Donald Dolifka

Don has spent more than thirty years advancing community-rooted solutions to complex social and environmental challenges. He and his wife co-founded a family-run water purification company that brought clean, affordable drinking water to lower-income communities across the American South. The company’s model is decentralized, practical, and grounded in local communities who had long lacked access to safe water. After retiring from the business in 2022, Don has become more involved in social impact investing and philanthropy.

Don currently supports numerous social and environmental causes. His greatest passion is contributing to systemic solutions for building healthy and equitable communities, collaborating with and learning from other community stakeholders. He also supports community-led development initiatives in East Africa where investments in education, healthcare, and women’s empowerment are paired with social enterprises designed to sustain themselves over time.

Don’s work is shaped by core philosophies: that real change requires patience, that equitable opportunities for all is essential, and that mis-guided ego is often the greatest barrier to progress. He believes that long-term thinking—especially when guided by humility and local leadership—is the best path to lasting solutions.

At home in Hygiene, Colorado, he finds grounding on his small farm, where working with his hands affirms a simple truth: good things take time, and must be tended to with care.