New Jersey · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES
CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES (New Jersey) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,482,900 to it, the largest being NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ($697,041). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $2.5M
- Net assets
- $2.1M
What Center for Aquatic Sciences does
Mission
To promote the understanding, appreciation and protection of aquatic life and habitats through research, education and youth development programs. The organization is dedicated to excellence in educational programming, conservation ventures both globally and locally and advancing scientific research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The cause program is designed to address the needs of under represented minorities in the science and education workforce and to provide quality science education through early intervention to underserved youth k-12. Briefly described, the cause program trains high school youth in marine science and biology to prepare them for paid employment as "cause interns," in jobs as summer science camp education and as educators and mentors for youngsters k-8 in the afterschool science clubs. Teen interns in the cause program have experienced successes in employment and learning that greatly enhance self-esteem, widen horizons, and indelibly shape ambitions for future education and employment. Perhaps for the first time in their lives, the teens are the expert the person to whom people will listen and learn. Equally powerful benefits result for the k-8 youngsters who have the chance to develop mentoring relationships with teenagers from their own community, who are enthusiastic role models and committed teachers. 100% of cause seniors have graduated from high school (150 since 1993). This fact is particularly notable given the dropout rate of camden high school students that exceeds 50% and…
$923,308 spent$651,715 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $923,308.
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 2018 to 2019, from $3.1M to $2.5M (−20%).
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 3% · 2021 19% · 2022 19% · 2023 11% · 2024 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Barbara Kelly
President & CEO
Board chair
Jennifer Miller
Chair & treasurer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $73k → $232k.
2 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES’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
CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% 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
70% 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 CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 61% · 2019 29% · 2020 33% · 2021 32% · 2022 37% · 2023 25% — 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
47% of CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES'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
CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside New Jersey, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $16k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES is better cushioned than half of the 717 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES
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 New Jersey
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES: 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 CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES?
- CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES (New Jersey) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,482,900 to it, the largest being NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION ($697,041). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $2,482,900 in grants to CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES?
- NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION is the largest funder on record, with $697,041 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR AQUATIC SCIENCES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 Center for Aquatic Sciences →
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 25 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