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California · Nonprofit

PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL

PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,176 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($292,489). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$217k
Funders on record
30
Grants received
$984k
Net assets
$54k
14/30 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 59%
01What it does

What Plastic Oceans International does

Mission

End plastic pollution by supporting local communities in the circular economy transition

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. SEE Positive Change: is a film library and film distribution service. Here, you can discover the films we use for our dialogues and to create change around the world.

    $70,415 spent
    74% of program spending
  2. BLUECOMMUNITIES: Global network of grassroot organizations committed to continuously engaging stakeholders.

    $17,580 spent
    19% of program spending
  3. Trees & Seas Global film festival sparking local initiatives and stakeholder engagement.

    $6,766 spent
    7% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $94,761.

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 ($390k) Expenses 100 ($209k) Net assets 100 ($181k)2018 Revenue 209 ($813k) Expenses 177 ($370k) Net assets 357 ($646k)2019 Revenue 163 ($636k) Expenses 339 ($709k) Net assets 287 ($520k)2020 Revenue 218 ($851k) Expenses 264 ($551k) Net assets 452 ($820k)2021 Revenue 84 ($326k) Expenses 323 ($675k) Net assets 260 ($471k)2022 Revenue 127 ($494k) Expenses 254 ($530k) Net assets 240 ($434k)2023 Revenue 51 ($197k) Expenses 160 ($335k) Net assets 164 ($297k)2024 Revenue 56 ($217k) Expenses 107 ($224k) Net assets 30 ($54k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (56)Expenses (107)Net assets (30)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 2017 to 2018, from $181k to $646k (+257%).

$181k
$646k
$520k
$820k
$471k
$434k
$297k
$54k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,629 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$181k
’17
$443k
’18
−$73k
’19
$300k
’20
−$349k
’21
−$36k
’22
−$138k
’23
−$7k
’24
2.9
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

Julie Andersen

CEO

Board chair

William Pfeiffer

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed33433334
Joined·+0+1+0+0+0+0+1
No longer listed·0010000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $15k → $116k.

15 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 29 of 30 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

PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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

69% 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 PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL.

30%
largest funder
49%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 82% · 2019 69% · 2020 35% · 2021 41% · 2022 37% · 2023 78% — 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

31% of PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

67% of PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $326k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.

IL
NY
MA
CA
CO
DE
FL

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. $659k arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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

PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL's revenue fell 44% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−3% · below the median
Months of reserve2.9mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−8% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL

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

42% of spending goes to programs.

Program 42%Management 58%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL: 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 PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL?
PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,176 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($292,489). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL have?
IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $984,176 in grants to PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL?
AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $292,489 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PLASTIC OCEANS INTERNATIONAL 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 Plastic Oceans International →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 30 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