Skip to content
Texas State Aquarium Association at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Texas State Aquarium Association

The texas state aquarium's mission is engaging people with animals, inspiring appreciation for our seas, and supporting wildlife conservation.

$50k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$15k
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 2024.

Animals$243kEducation$50kHealth$20kEnvironment$17kScience & Tech$6k
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $36k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$94M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC$15,000
CLEARWATER MARINE AQUARIUM$10,500
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM$10,000
ALLIANCE OF MARINE MAMMALS$9,544
ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS & AQUARIUMS$5,150
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 71% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TEXAS A&M - CORPUS CHRISTI FDN: $50k → 17%CAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RES INS: $10k → 27%SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $15k → 11%CLEARWATER MARINE AQUARIUM: $11k → 12%SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $15k → 13%THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM: $10k → 13%LIONFISH INVITATIONAL INC: $6k → 13%FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY HARBOR: $20k → 13%INTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION: $10k → 9%WATERBIRD SOCIETY: $15k → 12%CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 14%WILDLIFE RESTORATION FDN: $7k → 7%ALLIANCE OF MARINE MAMMALS: $10k → 9%ASSOC OF ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS: $58k → 8%THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MSI: $17k → 17%PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: $19k → 27%SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $15k → 13%BROOKFIELD ZOOCHICAGO ZOOL SOC: $10k → 14%ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS & AQUARIUMS: $5k → 8%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.
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$153k · 3 repeat orgs$184k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
9

Total granted

$153k
$154k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
+94%

Still filing today

100%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’21’22’23’24
AnimalsFood & NutritionOther
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

  • AA
    AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC
    3× · 2017–2024 · $88k · revenue +83%
  • SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $45k · revenue -24%
  • Chicago Zoological Society
    2× · 2018–2021 · $20k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • TA
    TEXAS A&M - CORPUS CHRISTI FDN
    one grant, 2018 · $50k
  • FA
    FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2018 · $20k
  • PI
    PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE
    one grant, 2018 · $19k
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
Worlds Aquarium

Marine Conservation

—
2
South Carolina Aquarium

Our mission is to inspire conservation of the natural world by exhibiting and caring for animals, by excelling in education and research, and by providing an exceptional visitor experience.

Animals
3
Marine Megafauna Foundation

Save threatened marine life using pioneering research, education, and sustainable conservation solutions

International
4
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
—
5
The Coral Reef and Marine Science Foundation Inc C/O James Bildner
—
6
Wildlife Protection Solutions

To protect endangered species.

Animals
7
Conservation Society of California

Through management of oakland zoo, the conservation society of california deepens connection with animals, saves wildlife, and inspires champions for the natural world.

Animals
8
Galapagos Whale Shark Project
—
9
Sociedad Ambiente Marino

Environmental and water protection and education

Education
10
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
11
The Wildlife Society

The wildlife society's mission is to inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation.

Animals
12
Wildlife Conservation Society

The wildlife conservation society (wcs) saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature.

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Save the Manatee Club Inc; the most unlike its peers is International Crane Foundation Inc. 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

10 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. 10 of the 15 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC: $87,650 · AnimalsAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INCSAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $45,000 · AnimalsSAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INCChicago Zoological Society: $20,000 · AnimalsChicago Zoological SocietyClearwater Marine Aquarium Inc: $10,500 · AnimalsClearwater Marine Aquarium IncThe Florida Aquarium Inc: $10,000 · AnimalsINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · AnimalsWILDLIFE RESTORATION FOUNDATION: $7,000 · AnimalsTEXAS A&M - CORPUS CHRISTI FDN: $50,000 · OtherTEXAS A&M - CORPUS CHRISTI FDNFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY: $19,522 · OtherFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITYPADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: $18,625 · OtherPADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHOREUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $17,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTINWATERBIRD SOCIETY: $15,000 · OtherWATERBIRD SOCIETYCAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RES INS: $10,000 · OtherCAESAR KLEBERG WILDLIFE RES INSALLIANCE OF MARINE MAMMAL PARKS & AQUARI: $9,544 · OtherALLIANCE OF MARINE MAMMAL PARKS & AQUARILionfish Invitational Inc: $6,400 · Food & Nutrition
Animals$190,150Other$139,691Food & Nutrition$6,400

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC: $87,650 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetSAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetChicago Zoological Society: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWATERBIRD SOCIETY: $15,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetClearwater Marine Aquarium Inc: $10,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Florida Aquarium Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALLIANCE OF MARINE MAMMAL PARKS & AQUARI: $9,544 over 1y, 1.5% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Clearwater Marine Aquarium Inc: 1% of income from government
  • The Florida Aquarium Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 15 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Texas State Aquarium Association’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