Oregon · Nonprofit
OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC
OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC (Oregon) receives grants from 74 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,078,060 to it, the largest being THE ROUNDHOUSE FOUNDATION ($4,004,500). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 74
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $50M
What Oregon Coast Aquarium Inc does
Mission
The aquarium's mission is to maintain the highest quality aquatic and marine science programs for recreation and education so that the public better understands, cherishes, and conserves the world's natural marine and coastal resources.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Animal care: the aquarium maintains and cares for over 500 species of animals in stunning indoor and outdoor exhibits at its 30-acre marine facility. Current exhibitions include passages of the deep, seals & sea lions, sea otters seabird aviary, turkey vultures and indoor galleries: sandy coast, rocky coast, connected coasts, and pacific jellies. The primary function of the animal care department is to provide care and a healthy environment for the marine animals. The department is responsible for all aspects of animal husbandry, life support, rehabilitation, animal collection, transport, and all dive programs associated with the aquarium.
$6,375,813 spent61% of program spendingVisitor services and marketing: the aquarium provides information and related services to visitors, students, researchers, scholars, and others interested in the aquarium's exhibits, programs, and other activities. In addition, the aquarium conducts broader efforts to communicate with the general public about marine life and oregon's coastal ecosystems and promote the aquarium's educational programs and services.
$2,351,944 spent$10,293,081 earned by the program23% of program spendingMission engagement: the aquarium offers onsite, online and outreach education programs, including classroom programs, virtual field trips and career explorations. Additionally, we are now engaging scout groups and college clubs in field based community science projects. The aquarium partners with lincoln county school district (lcsd) on an ocean literacy initiative - creating field experiences aligned with lcsd's newly adopted science curriculum. The aquarium has a youth volunteer program includes summer interpreters and a newly developed marine science club in conjunction with local schools. The aquarium, in collaboration with lcsd, created a bilingual program for high school students that serves our growing latino community. Continued on schedule o. On-site, the aquarium facilitates behind-the-scenes tours and school field trips as well as a variety of added-value programs such as narrated pelican presentations. The aquarium's educators use animal ambassadors, such as our barn owl or western pond turtle, to reach visitors about coastal wildlife, and instill empathy toward misunderstood species. With our newly remodeled changing exhibition space, the aquarium is again offering…
$1,677,526 spent16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,405,283.
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. 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 2020 to 2021, from $26M to $42M (+60%).
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 2% · 2021 24% · 2022 11% · 2023 18% · 2024 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Carrie Lewis
President & CEO
Board chair
Dustin Capri
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $195k → $1.7M.
9 of 74 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 74 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
OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 24% · 2019 33% · 2020 18% · 2021 35% · 2022 28% · 2023 58% — 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
48% of OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
71% of OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC's grant income comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.9M on record — $632k federal, $5.3M state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$478k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$154k
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$5.0M
- AGENCY PROGRAM RELATED SERVICES$149k
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-PROFIT ORG$70k
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT$64k
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT>$75K$17k
- CATERING SERVICES$7k
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 OREGON COAST AQUARIUM 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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 OREGON COAST AQUARIUM 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 OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC?
- OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC (Oregon) receives grants from 74 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,078,060 to it, the largest being THE ROUNDHOUSE FOUNDATION ($4,004,500). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 74 organizations giving $14,078,060 in grants to OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC, 50 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC?
- THE ROUNDHOUSE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,004,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OREGON COAST AQUARIUM INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Oregon Coast Aquarium →
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 74 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