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California · Nonprofit

California Ocean Alliance

California Ocean Alliance (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,238,355 to it, the largest being National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ($699,543). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$268k
Revenue FY2024
9
Funders on record
$1.2M
Grants received
$94k
Net assets
3/9 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 100%

Against its field

California Ocean Alliance has grown faster than three-quarters of the 792 science & tech nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−11% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve3.8mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)22% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 792 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($99k) Expenses 100 ($71k) Net assets 100 ($51k)2020 Revenue 179 ($178k) Expenses 197 ($140k) Net assets 174 ($88k)2021 Revenue 354 ($352k) Expenses 209 ($149k) Net assets 579 ($294k)2022 Revenue 295 ($293k) Expenses 511 ($365k) Net assets 439 ($223k)2023 Revenue 479 ($476k) Expenses 806 ($575k) Net assets 244 ($124k)2024 Revenue 269 ($268k) Expenses 418 ($298k) Net assets 185 ($94k)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (269)Expenses (418)Net assets (185)Peer revenue range

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2019 68% · 2020 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of California Ocean Alliance’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (80% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 877 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$28k
19
$37k
20
$203k
21
$71k
22
$99k
23
$30k
24
3.8
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $250 → $475k.

3 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)17% 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 California Ocean Alliance’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

California Ocean Alliance leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

89% 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 California Ocean Alliance.

56%
largest funder
85%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 50% · 2021 79% · 2022 82% · 2023 92%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 California Ocean Alliance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

California Ocean Alliance draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.

NY
CA
VA
NC
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

18
20
21
22
23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $215k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 statesis 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 9 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Organizations like California Ocean Alliance

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In California

Nationally

04Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

60% of spending goes to programs.

Program 60%Management 39%Fundraising 1%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited financials

Public support

51%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for California Ocean Alliance: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds California Ocean Alliance?
California Ocean Alliance (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,238,355 to it, the largest being National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ($699,543). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does California Ocean Alliance have?
IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $1,238,355 in grants to California Ocean Alliance, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of California Ocean Alliance?
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $699,543 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like California Ocean Alliance 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 FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 9funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing