South Carolina · Nonprofit
Carolina Ocean Alliance
Carolina Ocean Alliance (South Carolina) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $8,000 to it, the largest being THE JOANNA FOUNDATION ($8,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $69k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $8k
- Net assets
- $20k
What Carolina Ocean Alliance does
Mission
The Carolina Ocean Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that advances community-driven solutions through strategic coalitions of our partners, develops the next generation of leaders, and fosters a culture of environmental stewardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Hope Summit is a forum for amplifying intersectional ideas, accelerating solutions, and inspiring hope. Hope is a regenerative act that we will inspire through accessible, tangible, and creative action. Through an annual conference, film festival, community festival, and a growing line-up of programming, and year-round book club, film series, and impact events, The Hope Summit is a catalyst for creating vibrant communities.
$31,896 spent$9,280 earned by the program57% of program spendingOcean Advocacy, Policy, and Emerging Leader DevelopmentTo have a healthy planet, we need to protect and restore the health of our oceans, and in doing so, we must protect and restore the health of coastal ecosystems and the communities that live alongside them by reimagining and reshaping the systems that create environmental harm and injustice, while understanding that we are all downstream of someone and upstream of someone else. Carolina Ocean Alliance works towards systems-scale solutions to climate change and ocean health through nature-based design, community-driven solutions, policy informed by ecology, support for key educational and regulatory institutions, and a shared responsibility for our planet and for the well-being of our neighbors.
$7,214 spent$17,238 earned by the program13% of program spendingThe Creek Collective is a place-based, community-driven resilience initiative of the Carolina Ocean Alliance that merges nature-based design and tactical urbanism with direct action that community members can take through citizen science, native ecosystem restoration, community adaptation planning, environmental justice, and the creation of community networks built around the shared stewardship of a waterway or flood basin.The M.A.R.S.H. Project is a grassroots and community-based program of the Creek Collective working to create the first urban ecological corridor in the Southeast. We advocate for the marsh, and for reclaiming Charleston's natural heritage through volunteerism and unique programming cleaning up debris, planting native plant species, citizen-science monitoring, art programs, and community and educational outreach.
$16,687 spentof which $1,000 as grants$988 earned by the program30% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $55,797.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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.
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.
57% of Carolina Ocean Alliance’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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
Whittaker Grey Gowder
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of Carolina 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.
Where its funders are
100% of Carolina Ocean Alliance's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
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
Carolina Ocean Alliance has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,195 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like Carolina Ocean Alliance
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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Carolina 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.
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 Carolina Ocean Alliance?
- Carolina Ocean Alliance (South Carolina) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $8,000 to it, the largest being THE JOANNA FOUNDATION ($8,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Carolina Ocean Alliance have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $8,000 in grants to Carolina Ocean Alliance, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Carolina Ocean Alliance?
- THE JOANNA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Carolina Ocean Alliance find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 Carolina Ocean Alliance →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 1 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