California · Nonprofit
EXPLORE ECOLOGY
EXPLORE ECOLOGY (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,336,772 to it, the largest being Audacious Foundation ($1,084,363). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $400k
What Explore Ecology does
Mission
Explore Ecology empowers our community to proect and preserve the planet with innovative environmental education and nature-based learning.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Environmental education:over 800 environmental lessons were conducted by Explore Ecology staff for approximately 20,000 students throughout santa barbara county. Lessons focus on water quality, watershed stewardship and waste management - reduce, reuse, recycle and compost. Environmental education lessons take place in classrooms, on field trips including the watershed resource center, tajiguas landfill, and beach cleanups. Through this environmental education program, Explore Ecology helps local government agencies and school districts reach their goals of educating the community about environmental sustainability. Over 800 environmental lessons were conducted by Explore Ecology staff for approximately 20,000 people, nearly all students. An additional 10,000 elementary age students were educated through Explore Ecology's school gardens program. Lessons focus on waste diversion (reduce, reuse, recycle and compost), water quality, school gardens and nutrition. Environmental education lessons are presented to groups from local schools, after school and summer camp groups, as well as some groups of college students and adults. Through this environmental education program, Explore…
$273,957 spent$340,819 earned by the program21% of program spendingSchool gardens:an additional 10,000 elementary age students were educated through Explore Ecology's school gardens program in 34 gardens countywide. Staff maintain gardens while working with schools and teachers to provide lessons in planting, cultivating, harvesting, composting, and nutrition. Explore Ecology provides training for early childhood educators to use in preschools and daycare centers. The school gardens team frequently provides consultation and collaboration with other nonprofits seeking to develop their own outdoor classroom curriculum.
$829,987 spent$605,397 earned by the program63% of program spendingEe creative reuse - art from scrap: art from scrap creative reuse store receives donations from more than 200 businesses and individuals. Over 18 tons of materials were diverted from the landfill while empowering businesses to reduce and reuse their excess materials. 25 schools serving about 5,000 students benefited from the free school materials program for art, science and other uses. Youth groups, artists, parents and the public participated in the waste diversion technique of reuse through the art from scrap reuse store, where over 200 people per week shopped for creative reuse materials.
$141,943 spent$169,594 earned by the program11% of program spendingEe makerspace art program: over 5,000 students participated in art activities with reuse materials as part of their education field trips, in-class lessons, and virtual lessons. These experiences helped to increase their problem solving skills which lead to improved educational performance. Twice weekly crafternoons are offered for children and their families while monthly workshops engage all ages in skills-building that includes sewing, journal binding, and needle crafts. Explore Ecology supports schools, local art collectives, performing art companies and individual artists by providing unique recycled materials and educational opportunities.
$63,941 spent$30,133 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,309,828.
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 2023 to 2024, from $350k to $893k (+155%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 24% · 2021 22% · 2022 5% · 2023 1% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of EXPLORE ECOLOGY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Lindsay Johnson
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $109k → $506k.
7 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 EXPLORE ECOLOGY’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
EXPLORE ECOLOGY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
30% 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 EXPLORE ECOLOGY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 64% · 2019 54% · 2020 66% · 2021 53% · 2022 44% · 2023 67% — 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
38% of EXPLORE ECOLOGY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
96% of EXPLORE ECOLOGY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $574k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
EXPLORE ECOLOGY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding EXPLORE ECOLOGY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $162k on record.
- Department of Commerce$162k
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 EXPLORE ECOLOGY
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 EXPLORE ECOLOGY: 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 EXPLORE ECOLOGY?
- EXPLORE ECOLOGY (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,336,772 to it, the largest being Audacious Foundation ($1,084,363). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EXPLORE ECOLOGY have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $2,336,772 in grants to EXPLORE ECOLOGY, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EXPLORE ECOLOGY?
- Audacious Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,084,363 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EXPLORE ECOLOGY 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 Explore Ecology →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 30 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