California · Nonprofit
BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY
BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $615,451 to it, the largest being RESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES ($237,882). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.2M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $615k
- Net assets
- $27M
What Bay Foundation of Morro Bay does
Mission
To provide leadership in restoring, enhancing, and protecting the marine resources and watersheds of morro bay, estero bay, and the central coast of california.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The morro bay national estuary program is a non-regulatory, non-profit organization that brings together citizens, local governments, non-profits, agencies, and landowners to protect and restore the morro bay estuary. Morro bay national estuary program staff conducts monitoring and research, restores natural habitats, and educates residents and visitors on how to keep morro bay clean and healthy.a clean and healthy morro bay means a vibrant local economy, healthy residents, and a flourishing natural environment. The estuary program relies on diverse funding sources, as well as 100+ volunteers and businesses that donate their time and services. The program covers the entire morro bay estuary's watershed with a population of approximately 30,000 people.
$1,451,066 spent$230,240 earned by the program71% of program spendingThe central coast ambient monitoring program (ccamp) is the central coast regional water quality control board's regionally scaled water quality monitoring and evaluation program. The purpose of the program is to provide scientific information to regional board staff and the public, to protect, restore, and enhance the quality of the waters of central region of california. The ccamp mission is to collect, assess, and disseminate water quality information to aide decision makers and the public in maintaining, restoring and enhancing water quality and associated beneficial uses in the central coast region. The central coast region includes: san luis obispo, monterey, santa cruz, santa barbara, san benito, and part of santa clara and ventura counties.
$420,564 spent21% of program spendingThe groundwater assessment and protection program (gap or ccamp-gap) is an integral component of the central coast ambient monitoring program (ccamp). Over eighty percent of the people living on the central coast rely on groundwater for their drinking water and other uses. A regional groundwater monitoring program is essential to identify areas of potentially unsafe drinking water supply, measure individual groundwater basin health, and determine the effectiveness of our efforts to protect and improve groundwater quality. Many local agencies monitor groundwater quality to some degree, or have the potential to do so, and there is a great opportunity for the water board to coordinate and leverage these local efforts into a state-of-the-art groundwater protection program.
$156,370 spent8% of program spendingThe mission of the central coast low impact development initiative (lidi) is to support the vision of healthy watersheds through the implementation of lid design principles, hydromodification controls, and sustainable development through the central coast region. The central coast region includes: san luis obispo, monterey, santa cruz, santa barbara, san benito, and part of santa clara and ventura countiesin 2009, the central coast water board established a low impact development endowment fund (lid fund) with the Bay Foundation of Morro Bay. This fund provides support for the lidi, which operates in partnership with uc davis extension, land use and natural resources program. Lidi services focus on the planning, design, and implementation of lid projects and programs. This includes training, regulatory compliance, site specific project designs, and large scale, long-term community level planning. Work is conducted by the program director and by firms and partners selected for their specific expertise related to lid implementation.
$17,938 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,045,938.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $16M to $24M (+50%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 47% · 2018 48% · 2019 70% · 2020 66% · 2021 12% · 2022 62% · 2023 63% · 2024 65% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Melodie Grubbs
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $5k → $65k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY’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
BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
72% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 80% · 2020 42% · 2021 37% · 2022 69% · 2023 55% — diversifying over time.
“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
50% of BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
58% of BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $53k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Government funding BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $11.3M on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$11.1M
- Department of the Interior$169k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY: 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 BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY?
- BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $615,451 to it, the largest being RESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES ($237,882). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $615,451 in grants to BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY?
- RESTORE AMERICA'S ESTUARIES is the largest funder on record, with $237,882 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BAY FOUNDATION OF MORRO BAY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 11 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