Connecticut · Nonprofit
SAVE THE SOUND
SAVE THE SOUND (Connecticut) receives grants from 202 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,451,305 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($3,989,530). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.9M
- Funders on record
- 202
- Grants received
- $21M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Save the Sound does
Mission
The mission of Save the Sound is to protect and improve the land, air, and water of the whole long island sound region. We use legal and scientific expertise and bring people together to achieve results that benefit our environment for current and future generations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The long island sound program uses community science, education, advocacy and on-the-water watchdog activities to protect and restore the health of long island sound and its watershed. Last year the program coordinated the unified water study, published a report on long island sound's environmental health, led advocacy and education efforts that resulted in investment in long island sound initiatives by the federal government, and increased the visibility of our soundkeeper subprogram, which patrols the waters of the long island sound to ensure pollution is stopped.
$2,147,298 spent34% of program spendingThe ecological restoration program works with natural systems to restore habitat health and coastal resilience. This work includes removing dams and restoring fish passage, installing green infrastructure that employs native plants to filter stormwater before it can pollute local waterways, restoring marshland and constructing living shorelines to improve coastal resilience and reverse marsh loss, and engaging the public in protecting water quality and wildlife through a robust coastal cleanup program and other educational and volunteer opportunities.
$1,812,187 spent29% of program spendingThe climate and energy program uses education, policy, and grassroots advocacy to ensure lowered emissions, to reduce pollution, and to expedite the adoption of practices that strengthen the region's resilience and coastal defenses. We work with partners throughout the region to share information and leverage resources to improve the health of the long island sound, wildlife, and the residents who live, work, and recreate within the watershed.
$583,507 spent9% of program spendingCommunications - $413,401endangered lands project - $338,405adjudication - $506,458education - $299,888environmental justice - $129,290beach clean up - $78,021
$1,765,463 spent28% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,308,455.
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 $14M to $20M (+40%).
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 11% · 2018 20% · 2020 25% · 2021 27% · 2022 17% · 2023 35% · 2024 28% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of SAVE THE SOUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Celia Felsher
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 38 funders to 92 funders, grant income rose $891k → $2.9M.
25 of 202 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 SOUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 202 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 SOUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
48% 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 SOUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 33% · 2019 48% · 2020 32% · 2021 16% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% — 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
51% of SAVE THE SOUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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 SOUND draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.5M 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 SOUND's funding base is broadening — from 38 funders to 92 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SAVE THE SOUND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15.6M on record — $11.4M federal, $4.1M state.
- Environmental Protection Agency$11.0M
- Department of the Interior$407k
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$4.0M
- Engineer/Architect Services$101k
- Non-Employee Reimbursements$500
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 SOUND
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 SAVE THE SOUND: 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 SOUND?
- SAVE THE SOUND (Connecticut) receives grants from 202 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,451,305 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($3,989,530). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SAVE THE SOUND have?
- IRS filings report 202 organizations giving $21,451,305 in grants to SAVE THE SOUND, 130 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAVE THE SOUND?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,989,530 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAVE THE SOUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 202 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