Rhode Island · Nonprofit
SAVE THE BAY INC
SAVE THE BAY INC (Rhode Island) receives grants from 178 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,549,879 to it, the largest being VAN BEUREN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($1,612,000). 107 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.9M
- Funders on record
- 178
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Save the Bay Inc does
Mission
Save the bay protects, restores, and improves the ecological health of the narragansett bay region, including its watershed and adjacent coastal waters, through an ecosystem-based approach to environmental action; defends the right of the public to use and enjoy the bay and its surrounding waters; and fosters an ethic of environmental stewardship among people who live in or visit the narragansett bay region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Save the bay's education program, explore the bay, is a hands-on, inquiry based, marine education program that is designed in collaboration with teachers and school administrators to provide highly effective science based curriculums. The program strives to create academic success and future bay stewards. Save the bay's education program uses many resources to introduce students to the wonders of narragansett bay, including: three coast guard certified education vessels, save the bay's hamilton family aquarium, two classrooms/labs at our bay center in providence, in addition to equipment used to bring narragansett bay into student classrooms or along the shoreline.
$2,912,366 spent$1,274,337 earned by the program65% of program spendingSave the bay's policy, advocacy and restoration programs have been a core function of the organization since its inception in 1970. We champion public policies that protect and improve narragansett bay, its tributaries and the coast. Save the bay works at the local, state and federal level on initiatives that protect water quality, restore bay habitats, and defend the public's right to use and enjoy our coastal waters. Our advocacy is based on the best available science, which is essential in an era when climate change is fundamentally changing the bay's ecology and posing new challenges to our coastal communities. We are a collaborative partner and leader whose role is multi-faceted: educator, watchdog, advocate, and scientist. On a broad level, save the bay fosters an ethic of stewardship for the narragansett bay region by enhancing understanding of the impacts of human activity on the bay and surrounding waters, and engaging the public in direct actions that protect the bay.
$1,217,123 spent27% of program spendingSave the bay's outreach initiatives bring together and inform individuals, organizations, and governments to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship among people who live in or visit the narragansett bay region. Our outreach initiatives include: community events, publications and constituent communications designed to inform and educate stakeholders about the goals, policies, programs and advocacy efforts of save the bay.
$354,832 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,484,321.
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 2021 to 2022, from $12M to $16M (+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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 10% · 2021 20% · 2022 2% · 2023 5% · 2024 10% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of SAVE THE BAY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
Christopher Hamblett
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 43 funders to 74 funders, grant income rose $594k → $3.4M.
18 of 178 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 178 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 INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
33% 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 INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 17% · 2019 17% · 2020 9% · 2021 11% · 2022 29% · 2023 29% — 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
51% of SAVE THE BAY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
SAVE THE BAY INC draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 INC is better cushioned 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
Government funding SAVE THE BAY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record — $3.0M federal, $31k state.
- Department of Commerce$2.4M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$256k
- Department of Agriculture$242k
- Department of the Interior$139k
- (NN) INFRASTRUCTURE:$19k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$12k
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 SAVE THE BAY 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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SAVE THE BAY 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 SAVE THE BAY INC?
- SAVE THE BAY INC (Rhode Island) receives grants from 178 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,549,879 to it, the largest being VAN BEUREN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($1,612,000). 107 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAVE THE BAY INC have?
- IRS filings report 178 organizations giving $15,549,879 in grants to SAVE THE BAY INC, 107 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAVE THE BAY INC?
- VAN BEUREN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,612,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAVE THE BAY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Save the Bay →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 178 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