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Ocean Conservancy at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Ocean Conservancy

OCEAN CONSERVANCY unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

$1.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
29
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$253k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Environment$7.6MScience & Tech$1.4MCivil Rights$352kPhilanthropy$350kEducation$281kArts & Culture$212kCommunity Improvement$133kAnimals$63kOther$0
02FY2025 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 29 grants below total $1,305,736, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,618,417 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $312,681 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $373k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $649k
  • $250k+1 grant · $253k
$30,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$98M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KAWERAK INC$253,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$218,000
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC$76,103
GLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK$68,500
INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR COUNCIL ALASKA$66,000
TRUSTEEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK$62,501
CENTRAL COUNCIL TLINGIT & HAIDA INDIAN TRIBES OF ALASKA$57,940
KUSKOKWIM RIVER INTER-TRIBAL FISH COMMISSION$50,050
NATIVE PEOPLES ACTION COMMUNITY FUND$50,000
GULF OF MAINE LOBSTER FOUNDATION$46,200
ALASKA MARINE CONSERVATION COUNCIL$30,000
AINA MOMONA$30,000
PEOPLE'S ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCY GROUP INC DBA PEER GROU$30,000
ALEUT COMMUNITY OF ST PAUL ISLAND TRIBAL GOVERNMENT OF ST PAUL$30,000
BLACKS OF THE CHESAPEAKE FOUNDATION$30,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $789k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Climate Resilient Communities: $20k → 8%MARIPOSA DR FOUNDATION: $10k → 16%IDEAS FOR US: $17k → 13%Global Resilient Cities Network: $375k → 17%JK Reed Community Resource Center Inc: $20k → 19%GLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK: $100k → 17%The BRidge Agency: $20k → 19%Global Resilient Cities Network: $100k → 17%GLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK: $69k → 17%Global Resilient Cities Network (GRCN): $25k → 17%Live Healthy Little Havana: $20k → 15%LIVE HEALTHY LITTLE HAVANA: $13k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ME
VT
WA
NY
MA
NJ
RI
CA
CO
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $295k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 4 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

North America (Canada and Mexico)$136k · 46% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: CENTRAL ARCTIC OCEAN PROJECTS

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$74k · 25% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: CLEANUP 2030 · INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP · SHIPPING EMISSIONS ROUNDTABLE EVENT SUPPORT

East Asia and the Pacific$64k · 22% · 3 grants

Stated purpose: ZERO WASTE SOLUTIONS PROJECT · ARCTIC & NORTHERN WATERS PROGRAM · CENTRAL ARCTIC OCEAN FISHERIES AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION

Central America and the Caribbean$20k · 7% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP

How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.5M · 48 repeat orgs$2.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.

48 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 34 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
58

Total granted

$7.5M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+22%

Still filing today

75%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $493k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementAnimalsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • UO
    University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
    5× · 2020–2025 · $735k · revenue +26%
  • GR
    GLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK
    4× · 2022–2025 · $669k · revenue +4%
  • NA
    NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND INC
    5× · 2018–2023 · $458k · revenue +86%

Funded once

  • PE
    PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $560k · revenue +109%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
    one grant, 2023 · $238k
  • FI
    FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2024 · $143k · revenue +12%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Ocean Alliance Project

Protecting and promoting the marine biodiversity of Hawai'i through coral restoration, ecological monitoring, regenerative tourism, and cultural integration

Science & Tech
2
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
3
Clean Reefs
Environment
4
Turtle Island Restoration Network

To mobilize people in local communities around the world to protect marine wildlife and the oceans and inland watersheds that sustain them.

Environment
5
The Coral Reef and Marine Science Foundation Inc C/O James Bildner
—
6
OneReef Worldwide Stewardship

OneReefs mission is to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems and thriving coastal communities across the Pacific.

Animals
7
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
8
Wildcoast

The mission of wildcoast is to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems and address climate change through natural solutions. our staff is dedicated to conserving threatened and endangered coastlines and wildlife in california and mexico.…

Environment
9
The Coral Reef Alliance

Our research has demonstrated that corals can adapt to the effects of environmental stressors if immediate threats are reduced and if we protect healthy, ecologically connected networks of reefs.

Environment
10
Oceans Initiative

Oceans Initiative is a team of scientists on a mission to protect marine life and the ecosystems on which they depend, and to share our innovative science to guide conservation action.

Science & Tech
11
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

The national caucus of environmental legislators empowers a nonpartisan network of legislative champions to protect, conserve, and improve the natural and human environment.

Education
12
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Save the Bay Inc; the most unlike its peers is Ndponics. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

97 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 97 of the 123 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
24
Early backer (in before they grew)
94/97
Grantees still filing
67/97
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: $847,393 · OtherARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITYTribal Government of St Paul Island: $264,129 · OtherTribal Government of St Paul IslandKAWERAK INC: $253,000 · OtherKAWERAK INCUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: $237,518 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDAYAKUTAT TLINGLT TRIBE: $205,821 · OtherCCTHITA: $140,840 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $133,867 · OtherROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $350,000 · OtherROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INCASOCIACION INTERAMERICANA PARA LA DEFENSA DEL AMBIENTE: $172,894 · Other+43 more: $1,281,318 · Other+43 morePACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES CENTER: $560,000 · EnvironmentPACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AND RES…The Ocean Foundation: $418,000 · EnvironmentThe Ocean FoundationENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $269,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND …DREAM IN GREEN INC: $136,999 · EnvironmentDREAM IN GREEN INCDEBRIS FREE GLOBAL INC D/B/A DEBRIS FREE OCEANS: $120,466 · EnvironmentALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $115,000 · EnvironmentPUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE: $105,000 · EnvironmentGreen 20: $90,000 · Environment+31 more: $710,750 · Environment+31 moreINUIT CIRCUMPOLAR COUNCIL-ALASKA: $961,000 · Arts & CultureINUIT CIRCUMP…Native Peoples Action Community Fund: $120,500 · Arts & CultureNative People…ALEUT INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $115,000 · Arts & Culture+5 moreUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $734,608 · EducationUniversity o…FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $143,145 · EducationFLORIDA INTE…ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM INC: $66,500 · EducationENVIRONMENTA…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $62,501 · EducationUniversity of Miami: $40,000 · Education+7 more: $138,990 · Education+7 moreGLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK: $669,060 · Human ServicesLIVE HEALTHY HAVANA INC: $33,000 · Human Services+5 more: $97,180 · Human ServicesNATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND INC: $458,446 · Civil RightsGULF OF MAINE LOBSTER FOUNDATION: $212,255 · Science & TechBLACK IN MARINE SCIENCE: $90,000 · Science & TechDIVING WITH A PURPOSE AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP INC: $80,000 · Science & Tech+1 more: $10,000 · Science & Tech
Other$3,886,780Environment$2,525,215Arts & Culture$1,256,500Education$1,185,744Human Services$799,240Civil Rights$458,446Science & Tech$392,255

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetINUIT CIRCUMPOLAR COUNCIL-ALASKA: $961,000 over 5y, 96% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $734,608 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK: $669,060 over 4y, 13% of budgetPACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES CENTER: $560,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetNATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND INC: $458,446 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetThe Ocean Foundation: $418,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $350,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $269,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGULF OF MAINE LOBSTER FOUNDATION: $212,255 over 4y, 28% of budgetASOCIACION INTERAMERICANA PARA LA DEFENSA DEL AMBIENTE: $172,894 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetFLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $143,145 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDREAM IN GREEN INC: $136,999 over 6y, 15% of budgetBIG BLUE & YOU INC: $129,002 over 2y, 25% of budgetNative Peoples Action Community Fund: $120,500 over 2y, 20% of budgetDEBRIS FREE GLOBAL INC D/B/A DEBRIS FREE OCEANS: $120,466 over 1y, 62% of budgetBERING SEA FISHERMENS ASSOCIATION: $120,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetALASKA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $115,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetFIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE: $108,181 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetPUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE: $105,000 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetBLACK IN MARINE SCIENCE: $90,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetGreen 20: $90,000 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetDIVING WITH A PURPOSE AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP INC: $80,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM INC: $66,500 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetCALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF LAND TRUSTS ACTION FUND: $65,000 over 1y, 51% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $62,501 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALEUT INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION: $60,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetOCEAN RISK AND RESILIENCE ACTION ALLIANCE INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetWEST OAKLAND ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS PROJECT (WOEIP): $50,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $48,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAINA MOMONA: $45,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNDPONICS: $40,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetOceansAlaska: $40,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetECOLOGY CENTER: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBLACKS OF THE CHESAPEAKE FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $37,990 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLIVE HEALTHY HAVANA INC: $33,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetOCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALASKA MARINE COMMUNITY COALITION: $30,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetBridge the Gap Outreach Center: $30,000 over 2y, 31% of budgetSMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY: $30,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $26,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCENTER FOR COASTAL STUDIES INC: $25,700 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNATIVE CONSERVANCY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetROBERT AQQALUK NEWLIN SR MEMORIAL TRUST: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRENEWABLE ENERGY ALASKA PROJECT: $25,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetOcean First Institute: $20,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Resources Legacy FundThe Alaska Community …The Pew Charitable Tr…Gordon E and Betty I …Alaska Conservation F…First Nations Develop…PatagoniaorgRasmuson FoundationNational Fish and Wil…The Nature ConservancyThe Schmidt Family Fo…Rockefeller Philanthr…
Resources Legacy FundCA32.6× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Resources Legacy Fund · The Alaska Community Foundation · The Pew Charitable Trusts · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Alaska Conservation Foundation · First Nations Development Institute · Patagoniaorg · Rasmuson Foundation · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Nature Conservancy · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ocean Conservancy funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ocean Conservancy. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 40%
  • National Marine Sanctuary Foundation: 88% of income from government
  • My Village Project Inc: 81% of income from government
  • Dream in Green Inc: 58% of income from government
  • Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation Inc: 52% of income from government
  • Connecticut River Watershed Council Inc: 40% of income from government
  • Ideas for Us Inc: 35% of income from government
  • Center for Coastal Studies Inc: 26% of income from government
  • Living Classrooms Foundation: 7% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • American Littoral Society: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
4rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 123 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Ocean Conservancy’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home