safe drinking water for one child for the rest of her life.