California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA TROUT INC
CALIFORNIA TROUT INC (California) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,304,658 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($4,567,271). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 95
- Grants received
- $26M
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What California Trout Inc does
Mission
Caltrout's mission is ensuring healthy water and resilient wild fish for a better california. We share a common vision of a california where healthy waters flow from headwaters to sea. Where the diversity and resilience of our waters and fish match (continued on schedule o) that of the people throughout our state.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Program #1: the california trout (caltrout) shasta-lassen program worked to protect and restore the spring-fed cold-water river systems of the shasta-klamath region that, in the face of drought and climate change, sustain native salmonids, support the local economy, supply water to central and southern california, and provide critical habitat for endangered species. This work included protection of legacy waters such as the hat creek/fall river, mccloud, pit rivers, the battle creek salmon and steelhead restoration project (bcssrp) which aims to remove five dams, install fish screens and ladders on three dams, and end the diversion of water from the north fork to the south fork. Caltrout worked on restoring the habitat conditions in key klamath tributaries including the shasta-scott watersheds by (continued on schedule o) improving water management on agricultural lands, removing fish barriers and small dams, and restoring instream flows, advancing the klamath dam removal, and assessing source water recharge area, volcanic springs and baseline conditions for water security. The scott river project moved forward with the installation of the scott bar mill cr bridge.
$4,312,284 spent22% of program spendingProgram #2: the california trout (caltrout) north coast program, works to protect the ecological health of the north coast's rivers, and the salmon and steelhead stronghold populations they sustain. In the smith, klamath, trinity, redwood, mad, the eel rivers, and humboldt bay, caltrout established sound policies and science-based recovery and monitoring programs, to restore productive and vibrant commercial and recreational fisheries, good water quality, and sustainable working landscapes. This region's efforts included work to remove the dams in the eel river and monitor fish response after the cedar creek hatchery dam removal, and to restore estuaries on the eel river, the mad river, elk river, and the redwood creek estuary. Other efforts included work on the endangered species act and the elk (continued on schedule o) river recovery and community stewardship program (clean water act), redwood and prairie creek public land partnerships, and the bull creek humboldt redwoods state park public land partnerships. We are expanding our science and monitoring programs to better prioritize species recovery on the north cost and continue to participate in policy development linking…
$4,886,586 spent25% of program spendingProgram #3: the california trout (caltrout) south coast program includes: the santa margarita river bridge replacement and fish passage project- construction of a steel bridge that passes 100 yr. Flow - accomplishments: final bridge design, plans and permitting completed. The I-5 metrolink at trabuco creek fish passage project - restore southern steelhead migration while stabilizing flood conveyance and transportation infrastructure in orange county - accomplishments: final design developed for metrolink fishway. The south coast steelhead coalition - accomplishments: twelve prioritized projects as part of south coast steelhead coalition strategic plan. All high priority projects are underway or completed. The ca endangered south coast steelhead petition cesa listing - (continued on schedule o) accomplishments: in january 2024, cdfw affirmed the caltrout petition. Cdfw recommended to ca fish & game commission that southern steelhead should be listed as a state endangered species. The harvey diversion fish passage dam remediation project - accomplishments: 75% plan set, and basis of design report achieved in march 2023. The malibu creek restoration project accomplishments: drafted…
$4,401,371 spent22% of program spendingAll other programs including central valley program, bay area program, sierra program, science program and advocacy and engagement programs.
$6,185,870 spent31% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,786,111.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.9M to $11M (+130%).
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: 2020 50% · 2021 61% · 2022 65% · 2023 76% · 2024 72% · 2025 65%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of CALIFORNIA TROUT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
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
Curtis Knight
Executive director
Board chair
Kelly Barlow
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 45 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $3.5M.
27 of 95 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 TROUT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 95 funders by total. 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 TROUT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
80% 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 TROUT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 16% · 2018 23% · 2019 30% · 2020 23% · 2021 21% · 2022 27% · 2023 22% — growing more concentrated.
“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
56% of CALIFORNIA TROUT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
56% of CALIFORNIA TROUT INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 TROUT INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CALIFORNIA TROUT INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $64.3M on record.
- Department of Commerce$48.8M
- Department of the Interior$15.1M
- Department of Agriculture$365k
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 TROUT INC
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
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- California Trout Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA TROUT INC: 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 TROUT INC?
- CALIFORNIA TROUT INC (California) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,304,658 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($4,567,271). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA TROUT INC have?
- IRS filings report 95 organizations giving $26,304,658 in grants to CALIFORNIA TROUT INC, 68 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA TROUT INC?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,567,271 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA TROUT INC 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.
Play a game about who funds California Trout →
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 95 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing