Mississippi · Nonprofit
AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION
AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Mississippi) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,036,176 to it, the largest being SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $121
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $5.0M
What Aquatic Research Foundation does
Mission
The Aquatic Research Foundation is affiliated with the mississippi aquarium operating entity, a publicly supported organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the code. Its purpose is to operate exclusively for such charitable, scientific, and educational purposes for the benefit of, to perform the functions of, or to carry out the purpose of the mississippi aquarium in such ways as the board determines in its discretion.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The foundation contributed to the mississippi aquarium, a publicly supported 501(c)(3).
Conservation projects
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $12M to $5.0M (−58%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Kurt Allen
President/CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $20k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 91% · 2020 57% · 2021 70% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
25% of AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION draws 63% of its grant income from funders outside Mississippi, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $85k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,996 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,996 animals nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Mississippi
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
0% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Mississippi) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,036,176 to it, the largest being SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $1,036,176 in grants to AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- SOUTHERN COMPANY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AQUATIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Mississippi. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Aquatic Research →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 8 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing