California · Nonprofit
OPERATION OPEN WATER
OPERATION OPEN WATER (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,672 to it, the largest being The Mc Daniel Family Foundation ($270,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $297k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $524k
- Net assets
- $148k
What Operation Open Water does
Mission
Supporting the health and wellness of every first responder and veteran through unique training programs, and open water experiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Supporting the health and wellness of every first responder and veteran through unique training programs, fellowship, and open water experiences.
$237,237 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $237,237.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2023 to 2024, from $165k to $117k (−29%).
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.
77% of OPERATION OPEN WATER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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
Dave Rhodes
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $115k → $148k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 OPERATION OPEN WATER’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
OPERATION OPEN WATER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
42% 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 OPERATION OPEN WATER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 39% · 2022 43% · 2023 61% — 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.
Where its funders are
92% of OPERATION OPEN WATER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
OPERATION OPEN WATER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like OPERATION OPEN WATER
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 OPERATION OPEN WATER: 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 OPERATION OPEN WATER?
- OPERATION OPEN WATER (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,672 to it, the largest being The Mc Daniel Family Foundation ($270,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERATION OPEN WATER have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $523,672 in grants to OPERATION OPEN WATER, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERATION OPEN WATER?
- The Mc Daniel Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $270,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERATION OPEN WATER 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 Operation Open Water →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 8 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