Making an Impact: Pentair Foundation Grantees Help Sustainably Move Water

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water image cropped for tradeshow landing pages
water image cropped for tradeshow landing pages
Oriana Raabe, Vice President of Sustainability and President, Pentair Foundation
Oriana Raabe, Vice President of Sustainability and President, Pentair Foundation

10/27/2025

Making an Impact: Pentair Foundation Grantees Help Sustainably Move Water

Earlier this year, we announced the 2025 recipients of the Pentair Foundation’s Water Grants program. The Pentair Foundation awarded $1.25 million in grant funding to eight water-focused programs in support of its mission to support and advance inclusive and sustainable communities by investing in the availability, quality, and enjoyment of water. 

Today, I’m spotlighting the amazing work by our grantee partners who aim to reduce water stress, build ecological resistance and increase biodiversity; and what they have accomplished with the Pentair Foundation’s support. From July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, the Pentair Foundation partner organizations (listed below) planted 43,700 native plants, engaged with 1,865 community members in educational programming around water, and hosted 38 community engagement and education events. Together, these organizations are helping to sustainably move water, a pillar of our broader mission. 

American Forests
American Forests is the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization in the United States. For more than a century, they have led the way in reforestation and climate resilience, creating healthy forests—from cities to large natural landscapes—that provide essential benefits for climate, people, water, and wildlife.

The Pentair Foundation’s support helped drive a diverse suite of activities that directly resulted in the restoration of thorn forest in Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley. By holistically supporting program implementation, grant support by the Pentair Foundation has enabled interventions that cover the entire restoration pipeline process—from community engagement through post-planting monitoring.

 

Photo Credit: Ruth Hoyt, American Forests

Pentair Foundation’s support bolstered community engagement activities—outreach, education, and volunteer engagement— and directly supported the propagation and planting of over 25,000 native trees and shrubs. While these plants are directly attributable to Pentair Foundation’s funding support—even more plantings were enabled by utilizing the financial support for seed collection and nursery activities that result in the production of over 165,000 plants annually for restoration across the South Texas region. 

 

Great River Greening
Great River Greening is Minnesota’s leader in nature-based climate solutions through land restoration. They use science-based best practices to restore and sustainably manage over 10,000 acres of land each year with a focus on natural lands, farm and agriculture, community and urban areas, and volunteering. The Pentair Foundation is proud to support their mission to inspire, engage, and lead local communities in conserving and caring for the water and land that enrich our lives. 

In addition to Pentair Foundation support, Pentair employees volunteer with the organization to help make an impact in the local Minnesota community. This summer, over eighty Pentair interns and employees came together to plant one hundred wetland tree species in a local park to act as a living buffer for the surrounding area and aid Pentair in our Purpose to create a better world for people and the planet. 

 

River Partners
River Partners gives new life to California’s rivers, delivering water solutions and building ecological resilience throughout the state—including the Central Valley, one of the most water-stressed regions on Earth and a worldwide biodiversity hotspot. The organization has restored more than 20,000 acres in 20 California watersheds through community-led multi-benefit river restoration. 

With support from the Pentair Foundation, River Partners is driving bold, landscape-scale river restoration across the water-stressed San Joaquin Valley. These efforts conserve water, revive freshwater ecosystems, and create critical wildlife habitats that help recover threatened and endangered species. River adjacent forests, known as riparian, also lock away carbon, clean our air and water, and increase community resilience. The ambitious suite of projects Pentair is supporting will bring parks and outdoor learning opportunities to some of California’s most underserved communities, while deepening partnerships with Native American Tribes to restore ecosystem health, renew access to ancestral lands and waterways, and strengthen Indigenous leadership. Pentair’s investment also fuels green jobs, boosts collaboration with the California Conservation Corps, and builds a thriving restoration economy across the San Joaquin Valley.

I’m incredibly proud of the work that American Forests, Great River Greening, and River Partners have done to make an impact in reducing water stress, building ecological resilience, and increasing biodiversity. Together with the Pentair Foundation, we’re creating more sustainable communities and ecosystems that move water better!  

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