Alabama · Nonprofit
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM (Alabama) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,209,530 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($41,203,895). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $34M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $43M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium does
Mission
To conduct pure and applied research, provide both structured education programs and information in non-instructional formats for individuals, organizations, and governance interested in and dependent upon the coastal and marine environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
University Programs-support both graduate and undergraduate degrees of the 22 member institutions. Students utilize resources at MESC as an integral part of their education (300 students per year)
$2,987,123 spent$1,207,435 earned by the program10% of program spendingDiscovery Hall Program-Intended to increase understanding and appreciation for science and the marine environment by directly involving participants in the environment with dynamic, hands on activities, k-12 students, teacher training and enhancement programs (10,000 students per year).
$1,608,451 spent$1,247,125 earned by the program6% of program spendingResearch-faculty conduct research in disciplines ranging from biochemistry to paleobiology. Mobile Bay is the overwhelmingly dominant natural feature of the Alabama coast and MESC has concentrated its efforts on the Bay - although research is carried out as far as Antarctica (100 projects)
$8,774,248 spent$8,774,248 earned by the program31% of program spendingEducation, General/Other, The Alabama Aquarium-Exciting visual displays and engaging interactive exhibits present an unforgettable educational experience. Focuses on the four main ecosystems of Mobile Bay, includes and exhibit hall, weather station and living marsh boardwalk. (100,000 visitors per year)
$800,390 spent$1,250,367 earned by the program3% of program spendingNatural Resources Conservation & Protection. Mobile Bay National Estuary Program - to provide and maintain stewardship of the water quality characteristics and wise stewardship of the living resources of the Mobile Bay Estuary System (565,000 people)
$14,313,000 spent$14,313,000 earned by the program50% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,483,212.
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 $46M to $61M (+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: 2017 47% · 2018 55% · 2019 59% · 2020 94% · 2021 88% · 2022 79% · 2023 85% · 2024 44% · 2025 49%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (52% 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
John Valentine
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income fell $5.0M → $1.6M.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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: $119k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Alabama Power Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM raised.
From the IRS filings of MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM’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
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 81% · 2019 88% · 2020 92% · 2021 95% · 2022 96% · 2023 88% — 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
33% of MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Alabama, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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.
Against its field
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 78 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 78 science & tech nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $27.9M on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$13.6M
- National Science Foundation$7.9M
- Department of Commerce$2.6M
- Department of Health and Human Services$2.3M
- Department of Defense$1.3M
- Department of the Interior$196k
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 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM
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 Alabama
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM: 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 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM?
- MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM (Alabama) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,209,530 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($41,203,895). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $43,209,530 in grants to MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $41,203,895 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES CONSORTIUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alabama. 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 Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium →
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 9 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