California · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM
FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM (California) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,969,368 to it, the largest being Nustar Foundation ($1,152,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Friends of Cabrillo Aquarium does
Mission
The organization's operational goals include solicitation, receipt and distribution of funds for educational programs and services ofcabrillo marine aquarium.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The organization fundraises to support the educational programs and services of cabrillo marine aquarium.
$956,264 spentof which $760,476 as grants68% of program spendingGift shop: the organization maintains a gift shop located in cabrillo marine aquarium (cma) that sells gift items, stationary, and educational books related to cma. Proceeds are used to support the educational programs and services of cma.
$444,684 spent$167,171 earned by the program32% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,400,948.
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 $1.6M to $1.4M (−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.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 3% · 2021 8% · 2022 4% · 2023 10% · 2024 3% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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
Caroline Brady
Executive director
Board chair
Brissa Sotelo-Vargas
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $132k → $324k.
7 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 CABRILLO AQUARIUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 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 CABRILLO AQUARIUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 39% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 26% · 2019 18% · 2020 53% · 2021 83% · 2022 74% · 2023 46% — 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
32% of FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $444k 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
FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM's funding base is broadening — from 9 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM
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
98%
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 CABRILLO AQUARIUM: 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 CABRILLO AQUARIUM?
- FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM (California) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,969,368 to it, the largest being Nustar Foundation ($1,152,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $2,969,368 in grants to FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM?
- Nustar Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,152,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF CABRILLO AQUARIUM 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 42 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