California · Nonprofit
Friends of the San Francisco Estuary
Friends of the San Francisco Estuary (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $403,000 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($400,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $200k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $403k
- Net assets
- $21k
What Friends of the San Francisco Estuary does
Mission
The main thrust of Friends of the Estuary is environmental education and the development of environmental leaders of tomorrow to address the most severe environmental problems in the Estuary. For the past several years we've focussed on building the next generation of environmental stewards though support of the Honey Hive Project.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
We supported the Estuary Youth Council as it completed its first year of programming. The EYC is an innovative collaboration between government, community-based organizations, and emerging young leaders from disadvantaged communities. Its goals are to provide leadership and professional development opportunities for tomorrow's leaders in the Estuary watershed. It advises environmental managers, planners, and decision-makers so they can better address needs and perspectives of youth.
$128,193 spentof which $128,193 as grants67% of program spendingEvery other year, since the late 1980s, the San Francisco Estuary Partnership has held a major conference on issues facing the Estuary. The conference brings together elected officials, State and Federal regulators, scientists, and the public to review the Estuary's environmental problems and assess progress in addressing them. To help educate students about these issues, and to enhance their skills in presenting technical data, we support the Estuary Partnership's Catalyst Fund. This fund enables disadvantaged youth to participate and provide decision-makers a unique perspective. It also provides youth an opportunity to develop skills in public speaking.
$63,140 spentof which $63,140 as grants33% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $191,333.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $18k to $21k (+12%).
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.
100% of Friends of the San Francisco Estuary’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 1 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $3k → $300k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 the San Francisco Estuary’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
Friends of the San Francisco Estuary leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 the San Francisco Estuary.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
99% of Friends of the San Francisco Estuary's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $400k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 the San Francisco Estuary has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Friends of the San Francisco Estuary
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
100% 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 Friends of the San Francisco Estuary: 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 the San Francisco Estuary?
- Friends of the San Francisco Estuary (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $403,000 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($400,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Friends of the San Francisco Estuary have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $403,000 in grants to Friends of the San Francisco Estuary, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Friends of the San Francisco Estuary?
- TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Friends of the San Francisco Estuary 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 2024–2025), and the filings of 2 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