California · Nonprofit
California Ocean Science Trust
California Ocean Science Trust (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,453,769 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($650,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.9M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $14M
What California Ocean Science Trust does
Mission
California Ocean Science Trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for california. Created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge scientific research and sound ocean management. Ost delivers on this mandate by drawing resources to solutions-oriented science, supporting graduate education to foster the science-policy workforce of tomorrow, and delivering pragmatic, salient science advise to california policymakers, regulators, and managers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Program accomplishments this year included serving as science advisor to California, developing and creating an ocean health status, which will be published in the coming months; convening stakeholders, including state and federal government staff, on federal fisheries disasters and insurance; advancing state of the science flood risk assessment, modeling, and communications materials in collaboration with Cal Dept of Insurance; convening briefings for lawmakers on wildfires and their impacts on the ocean and coast, Harmful Algal Blooms, and eDNA; launching our SeaChange Scholars Fund pilot, which pairs graduate level students with state research priorities in partnership with CDFW and university partners; and working with the Oregon Ocean Science Trust and counterparts in Washington state to convene a series of stakeholder meetings within coastal communities with the goal of collaboratively developing a West Coast Ocean Science Action Agenda.
$1,622,963 spentof which $10,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,622,963.
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. 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 2022 to 2023, from $1.8M to $12M (+544%).
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 75% · 2018 80% · 2019 64% · 2020 73% · 2021 70% · 2022 35% · 2023 93% · 2024 28% · 2025 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of California Ocean Science Trust’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Board chair
Gary Griggs
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 12 funders, grant income rose $200k → $1.1M.
4 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 Science Trust’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 Science Trust has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
48% 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 Science Trust.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 75% · 2019 51% · 2021 32% · 2022 40% · 2023 27% — 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
40% of California Ocean Science Trust's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 55% 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
California Ocean Science Trust draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $717k 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
California Ocean Science Trust runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding California Ocean Science Trust receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $156k on record.
- Department of Commerce$106k
- Department of the Interior$50k
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 California Ocean Science Trust
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 California Ocean Science Trust: 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 California Ocean Science Trust?
- California Ocean Science Trust (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,453,769 to it, the largest being Walton Family Foundation Inc ($650,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does California Ocean Science Trust have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $3,453,769 in grants to California Ocean Science Trust, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Ocean Science Trust?
- Walton Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $650,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Ocean Science Trust 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 22 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