Why Major Nonprofits Are Now Hiring PR Agencies
Charity: Water's hire of Krupp Agency signals a structural shift: nonprofits now treat communications as a core strategic investment, transforming the professional PR landscape.
One of the world's most recognized nonprofits has made a significant commercial decision.
Charity: Water, the 20-year-old organization that has brought clean drinking water to over 21 million people across 29 countries, has appointed New York-based Krupp Agency as its public relations agency of record. The announcement, made on May 28, 2026, marks the nonprofit's first known agency-of-record relationship with a major communications firm.
For marketing and communications leaders in Asia, this move signals something bigger than a single agency win.
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When Nonprofits Start Acting Like Brands
Charity: Water is not a small charity running bake sales. It has funded over 209,000 water projects globally, with every well tracked by GPS coordinates visible to any donor. Its founder, Scott Harrison, turned a personal transformation story (from New York nightclub promoter to clean water advocate) into one of the most compelling nonprofit narratives of the past two decades.
Yet for all that storytelling power, the organization operated without a dedicated external PR agency. Until now.
Heidi Krupp, founder and CEO of Krupp Agency, framed the partnership around reach: to "expand that sense of connection, bringing new audiences into the story and inspiring meaningful, lasting action to drive real change." That is the language of a growth mandate, not a charitable afterthought.
A Structural Shift, Not a One-Off Deal
This appointment reflects a broader pattern playing out across the nonprofit sector. In 2026, brand-building has become the top strategic priority for nonprofits globally, ranked above performance marketing, marketing technology, and even artificial intelligence. Mission-driven organizations are no longer treating communications as a side function managed by volunteers or overworked in-house staff. They are investing in it like any serious commercial brand would.
The global PR market hit US$113 billion in 2025. Nonprofits are claiming a growing share of that spend, and the shift toward agency-of-record relationships is part of how they are doing it. Fearey, a communications firm, has served the Russell Family Foundation as its PR agency of record for over seven years. Fenton was ranked the top nonprofit PR agency in the United States by O'Dwyer's in 2026. A specialized market is maturing, and generalist agencies like Krupp are now competing within it.
What This Means for Asia-Pacific
Charity: Water has drilled over 38,000 wells across Africa and Asia. As it pursues growth in donor engagement and community reach, a storytelling-focused agency relationship is a logical investment for expanding into new geographies and demographics.
For APAC communications leaders, the takeaway is not about water charity. It is about infrastructure. Communications has moved from a support function to a core operating investment. The nonprofit communications professionalization trend mirrors what has already happened in commercial marketing: sustained agency partnerships outperform project-based work because they build institutional knowledge, narrative consistency, and media relationships over time.
Professional agency engagements for nonprofits now deliver measurable returns. Well-run campaigns produce donation increases of 15% to 25%, with agency investment generating two to five times the return for mission-driven clients.
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