Connecticut · Nonprofit
OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC
OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,394,162 to it, the largest being OCEAN MOKUM FOUNDATION ($4,000,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $7.4M
- Net assets
- $9.8M
What Ocean Exploration Trust Inc does
Mission
Advance the emerging fields of ocean exploration and archaelogical oceanography through co-sponsoring and supporting deep sea expeditions and supporting the development of advanced technology required by deep sea expeditions. Furthering public interest and scientific research in the fields of ocean exploration and archaelogical oceanography through the support of real-time educational programming and dissemination of deep sea expedition research through a variety of educational outreach efforts.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
See schedule oin 2024, e/v nautilus successfully completed an 8-month field season consisting of 11 multi-disciplinary expeditions that explored the pacific for a total of 163 days at sea. The 2024 season began with a shake down expedition in hawaii to prepare for the field work ahead, followed by others centered on supporting maintenance of the ocean networks canada cabled observatory, seafloor mapping across the north and central pacific, multi-vehicle explorations in american samoa, rov explorations of the palau national marine sanctuary, and deployments of multiple robotic assets to study the physical oceanography around the palauan islands. Collectively, 2024 expeditions mapped over 150,000 square kilometers of seafloor, completed 62 successful rov dives, 61 deployments of other vehicles, and engaged many millions of viewers around the world. Expeditions in 2024 were funded by noaa ocean exploration via the ocean exploration cooperative institute, ocean networks canada,noaa uncrewed systems operation center, bureau of ocean energy management, and office of naval research. Throughout the planning and execution of expeditions, the ocean exploration trust worked closely with…
$13,253,264 spent$2,602,665 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $13,253,264.
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 2022 to 2023, from $13M to $11M (−16%).
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 68% · 2018 80% · 2019 82% · 2020 83% · 2021 80% · 2022 83% · 2023 76% · 2024 63%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Robert Patricelli
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $403k → $4.2M.
6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC’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
OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
31% 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 OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 95% · 2019 61% · 2020 100% · 2021 31% · 2022 45% · 2023 95% — 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 OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $539k 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
OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 329 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 329 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $36.6M on record.
- Department of Commerce$28.8M
- Department of Defense$7.8M
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 OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Oet LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC: 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 OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC?
- OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,394,162 to it, the largest being OCEAN MOKUM FOUNDATION ($4,000,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $7,394,162 in grants to OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC?
- OCEAN MOKUM FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OCEAN EXPLORATION TRUST INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Ocean Exploration →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 17 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