Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC
GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,030,035 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($16,526,282). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $66M
- Net assets
- $67M
What Global Fishing Watch Inc does
Mission
Global fishing watch advances ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea. By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, we enable scientific research and drive a transformation in how we manage our oceans.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Global fishing watch is an international nonprofit organization founded on the belief that information about the ocean, our global commons, should be common knowledge. Our purpose is to create and publicly share knowledge about human activity at sea to enable sustainable use of our ocean. We create knowledge using cutting-edge technology to turn big data into actionable information. We share that information publicly to accelerate science and drive fairer, smarter policies and practices that reward good behavior and protect biodiversity and livelihoods. And we promote international cooperation and transparency around ocean data to enable a new era of ocean governance.by 2030, we aim to empower institutions and people to: reduce illegal, unregulated and unreported (iuu) fishing and destructive fishing practicesimprove effective designation and management of marine protected areas (mpas) and other effective area-based conservation measures (oecms). Better enforce and protect the rights of 1 million small-scale fishersthree interlinked strategic priorities guide our work:map all human activity at sea: we aim to publicly monitor and map all commercial activity at sea, including all…
$9,484,938 spentof which $373,777 as grants$105,952 earned by the program51% of program spendingEngage national governments to use open data and adopt transparency: we are engaging selected countries to adopt transparency as a core principle and to share their vessel and ocean data more widely. Increased transparency, combined with our technology, is enabling stronger enforcement actions and policy shifts, helping these countries address threats to the ocean and become international advocates for transparency. As of the end of 2025, more than 20 governments are using our technology and data. Of these, 12 have taken the significant step of publicly sharing their vessel tracking data via our map, and many are using our tools to generate insights that strengthen marine protection and
$6,460,649 spentof which $1,085,476 as grants$49,900 earned by the program35% of program spendingAdvance transparency in international policies and forums: un agencies, regional bodies and other international institutions also need to embrace transparency principles for the ocean. In 2025, we secured explicit recognition of the role of transparency and technology in ending illegal, unreported and unregulated (iuu) fishing in the un ocean conference's nice ocean action plan. This builds on our success in embedding transparency, open data and technology as core pillars of ocean governance in the 2025 un general assembly and 2024 un sustainable fisheries resolutions.more information about global fishing watch's ongoing programs can be found at www.globalfishingwatch.org.
$2,733,496 spent$44,375 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,679,083.
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 2022 to 2023, from $12M to $69M (+477%).
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: 2020 4% · 2021 2% · 2022 10% · 2023 1% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% 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
Anthony Long
CEO
Board chair
Brian Sullivan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 18 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $16M.
11 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
66% 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 GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 65% · 2019 48% · 2020 63% · 2021 46% · 2022 26% · 2023 20% — 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
17% of GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
56% of GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC'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 $29M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $37M 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.
Against its field
GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 330 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 330 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $140k on record.
- Department of Defense$140k
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 GLOBAL FISHING WATCH 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Global Fishing Watch UK · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GLOBAL FISHING WATCH 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 GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC?
- GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,030,035 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($16,526,282). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $66,030,035 in grants to GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $16,526,282 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GLOBAL FISHING WATCH INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 31 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