California · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS
FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS (California) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,353,835 to it, the largest being JOHN AND NANCY EDWARDS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,193,539). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $794k
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Friends of Ballona Wetlands does
Mission
Championing the restoration and protection of los angeles' last coastal wetland and educating our diverse community as stewards of nature.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education: the Friends of Ballona Wetlands' los angelescounty-based education and restoration programs, collectivelycalled "explore ballona", have since 1994 provided hands-oneducational experiences to an ethnically, culturally, andeconomically diverse population of approximately 9,000 residentseach year at ballona's salt marsh, dunes and freshwater marsh, andin various community settings. "explore ballona" offers educationand service learning opportunities to pre-k-12, college,community, and corporate groups, changing community members fromuninformed residents to active stewards of the county's lastremaining viable coastal wetland and watershed.
$361,863 spentof which $41,641 as grants$34,541 earned by the program56% of program spendingRestoration: since 1990 as part of our restoration projects, over100,000 school and community volunteers have removed over 600 tonsof garbage and non-native plants from the ballona wetlands, aswell as renovation of several outdoor learning areas such as thefield office/restoration center, the viewing platform, also builtduring the 1990's by a pack of boy scouts on the berm created forthe old los angeles pacific railway electric trolley "red carline" trestle, and the representational village of the nativetongva people.
$178,541 spent27% of program spendingScience: Friends of Ballona Wetlands' scientific program monitors the avian diversity of the wetlands, performs annual butterfly counts, and monitors our restoration efforts to inform adaptive management and track success. We also lead the swallow nest box program at the freshwater marsh, and we encourage the community to create bio diversity in their own backyards through our "grow native!" program.
$109,280 spent17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $649,684.
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.
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 $513k to $675k (+32%).
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: 2019 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 3% · 2022 1% · 2023 17% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Scott Culbertson
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $264k → $284k.
10 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
32% 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 FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 57% · 2019 57% · 2020 52% · 2021 64% · 2022 48% · 2023 43% — 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
44% of FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
93% of FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $713k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Organizations like FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
57%
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 FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS: 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 FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS?
- FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS (California) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,353,835 to it, the largest being JOHN AND NANCY EDWARDS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,193,539). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $2,353,835 in grants to FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS?
- JOHN AND NANCY EDWARDS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,193,539 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF BALLONA WETLANDS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 34 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