California · Nonprofit
LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER
LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER (California) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,785,300 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($3,624,220). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $7.8M
- Net assets
- $2.8M
What Los Angeles Waterkeeper does
Mission
Los Angeles Waterkeeper's mission is to fight for the health of the region's waterways, and for sustainable, equitable and climate-friendly water supplies.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The pollution prevention program addresses the leading sources of water contamination in la - urban runoff, industrial discharges, and sewage spills - through regulatory engagement, enforcement, and coalition advocacy. In 2025, we secured well over a million dollars in supplemental environmental projects (seps) - legal settlements that compel polluters to invest in tangible solutions for affected communities, supporting habitat restoration, green infrastructure, and water resilience. We took on 40 new industrial stormwater cases, resulting in substantive halts to pollution in local waterways, and continued tracking and supporting enforcement of sewage spills regionally. In the aftermath of the 2025 la fires, we expanded our focus on pfas (forever chemicals), collecting more than 50 samples across 17 sites in the la river watershed since 2022. Cumulative results, published in pfas in the la river (2022-2025 monitoring results) and shared with the la regional water board, la sanitation, and the army corps of engineers, found pfas present at 16 of 17 locations - up from 15 of 17 prior to 2025. The new detection came from a previously clean, naturalized site within the eaton fire's…
$2,181,672 spent$2,586,512 earned by the program49% of program spendingThe systems change program promotes a 4r (reduce, reuse, recycle, restore) approach to local water supply. We secured a major win for wastewater recycling, successfully advocating for a complete, clean eir certification for mwd's pure water southern california project - approved by the mwd board in february - and served as a key policy driver behind ladwp's decision to double treatment capacity at its tillman plant, minimizing energy costs and disruption to la river flows. Through the safe clean water program, we led 5 countywide watershed planning workshops in fall 2025 - including 3 in the la river corridor - reviewed round 7 exemplar projects with the ourwaterla coalition and continued facilitating the coalition through the 2025 biennial review. Our infrastructure justice for la (ijla) coalition passed the urban natureways board motion, converting easements and rights-of-way into recreation space, and drafted a multi-benefit infrastructure scorecard to help rank projects for limited funding. Ijla also concluded the icarp-funded la cool capital stack project, trialing community co-development of climate adaptation projects in vulnerable neighborhoods and partnered with cal poly…
$1,644,031 spentof which $480,500 as grants37% of program spendingThe healthy habitats program works to restore the ecological health of the region's rivers, creeks, wetlands, beaches, and coastal waters through fieldwork, community engagement, and advocacy. 2025 was a hard year to work in los angeles - the fires, federal funding freezes, and state budget pressures disrupted timelines across the board - but we made meaningful progress. Through our creeks to coast (c2c) cleanup challenge and river assessment field team (raft), we engaged 730+ volunteers - 63% from disadvantaged communities - in fieldwork across la county beaches, creeks, and rivers, collecting data on 9,525 pieces of litter and removing 1,338 pounds of trash. Raft held 5 field events across 6 sites spanning the full range of the river's condition, from the naturalized arroyo seco upstream site to concrete-lined channels at maywood and the rio hondo confluence, monitoring water quality and continuing our pfas sampling effort (see pollution prevention). We settled our major litigation against la county over the la river master plan, securing the county's commitment to a genuine watershed-wide restoration planning process, and resolved a second legal fight over the pacific place…
$602,365 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,428,068.
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 2024 to 2025, from $2.3M to $3.0M (+33%).
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 10% · 2021 7% · 2023 2% · 2024 3% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 3 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
Bruce Reznik
Executive director
Board chair
Jonathan Varat
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $352k → $2.1M.
16 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
79% 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 LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 33% · 2019 44% · 2020 26% · 2021 60% · 2022 62% · 2023 74% — 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
38% of LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
57% of LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER'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 $3.4M that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER
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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER: 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 LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER?
- LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER (California) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,785,300 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($3,624,220). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $7,785,300 in grants to LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER?
- ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,624,220 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOS ANGELES WATERKEEPER 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 54 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