California · Nonprofit
HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,904,175 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($1,097,148). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.4M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $6.8M
What Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute does
Mission
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (the Institute) was organized pursuant to the General Nonprofit Corporation Law of the State of California. The primary purpose for which the Institute was formed is to conduct biological, environmental, and other general scientific studies, and to engage in the development of the technologies which will enhance public awareness and mankinds dedication to the public service responsibility in both the public and private sector.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD Conducted scientific research on 25 sustainable seafood projects, feeding a hungry world and restoring depleted fish populations. Aquaculture is a practical solution to renewing regionally and economically important marine fisheries, producing domestic supplies of sustainable seafood and reducing the need for fresh water to produce terrestrial animal protein as a food source.During the previous fiscal year, we made significant progress in our white seabass fin clip feasibility program under the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program (OREHP), with support from NOAAs Saltonstall-Kennedy program. Volunteer anglers and citizen scientists actively participated in collecting fin clips from white seabass they caught, utilizing kits provided by HSWRI. In addition, muscle tissue and otoliths were extracted from white seabass heads donated by anglers and commercial processors, as part of the Save Your White Seabass Head Program. These samples were sent for analysis with fin clips and muscle tissue genotyped for genetic parentage assignment by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to differentiate hatchery-raised and wild fish. Otoliths were…
$5,091,900 spent100% of program spendingWILDLIFE POPULATIONS Conducted scientific research on 3 projects on wildlife population ecology, examining the interconnectedness of marine life and habitats. Our research focuses on wild marine animal populations, seeking to predict and prevent impacts from human disturbance, habitat loss and pollution, and climate change. In Florida, our researchers continued our long-term monitoring of dolphin populations in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), which has been essential for understanding the health and ecology of this vital estuarine system. Our systematic tracking of dolphin abundance, distribution, and health provides critical data for managing and conserving these populations, which are indicators of broader ecosystem health. Using noninvasive unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and photogrammetry, we assessed the body condition of free-swimming dolphins to improve precision in measuring their health. Our study collected morphometric data from 29 dolphins, providing insights into their body mass index and overall health condition. These findings will help guide future research and management efforts, as dolphins serve as sentinel species, offering valuable data on the health of the…
OCEAN HEALTH Conducted scientific research on 7 projects on ocean health, promoting a healthier planet where humans and marine life thrive together. To advance ocean health, we study ways to prevent disease transmission, promote ecosystem health and resilience, and provide rapid first response to marine life strandings and entanglements. HSWRI is responsible for stranding response and coordination for 222 km of the north and central east coast of Florida (~40% of Floridas east coast), as well as response within about 1800 km2 of estuarine waters. HSWRIs response area covers three coastal counties, including the federal lands within and surrounding the Kennedy Space Center, and HSWRI responds to more strandings than any other organization in Florida. This portion of Florida averages 67 strandings a year and is one of the most active areas for strandings in the southeastern U.S., receiving both live and dead cetaceans, including large whales, from mass strandings. HSWRI provided 24/7 first response to stranded whales and dolphins in Florida for over 50 events, including a rare beaked whale, striped dolphin, sperm whale, and killer whale, a species not observed stranded in the…
ANIMAL BEHAVIORConducted scientific research on 1 grant-funded animal behavior project, using sound to harmonize human and animal interaction. By understanding how marine life uses sound for communication and survival, we can reduce impacts of human-made noise, minimize entanglements, and injuries and use sound to warn marine life of hazards.This year, our team contributed to a collaborative project that presented an analysis of the acoustic repertoires of Icelandic killer whales, examining group-specific calls across five locations from 1985 to 2016. The study identified 91 distinct call categories, with some overlap in calls between regions, particularly in Vestmannaeyjar and Breiafjrur, while certain areas featured unique call categories. The occurrence of specific calls remained relatively stable over a 14-year period but varied year-to-year in correlation with the movement of individuals. The study provides a more comprehensive and updated analysis of the call type repertoire of killer whales in Iceland, expanding on the foundational work of HSWRI scientists from 1988, supporting our commitment to understand the dynamics of animal behavior and communication. The program…
EDUCATION AND OUTREACHConducted scientific research on 1 grant-funded education and outreach project, inspiring a love for science. We are committed to creating future citizen advocates for ocean health and marine life by advancing public appreciation for scientific discovery. HSWRI scientists work with students at all levels, committed to a K to Gray lifelong learning approach to inspiring all citizens to be ocean stewards with an appreciation for scientific discovery, targeting Title 1 schools for outreach and presentations. Seabass in the Classroom continued this year with 6 active schools across San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange counties participating in the raising and releasing of white seabass. Our new Education and Outreach Manager led efforts growing the program, by working to bring this program to Title 1 and minority-serving school districts that often lack robust STEM education programs. Further, we continued our work to inspire hands-on and experiential learning and career development opportunities, with more than 450 students visiting the Carlsbad hatchery and Mission Bay facilities for educational tours and career chats with scientists. Our Institute continues to…
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,091,900.
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 $8.5M to $7.7M (−9%).
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 39% · 2019 34% · 2020 38% · 2021 52% · 2022 38% · 2023 38% · 2024 54% · 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE’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. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $300k → $1.4M.
7 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $3.0M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Hubbs Florida Ocean Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE raised.
From the IRS filings of HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
33% 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 HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 49% · 2019 46% · 2020 51% · 2021 38% · 2022 57% · 2023 52% — 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.
How long its funders stay
21% of HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 13 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 717 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.4M on record.
- Department of Commerce$2.3M
- Department of Agriculture$99k
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 HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Hubbs Florida Ocean Fund Inc · exempt
- Pacific Ocean Fresh · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE: 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 HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,904,175 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($1,097,148). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $5,904,175 in grants to HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,097,148 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HUBBS-SEA WORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE 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 Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute →
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 35 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