California · Nonprofit
SAVE THE BAY
SAVE THE BAY (California) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,449,279 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($1,903,950). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 131
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $6.5M
What Save the Bay does
Mission
Our vision is a future where everyone benefits from a healthy san francisco bay, resilient to climate change and ringed by 100,000 acres of vibrant tidal marsh.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Restore bay habitat - we restore tidal marsh transition zone habitat to nurture wildlife and protect communities from rising tides and climate change impacts. We boost public funding to accelerate bay restoration, and we create shoreline habitat through novel scientific techniques. Mobilizing thousands of community volunteers we propagate native plants, install and maintain them to improve bay health and utilize nature for climate adaptation.
$1,065,428 spent48% of program spendingClimate policy - we advocate with many partners for the bay and its shoreline communities, so nature grows and people thrive here. We battle pollution and promote government policies to boost bay area resilience to climate change and reduce stormwater pollution, expanding green infrastructure that employs nature to provide multiple community benefits. We campaign for enforcement of laws that prohibit trash in the bay and destructive shoreline development, and for expansion of public access to the bay for everyone.
$683,079 spentof which $3,850 as grants31% of program spendingOutreach - we educate and mobilize the public, partners and policy-makers to be active leaders for bay protection and restoration, engaging thousands of supporters, students, business and community leaders in advocacy and volunteer activities. We educate thousands of students in science and stewardship on the shoreline with engaging watershed curriculum. We lead the region's annual celebration of bay day.
$462,407 spent21% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,210,914.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3.1M to $4.6M (+47%).
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 3% · 2018 6% · 2019 14% · 2020 18% · 2021 17% · 2022 9% · 2023 5% · 2024 2% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of SAVE THE BAY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
David Lewis
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 60 funders, grant income rose $726k → $2.1M.
20 of 131 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 SAVE THE BAY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 131 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
SAVE THE BAY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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
64% 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 SAVE THE BAY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 19% · 2019 21% · 2020 19% · 2021 37% · 2022 25% · 2023 18% — 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
42% of SAVE THE BAY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
59% of SAVE THE BAY'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 $4.7M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.7M 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
SAVE THE BAY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SAVE THE BAY
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
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Save the Bay Action Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAVE THE BAY: 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 SAVE THE BAY?
- SAVE THE BAY (California) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,449,279 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($1,903,950). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAVE THE BAY have?
- IRS filings report 131 organizations giving $11,449,279 in grants to SAVE THE BAY, 77 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAVE THE BAY?
- THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,903,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAVE THE BAY 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.
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 131 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