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California · Nonprofit

Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc

Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,298,549 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY PARTNERS ($218,751). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.1M
Funders on record
24
Grants received
$1.3M
Net assets
$1.9M
17/24 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 26%
01What it does

What Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc does

Mission

The specific and primary purposes are to foster and promote the public study of, and interest in, the oceans, tidelands and beaches of Southern California, the marine life therein, and the impact of human population on that environment. OTS and the Roundhouse have been fulfilling this mission since 1979, in the heart of Downtown Manhattan Beach, at the very end of the Manhattan Beach Pier.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Teaching local Marine Biology and Oceanographic courses to K-12 Students and maintain an operational acquarium for public viewing.

    $907,816 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $907,816.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($427k) Expenses 100 ($326k) Net assets 100 ($543k)2018 Revenue 79 ($335k) Expenses 110 ($359k) Net assets 96 ($518k)2019 Revenue 436 ($1.9M) Expenses 203 ($664k) Net assets 316 ($1.7M)2020 Revenue 127 ($544k) Expenses 210 ($685k) Net assets 305 ($1.7M)2021 Revenue 157 ($672k) Expenses 198 ($645k) Net assets 328 ($1.8M)2022 Revenue 190 ($813k) Expenses 231 ($753k) Net assets 332 ($1.8M)2023 Revenue 230 ($982k) Expenses 267 ($872k) Net assets 352 ($1.9M)2024 Revenue 210 ($897k) Expenses 312 ($1.0M) Net assets 324 ($1.8M)2025 Revenue 256 ($1.1M) Expenses 319 ($1.0M) Net assets 349 ($1.9M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (256)Expenses (319)Net assets (349)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $519k to $1.7M (+231%).

$543k
$519k
$1.7M
$1.7M
$1.8M
$1.9M
$1.9M
$1.8M
$1.9M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 11% · 2022 8% · 2024 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

67% of Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,352 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$101k
’17
−$24k
’18
$1.2M
’19
−$141k
’20
$27k
’21
$60k
’22
$110k
’23
−$121k
’24
$56k
’25
1.7
months of
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

Grace Adams

Executive Director

Board chair

Hillel Cohn

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed10810111213131315
Joined·+0+2+1+1+1+0+2+3
No longer listed·20000021
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $39k → $197k.

6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 23 of 24 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

Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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

61% 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 Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc.

17%
largest funder
43%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 51% · 2019 40% · 2020 64% · 2021 36% · 2022 40% · 2023 54% — broadly stable.

“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

56% of Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

84% of Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc's grant income comes from California funders.

WA
PA
CA
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $230k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin5% · above the median
Months of reserve1.7mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Oceanographic Teaching Stations 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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 5%Fundraising 8%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

65%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Oceanographic Teaching Stations 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.

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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 Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc?
Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,298,549 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY PARTNERS ($218,751). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc have?
IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,298,549 in grants to Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc?
COMMUNITY PARTNERS is the largest funder on record, with $218,751 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Oceanographic Teaching Stations Inc 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 Oceanographic Teaching Stations →

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 24 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