Nonprofit
Ocean Wise Conservation Association
Ocean Wise Conservation Association receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $100,000 to it, the largest being ERM GROUP FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $100k
- Net assets
- $30M
What Ocean Wise Conservation Association does
Mission
Ocean Wise Conservation Association endeavours to effect the conservation of aquatic life and habitats in British Columbia, around the Pacific Rim, and worldwide by exposing the maximum number of people possible to information about the aquatic world, by playing a major role in public education, by conducting scientific research, by developing and operating conservation programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation & Research - Ocean Wise Seafood continues to drive responsible consumer choices in North America. The program, established to help businesses and customers identify and purchase sustainable seafood, has over 700 partner organizations around the world. Other activities include our shoreline cleanup program where over 17,000 kg of litter was picked up, led by over 25,000 participants performing 1,068 cleanups across Canada and the USA. Ocean Wise has a number of ongoing research programs with both onsite & field components. This involves research on cetaceans (including killer whales and humpback whales), ocean pollution and microplastics. Our citizen science research collects and analyzes valuable data on plastic pollution as well as cetacean sightings and we are advancing to restore kelp forests at scale in partnership with Indigenous peoples in British Columbia and in Chile.
$4,272,572 spentof which $389,781 as grants$717,384 earned by the program54% of program spendingEducation - Ocean Wise's education programs engage educators, students and parents by delivering curriculum-based video courses, take-home education kits, activities and virtual visits with ocean experts. Our youth service initiative, funded by the government of Canada's Canada Service Corps Program expanded to new geographies across the country including a direct action program, providing full-time, three-month placements for young professionals across Canada. As well, our Ocean Bridge and YouthtoSea programs provide part-time, six-month networking and service activities for young Canadians.
$3,578,441 spentof which $232,501 as grants$16,899 earned by the program46% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,851,013.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2020 to 2021, from $55M to $45M (−18%).
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 77% · 2021 77% · 2022 56% · 2023 50% · 2024 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 5 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
Mr Lars Gustafsson
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of Ocean Wise Conservation Association’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.
Organizations like Ocean Wise Conservation Association
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.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% 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
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Ocean Wise Nevada LLC · disregarded
- Ocean Wise Management Ltd · corp_trust
- Ocean Wise Research Ltd · corp_trust
- Ocean Wise Consulting Servs Ltd · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ocean Wise Conservation Association: 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 Wise Conservation Association?
- Ocean Wise Conservation Association receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $100,000 to it, the largest being ERM GROUP FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ocean Wise Conservation Association have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $100,000 in grants to Ocean Wise Conservation Association, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ocean Wise Conservation Association?
- ERM GROUP FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ocean Wise Conservation Association find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 1 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