California · Nonprofit
California Water Data Consortium
California Water Data Consortium (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,504,500 to it, the largest being WATER FOUNDATION ($1,254,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.9M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What California Water Data Consortium does
Mission
The California Water Data Consortium is a nonprofit organization that supports state agency implementation of the Open and Transparent Water Data Act to ensure that state and local agencies, Tribes, nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and the public can readily access and use high-quality data necessary to sustainably manage water for the benefit of all Californians.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Groundwater Accounting and Data Reporting Project: The open-source Groundwater Accounting Platform has officially launched for use across California. The Platform has been rolled out in our initial pilot regions and has added additional geographies to the user community. New users are on boarded with both standard and optional functionalities and may utilize the online training and onboarding materials in their basin. Learn more about the Groundwater Accounting Platform here: groundwateraccounting.orgThe Consortium's work in partnership with state agencies on groundwater data reporting formats has expanded over the past year. We finalized the communication and engagement plan, fact sheets, and data translation tool which will be published online with Department of Water Resources to support local and state agency staff as they manage groundwater data statewide.
$1,232,681 spent61% of program spendingOther Consortium Projects and working groups: The Urban Water Working Group, in collaboration with DWR, SWRCB, and FlowWest, published drought and conservation datasets on the CNRA Open Data Portal to improve local resilience. The Consortium continued to convene the LiDAR Working Group with support from the Watershed Solutions Network and DWR to coordinate statewide LiDAR applications. Through the free, virtual Data for Lunch series and the 2025 Summer Roundtable, the Consortium engaged hundreds of partners in discussions linking open data to water and climate adaptation. Additionally, the Consortium continues to work with the AB1755 Partner Agency Team to advance open water data initiatives. The Consortium also completed a successful leadership transition and welcomed a new executive director and president.
$410,196 spent20% of program spendingTelemetered Water Monitoring Project: In collaboration with interested parties in the watershed, the California Water Data Consortium finished research and outreach in the Russian River watershed to inform recommendations for a telemetry study. The Consortium submitted the recommendations report to the Telemetry Research Unit. The Consortium began a new partnership with San Francisco Estuary Institute to support the eventual handover of the telemetry network set up by the study to local interested parties. The Consortium also created a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to develop recommendations for statewide telemetry. The TAC held an informational meeting and the first formal meeting to start developing goals, and created working groups to start work on the recommendations.
$370,162 spent18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,013,039.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $849k to $1.3M (+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: 2022 24% · 2023 95% · 2024 95% · 2025 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of California Water Data Consortium’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. 2 of the last 6 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
Robyn Grimm
CEO / President
Board chair
Meredith Lee
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $495k → $130k.
From the IRS filings of California Water Data Consortium’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 Water Data Consortium leans on a few funders — its largest provides 83% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
83% 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 Water Data Consortium.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 62% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of California Water Data Consortium's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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 Water Data Consortium has grown faster than three-quarters of the 210 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding California Water Data Consortium receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $200k on record.
- Department of the Interior$200k
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 Water Data Consortium
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
99%
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 Water Data Consortium: 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 Water Data Consortium?
- California Water Data Consortium (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,504,500 to it, the largest being WATER FOUNDATION ($1,254,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does California Water Data Consortium have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $1,504,500 in grants to California Water Data Consortium, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Water Data Consortium?
- WATER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,254,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Water Data Consortium 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 2 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