New York · Nonprofit
ROCKING THE BOAT INC
ROCKING THE BOAT INC (New York) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,035,814 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,590,273). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 147
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $8.6M
What Rocking the Boat Inc does
Mission
Rocking the boat participants develop pride, purpose, and possibility by learning the unique and lifelong skills behind building and rowing wooden boats, sailing, and restoring the bronx river. We create community, teach through transformative experiences, and make nature available to everyone, inspiring young people to determine their own future against a backdrop of systemic inequity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Youth development split into three tracks wooden boatbuilding, environmental science and justice, and sailing and two levels student and apprentice but united through a shared focus on giving high school students the opportunity to learn by doing practical work that produces tangible results. Licensed social workers on staff provide social-emotional and academic support focused on post-secondary readiness and overseeing a peer mentoring program.the youth development program takes place in the south bronx and san francisco.
$2,779,947 spentof which $16,000 as grants71% of program spendingPublic programs offers unique year-round education and outreach programs for school, camp, and other community groups. Groups explore their local ecosystem, learn new skills and practice teamwork through active engagement with the natural world, science explorations and rowing. During the summertime, rocking the boat welcomes the public aboard student-built wooden rowboats and sailboats, accompanied by rocking the boat's staff who teaches them about the local waterways, and introduces visitors to birdwatching.a parallel program takes place in india basin on san francisco bay.
$599,619 spent$150,982 earned by the program15% of program spendingSail central park - for the first time in central park boat pond's history rocking the boat is using the site for mission-aligned educational programs. Running the model sailboat concession, a storied institution recognized around the world, is an incredible opportunity for boat lovers to have sailing experience in the heart of new york city. Underserved and title 1 schools in manhattan now will be able to access rocking the boat programming in the city more easily than if they had to travel to the bronx.
$549,517 spent$245,616 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,929,083.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $6.4M to $8.4M (+31%).
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: 2017 8% · 2018 7% · 2019 11% · 2020 27% · 2021 15% · 2022 25% · 2023 8% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of ROCKING THE BOAT INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $648k → $2.4M.
21 of 147 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 ROCKING THE BOAT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 147 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
ROCKING THE BOAT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 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 ROCKING THE BOAT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 38% · 2019 17% · 2020 12% · 2021 10% · 2022 19% · 2023 31% — 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
48% of ROCKING THE BOAT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
63% of ROCKING THE BOAT INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
ROCKING THE BOAT INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ROCKING THE BOAT INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $169k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$140k
- Environmental Protection Agency$29k
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 ROCKING THE BOAT 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ROCKING THE BOAT 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 ROCKING THE BOAT INC?
- ROCKING THE BOAT INC (New York) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,035,814 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,590,273). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ROCKING THE BOAT INC have?
- IRS filings report 147 organizations giving $13,035,814 in grants to ROCKING THE BOAT INC, 91 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROCKING THE BOAT INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,590,273 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROCKING THE BOAT INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Rocking the Boat →
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 147 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