California · Nonprofit
Oceanic Society Expeditions
Oceanic Society Expeditions (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,027,462 to it, the largest being Moore Family Foundation ($575,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.9M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Oceanic Society Expeditions does
Mission
Our mission is to conserve marine wildlife and habitats by deepening the connections between people and nature.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
International Travel Program - Leading Expeditions, that give people life-changing experience in nature, support ocean research and conservation, and shape the travel industry. Every trip we lead supports ocean conservation through our unique travel model.
$1,895,244 spent$2,316,103 earned by the program63% of program spendingWhale Watch Program - Whale Watch helps fund conservation efforts, such as our Conservation Scholars Program, which delivers life-changing ocean experiences free of charge to underserved student groups and communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. We also use our whale watching cruises as an opportunity to collect photographic identification data on marine mammals, which we share with a network of researchers throughout the eastern Pacific,
$440,439 spent$420,696 earned by the program15% of program spendingThrough our Behavior Change program -we work with leading behavioral experts and organizations to understand the fundamentals of human behavior and discovered how we can apply that knowledge ocean health. We have developed,tested, and scaled science-based behavior change techniques across all our programs. Through our Sea Turtle conservation program, we are working to save the sea turtles from extinction worldwide. Oceanic Society leads the only globally focused sea turtle conservation programs, fulfilling a need in sea turtle conservation that was previously unmet. We partner with and support thousands of individuals and institutions to improve sea turtle science, set priorities for research and conservation, and provide needed resources to conservation projects through our programs. Oceanic Societys Conservation Scholars Program aims to give life-changing ocean experiences to underserved students and communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The program was established in honor of Captain Roger Thomas who enjoyed nothing more than introducing new people to the ocean he loved and fought to protect.
$689,953 spent$581,695 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,025,636.
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 2019 to 2020, from $3.2M to $1.5M (−53%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Zachary D Rabinor
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $210k → $311k.
15 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 Oceanic Society Expeditions’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
Oceanic Society Expeditions has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
41% 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 Oceanic Society Expeditions.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 33% · 2019 57% · 2020 42% · 2021 37% · 2022 47% · 2023 16% — 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
38% of Oceanic Society Expeditions's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
Oceanic Society Expeditions draws 60% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 15 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 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.
Government funding Oceanic Society Expeditions receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $109k on record.
- Department of the Interior$109k
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 Oceanic Society Expeditions
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
89% 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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Oceanic Society Expeditions: 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 Oceanic Society Expeditions?
- Oceanic Society Expeditions (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,027,462 to it, the largest being Moore Family Foundation ($575,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Oceanic Society Expeditions have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $3,027,462 in grants to Oceanic Society Expeditions, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Oceanic Society Expeditions?
- Moore Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $575,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Oceanic Society Expeditions 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.
Play a game about who funds Oceanic Society Expeditions →
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 45 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