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Washington · Nonprofit

KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA

KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA (Washington) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $552,998 to it, the largest being ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($142,749). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$237k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$553k
Net assets
$132k
6/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 67%
01What it does

What Kwiaht Center for Salish Sea does

Mission

Science for stewardship of the san juan islands including studies of long term change in marine and terrestrial species, habitats and food webs

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Eco-engineering & food security; completed 1200 ft of shellfish beds; helped tribal educators revive local native food plant knowledge; helped students grow vegetables for educational purposes. Marine food webs: published findings of 15 yr study of chinook salmon; launched new study on health of puget sound herring; building archive of fish vocalizations for research terrestrial biodiversity; garden pesticides affecting bats; first study of tick ecology in islands; assisted state in avian flu outbreak; documents/saved seelings varieties and preserved heritage and seedling varieties of apples, pears and plums

    $175,349 spent$96,826 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $175,349.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($98k) Expenses 100 ($127k) Net assets 100 ($95k)2018 Revenue 128 ($126k) Expenses 133 ($168k) Net assets 55 ($52k)2019 Revenue 161 ($158k) Expenses 121 ($154k) Net assets 59 ($56k)2020 Revenue 102 ($100k) Expenses 89 ($113k) Net assets 46 ($43k)2021 Revenue 155 ($152k) Expenses 106 ($135k) Net assets 64 ($60k)2022 Revenue 173 ($170k) Expenses 144 ($182k) Net assets 51 ($48k)2023 Revenue 172 ($169k) Expenses 125 ($158k) Net assets 62 ($59k)2024 Revenue 292 ($287k) Expenses 187 ($237k) Net assets 113 ($108k)2025 Revenue 241 ($237k) Expenses 162 ($205k) Net assets 139 ($132k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (241)Expenses (162)Net assets (139)Peer revenue range

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 $59k to $108k (+82%).

$95k
$52k
$57k
$44k
$61k
$49k
$59k
$108k
$132k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2025 39%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

59% of KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 14,893 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$29k
’17
−$43k
’18
$4k
’19
−$13k
’20
$17k
’21
−$12k
’22
$10k
’23
$50k
’24
$32k
’25
7.3
months of
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.

Board chair

Shona Aitken

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20242025
Listed66
Joined·+0
No longer listed·0
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $29k → $50k.

4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA’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

KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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

72% 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 KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA.

26%
largest funder
72%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 80% · 2019 43% · 2020 47% · 2021 41% · 2022 37% · 2023 41% — 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

38% of KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 5 states in all.

WA
MN
CA
DE
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $176k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 7,883 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin13% · above the median
Months of reserve7.3mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA

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

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 14%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
0%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

WA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA: 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.

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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 KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA?
KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA (Washington) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $552,998 to it, the largest being ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($142,749). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $552,998 in grants to KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA?
ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $142,749 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like KWIAHT CENTER FOR SALISH SEA find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Kwiaht Center for Salish Sea →

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 12 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