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

· Public charity

The Ocean Foundation

As the only community foundation for the ocean, The Ocean Foundation's 501(c)(3) mission is to improve global ocean health, climate resilience, and the blue economy.

$3.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
18
States reached
$128k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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$3.8MScience & Tech$936kEducation$820kArts & Culture$750kRecreation & Sports$307kAnimals$165kInternational$95kPublic Benefit$81kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 24 grants below total $866,993, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,869,109 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $3,002,116 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 $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $417k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $442k
$20,500
Median grant
18
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Leland Stanford Junior University$127,888
Marine Debris Foundation$96,520
Race to Zero Films LLC$91,000
Playa Viva LLC$76,980
LSU Foundation$50,000
Coastal Coordination Program LLC$45,294
Anchor Coalition Inc$44,160
National Marine Sanctuary Fdn$41,935
International Indigenous Fund Batani$35,000
The Pew Charitable Trusts$31,141
Ecolibrium Inc$31,000
Deep Green Wilderness$20,500
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies$20,000
World Wide Wallace LLC$19,350
Remote Ecologist$18,000
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.

US giving: 85% of grant dollars ($6.1M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 15% that went abroad ($1.0M) is mapped below.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 63% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst: $75k → 8%DBA Island Reach: $42k → 14%The Trustees of Reservations: $50k → 16%The Leland Stanford Junior University: $128k → 7%Stanford University: $125k → 8%Coastal Coordination Program LLC: $45k → 9%UC Santa Barbara Foundation: $120k → 14%World Wide Wallace LLC: $41k → 9%The Harte Research Inst: $147k → 17%EarthEcho International: $50k → 14%Havenworth Coastal Conserv: $47k → 10%Race to Zero Films LLC: $91k → 11%University of Oregon: $125k → 15%Helix Science LLC: $35k → 9%SECORE: $150k → 15%Sea Mammal Educ Learning Tech: $180k → 11%Restore America's Estuaries: $50k → 7%LSU Foundation: $50k → 19%National Marine Sanctuary Fdn: $42k → 8%International Indigenous Fund Batani: $35k → 7%The Leland Stanford Jr Unv: $100k → 7%Stanford University: $96k → 8%Coastal Coordination Program LLC: $44k → 9%Project AWARE Fdtn USA: $64k → 10%Greater Farallones Assoc: $35k → 10%The Harte Research Inst: $125k → 17%Playa Viva LLC: $77k → 8%Oregon State Univ: $71k → 18%Marine Conservation Inst: $60k → 9%The Leland Stanford Junior University: $95k → 7%Project AWARE Fdtn USA: $58k → 10%The Harte Research Inst: $57k → 17%Anchor Coalition Inc: $44k → 7%Deep Green Wilderness: $58k → 9%Playa Viva LLC: $53k → 7%Playa Viva LLC: $36k → 7%Deep Green Wilderness: $40k → 9%Brick City TV LLC: $303k → 17%Brick City TV LLC: $195k → 17%Smithsonian Institution: $43k → 14%Brick City TV LLC: $37k → 17%The Pew Charitable Trust: $50k → 14%Netcentric Campaigns: $50k → 14%Parliamentarians for Global Action: $50k → 17%Ocean Risk & Resilience Action Alliance: $50k → 14%Virgin Unite USA Inc: $50k → 17%Marine Debris Foundation: $97k → 14%Marine Debris Foundation: $74k → 14%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
NH
WA
MN
NY
MA
OR
OH
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL

Beyond the US: 15% of all-years giving ($1.0M)

2 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Puerto Rico$1.0M · 9 grants
Guam$35k · 1 grant

Grants abroad, by region: $1.8M on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 8 regions, $1.4M to organizations and $390k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

East Asia and the Pacific$932k · 51% · 3 grants · 4 people

Stated purpose: General Support · Marine Life Monitoring · Research

North America (Canada and Mexico)$301k · 16% · 2 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: General Support · Marine Life Monitoring

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$232k · 13% · 2 grants · 4 people

Stated purpose: General Support · Marine Life Monitoring · General Support & Marine Conservation

Russia and Neighboring States$175k · 10% · 1 grant · 6 people

Stated purpose: General Support · General Support,Marine Conservation & Remove Marine Debris & Marine Life Monitoring

Central America and the Caribbean$135k · 7% · 2 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: General Support · Remove Marine Debris · General Support & Remove Marine Debris

Sub-Saharan Africa$28k · 2% · 1 grant · 4 people

Stated purpose: General Support · General Support,Research & Scholarship

South Asia$28k · 2% · 2 grants · 1 person

Stated purpose: General Support · Marine Conservation · Research

South America$2k · 0% · 1 person

Stated purpose: General Support

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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain. 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 11% of The Ocean Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Ocean Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 20% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.6M · 31 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
64

Total granted

$4.6M
$1.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+20%

Still filing today

55%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 54% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $337k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentAnimalsEducationInternationalArts & CultureScience & TechOther
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

  • SS
    SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY
    4× · 2020–2024 · $225k · revenue +211% · 36% of their budget
  • SI
    SECORE INTERNATIONAL INC
    2× · 2021–2024 · $180k · revenue +113%
  • PA
    PADI AWARE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2017–2025 · $135k · revenue +69%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
    one grant, 2023 · $125k
  • UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $120k · revenue +63%
  • THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue -28%
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
The Coral Reef and Marine Science Foundation Inc C/O James Bildner
—
2
Ocean Conservancy

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

Environment
3
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
4
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
—
5
Ocean Alliance Project

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

Science & Tech
6
Schmidt Ocean Institute
Science & Tech
7
Clean Reefs
Environment
8
Oceana Inc

To advocate for policy changes by governments and corporations in order to preserve ocean life and return the oceans to their former abundance.

Environment
9
OneReef Worldwide Stewardship

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

Animals
10
Marine Megafauna Foundation

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

International
11
Oceanit Research Foundation
Science & Tech
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; the most unlike its peers is International Indigenous Fund for Development and Solidarity Batani. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

73 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. 73 of the 109 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/73
Grantees still filing
50/73
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Conservacion ConCiencia: $1,073,418 · OtherConservacion ConCienciaBrick City TV LLC: $591,704 · OtherBrick City TV LLCTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CORPUS CHRISTI: $328,911 · OtherTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CORPUS CHRISTIPlaya Viva LLC: $226,355 · OtherPlaya Viva LLCDeep Green Wilderness: $203,436 · Other+44 more: $1,693,679 · Other+44 moreSECORE INTERNATIONAL INC: $180,069 · EnvironmentSECORE INTERNATION…Marine Debris Foundation: $170,692 · EnvironmentMarine Debris Foun…OCEAN RISK AND RESILIENCE ACTION ALLIANCE INC: $110,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN RISK AND RES…NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $67,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES …RESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES: $59,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $50,000 · EnvironmentNETCENTRIC CAMPAIGNS: $50,000 · EnvironmentOcean River Institute Inc: $46,450 · EnvironmentNATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION: $41,935 · Environment+16 more: $352,850 · Environment+16 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $598,377 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TR…UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $119,528 · EducationUC SANTA BARBAR…MARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE: $88,350 · EducationMARINE CONSERVA…LSU FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION INC: $40,000 · Education+7 more: $94,105 · Education+7 moreSMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY: $225,000 · AnimalsGREATER FARALLONES ASSOCIATION: $35,000 · AnimalsHawaii Marine Mammal Alliance Inc: $26,215 · AnimalsNoyo Center For Marine Science: $23,160 · AnimalsINTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE INC: $20,900 · AnimalsTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $16,589 · AnimalsWOODLAND PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $15,000 · Animals+5 more: $46,407 · AnimalsWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $100,000 · Science & TechNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $30,000 · Science & TechALGALITA MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: $20,000 · Science & TechREMOTE ECOLOGIST INC: $18,000 · Science & TechPARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION: $50,000 · InternationalUniversity of Guam Endowment Foundation Inc: $35,000 · InternationalInternational Indigenous Fund For Development and Solidarity Batani: $35,000 · InternationalMARALLIANCE: $25,000 · InternationalTHE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR DIALOGUE & PEACEBUILDING: $10,000 · InternationalThe Pew Charitable Trusts: $81,141 · PhilanthropyVIRGIN UNITE USA INC: $50,000 · Philanthropy
Other$4,117,503Environment$1,127,996Education$990,360Animals$408,271Science & Tech$168,000International$155,000Philanthropy$131,141

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 budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $598,377 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY: $225,000 over 4y, 36% of budgetSECORE INTERNATIONAL INC: $180,069 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetMarine Debris Foundation: $170,692 over 2y, 39% of budgetPADI AWARE FOUNDATION: $134,800 over 3y, 7.8% of budgetUC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION: $119,528 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetOCEAN RISK AND RESILIENCE ACTION ALLIANCE INC: $110,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetWOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE: $88,350 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetTHE VIEQUES CONSERVATION AND HISTORICAL TRUST INC: $83,136 over 2y, 11% of budgetThe Pew Charitable Trusts: $81,141 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $67,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES: $59,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $50,633 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION: $50,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetEARTHECHO INTERNATIONAL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetNETCENTRIC CAMPAIGNS: $50,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetLSU FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOcean River Institute Inc: $46,450 over 2y, 36% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION INC: $40,000 over 3y, 33% of budgetUniversity of Guam Endowment Foundation Inc: $35,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetGREATER FARALLONES ASSOCIATION: $35,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetInternational Indigenous Fund For Development and Solidarity Batani: $35,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetWILDCOAST: $30,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT: $30,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetALELI ENVIRONMENTAL: $30,000 over 1y, 61% of budgetTHE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION: $29,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHawaii Marine Mammal Alliance Inc: $26,215 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetCLEAN WATER FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHEAL THE BAY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMARALLIANCE: $25,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetONLY ONE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSTUDENT-LED SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES INC PLAN - POST-LANDFILL ACTION NETWORK: $25,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetHAWAII LOCAL2030 HUB: $25,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetPROTECT MAINE'S FISHING HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $24,000 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetNoyo Center For Marine Science: $23,160 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetOccidental Arts and Ecology Center: $22,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNATIONAL CAUCUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATORS: $22,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE INC: $20,900 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALGALITA MARINE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: $20,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetMaine Public Broadcasting Corporation: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe 5 Gyres Institute: $20,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMARIN LINK INC: $17,518 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER: $16,589 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetONE ELEUTHERA FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds SECORE INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds Marine Debris Foundation ↗
  • Who funds PADI AWARE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UC SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OCEAN RISK AND RESILIENCE ACTION ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds MARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE VIEQUES CONSERVATION AND HISTORICAL TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds The Pew Charitable Trusts ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds RESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES ↗
  • Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ↗
  • Who funds VIRGIN UNITE USA INC ↗
  • Who funds PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION ↗
  • Who funds EARTHECHO INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds NETCENTRIC CAMPAIGNS ↗
  • Who funds LSU FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Ocean River Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION ↗

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 Pew Charitable Tr…Rockefeller Philanthr…National Fish and Wil…The Marisla FoundationThe Schmidt Family Fo…PatagoniaorgThe Curtis & Edith Mu…National Marine Sanct…The Overbrook Foundat…Builders Vision Found…The Keith Campbell Fo…
Resources Legacy FundCA27.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Resources Legacy Fund · The Pew Charitable Trusts · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Marisla Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Patagoniaorg · The Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation · National Marine Sanctuary Foundation · The Overbrook Foundation · Builders Vision Foundation · The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment 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 The Ocean Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ocean Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • National Marine Sanctuary Foundation: 88% of income from government
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 63% of income from government
  • See Turtles: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Lower Nehalem Community Trust: 2% of income from government
  • National Aquarium Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Ocean Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ocean Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 109 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’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