Virginia · Nonprofit
NAUTICUS FOUNDATION
NAUTICUS FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,030,328 to it, the largest being THE BATTEN FOUNDATION ($1,300,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $4.0M
- Net assets
- $19M
What Nauticus Foundation does
Mission
We exist to benefit our community through education, impactful experiences and by sharing access to maritime resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Nauticus is a maritime discovery center located along the waterfront in downtown, norfolk offering a unique form of experiential learning for all ages. Through interactive exhibits and stem to stern programming, nauticus uses the museum, battleship wisconsin, sailing center, and schooner virginia to tell the story of the maritime environment, industry, and the military.
$3,714,734 spent$2,708,058 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,714,734.
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.
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 $11M to $20M (+74%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Chief executive
Stephen Kirkland
Executive director
Board chair
Paul Fraim
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $105k → $948k.
3 of 22 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: $1.2M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Hampton Roads Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money NAUTICUS FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of NAUTICUS FOUNDATION’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
NAUTICUS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 33% · 2019 51% · 2020 68% · 2021 67% · 2022 73% · 2023 26% — 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 NAUTICUS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
99% of NAUTICUS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Government funding NAUTICUS FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $75k on record.
- Department of Defense$63k
- Department of Homeland Security$11k
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 NAUTICUS FOUNDATION
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- City of Norfolk · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NAUTICUS FOUNDATION: 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 NAUTICUS FOUNDATION?
- NAUTICUS FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,030,328 to it, the largest being THE BATTEN FOUNDATION ($1,300,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NAUTICUS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $4,030,328 in grants to NAUTICUS FOUNDATION, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NAUTICUS FOUNDATION?
- THE BATTEN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NAUTICUS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 Nauticus →
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 22 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