Florida · Nonprofit
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC (Florida) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,990,108 to it, the largest being PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD ($371,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.6M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $7.6M
What Dolphin Research Center Inc does
Mission
Providing sanctuary and a forever home since 1984.through education, research and rescue, dolphin research center promotes peaceful coexistence, cooperation and communication between marine mammals, humans and the environment we share with the well being of drc's animals taking precedence.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public education: programs ranging in length from 1 hour to 1 week and varied in specific focus/depth of material and formation of dolphin research center training institute. All serve to develop an awareness for dolphin history, conservation issues and interactions with humans.drc welcomed approx 50,000 guests to drc to meet its family of dolphins and sea lions. Guests can participate in a wide variety of activities to support drc's mission statement, from admissions to interactive programs to private custom programs. Dolphin research center partners with wounded warriors and hosts the annual soldier ride in the florida keys through endowments from the charles evans foundation, as well as project odyssey and custom programs for wounded warriors and their caregivers. Additionally, dolphin research centerstrives to educate through its support of its local community* by sponsoring all local monroe county school children visits, tom's harbor bridge cleanup, 7-mile bridge run, local chamber events, and ocean day celebration. Dolphin research center also partners with florida fish and wildlife as the primary manatee rescue agent in monroe county florida.
$5,285,259 spent$4,512,622 earned by the program90% of program spendingResearch: investigations into dolphin physiology, development and behavior. Assistance to injured/ill manatees, collecting physical data. Providing various recreational motivational education programs for individuals with special needs. Field research program began in 2014 and continues to observe and identify populations of wild dolphins in the middle keys in monroe county, florida, as well as collaborate with other wild dolphin population studies in the region.
$426,198 spent7% of program spendingMembership: providing regular publications containing a broad range of dolphin and conversation information, fostering concern for dolphins in general and issues that affect them.
$173,180 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,884,637.
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 2019 to 2020, from $11M to $9.5M (−14%).
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.
40% of DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC’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
Rita Irwin
President/CEO
Board chair
Joanne Zimmerman
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $68k → $410k.
13 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 24% · 2019 21% · 2020 23% · 2021 38% · 2022 32% · 2023 49% — 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
47% of DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside Florida, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $393k arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 22 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 813 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $275k on record.
- STATE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE - GENERAL $150k
- FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE - GENERAL $125k
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 DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER 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 DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC?
- DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC (Florida) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,990,108 to it, the largest being PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD ($371,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $1,990,108 in grants to DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC?
- PUFFIN FOUNDATION WEST LTD is the largest funder on record, with $371,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Dolphin Research Center →
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 56 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