California · Nonprofit
Save the Waves Coalition
Save the Waves Coalition (California) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,460,643 to it, the largest being CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION ($705,124). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $845k
What Save the Waves Coalition does
Mission
Note re: FYE Dec 2025 Revenues less expenses of -373,695. See 3rd page of Schedule O for detailed explanation. This deficit was covered under a three-year grant which provided for $500,000 each year, all of which was recognized in a previous year.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
PROTECTED AREAS:Save The Waves advanced stewardship activities across our World Surfing Reserves, protecting surf breaks and engaging volunteers and community members in local conservation initiatives. We supported environmental education programs for youth in El Salvador and completed a first-of-its-kind mangrove documentation study in Costa Rica. We continued Surf Protected Area strategies in California, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Azores, including promoting statewide surf ecosystem protection in California.
$564,531 spentof which $30,000 as grants43% of program spendingCampaigns and Outreach:Save The Waves executed campaigns to defend surf ecosystems from development, pollution and threats globally. We released a groundbreaking report documenting the annual economic value from surfing in Santa Cruz and promoted statewide surf ecosystem protection and surf reserve concepts. We expanded the Save The Waves Film Festival to events across multiple countries, reaching thousands of in-person attendees and millions of individuals through digital campaigns.
$424,416 spent32% of program spendingStewardship and Resilience:Save The Waves conducted workshops and outreach training for local communities across Costa Rica, the Azores, California, and Mexico. We published a comprehensive resource on surf ecosystem conservation best practices in partnership with Conservation International. We advanced a new model of parametric insurance in El Salvador to safeguard surf breaks, mangroves, and community livelihoods from extreme weather events.
$324,151 spentof which $1,000 as grants25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,313,098.
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 $547k to $1.7M (+209%).
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: 2018 3% · 2019 1% · 2020 9% · 2021 13% · 2022 2% · 2023 4% · 2024 13% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Save the Waves Coalition’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. 2 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
Nik Strong-Cvetich
CEO
Board chair
Hugo Tagholm
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $37k → $515k.
15 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 Waves Coalition’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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 Waves Coalition has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
45% 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 Waves Coalition.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 30% · 2019 40% · 2020 20% · 2021 35% · 2022 32% · 2023 29% — 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
41% of Save the Waves Coalition's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% 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
60% of Save the Waves Coalition's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $739k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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 Waves Coalition has grown faster than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Save the Waves Coalition
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Save the Waves Coalition: 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 Waves Coalition?
- Save the Waves Coalition (California) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,460,643 to it, the largest being CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION ($705,124). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Save the Waves Coalition have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $3,460,643 in grants to Save the Waves Coalition, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Save the Waves Coalition?
- CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $705,124 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Save the Waves Coalition 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 Save the Waves Coalition →
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 46 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