California · Nonprofit
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,351 to it, the largest being LESLIE L ALEXANDER FOUNDATION INC ($25,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $192k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $65k
- Net assets
- $-6035
What Sea Star Horse Sanctuary does
Mission
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary will rescue, rehabilitate and provide lifetime sanctuary to horses & ponies at risk of needless slaughter, who are old and/or injured, or who have been abandoned with nowhere to go. All rescued horses & ponies will receive the best of care & management throughout the remaining years of their life. Sea Star Horse Sanctuary will seek to improve the quality of life of the horses & ponies at its sanctuary by providing quality feed & veterinary care ensuring the horses are properly exercised. Sea Star Horse Sanctuary provides members of the community with unique benefit of equine-assisted learning and through its programs, fosters transformative relationships between humans and horses.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Lifetime Sanctuary Program - Sea Star Horse Sanctuary takes into our permanent care, horses and ponies from guardians no longer able to care for them, horses suffering from neglect or abuse, and old and injured horses that are in danger of needless slaughter and have nowhere else to go. Each horse receives a comprehensive veterinary exam with diagnostics that includes blood work, parasite screening and radiographs. Each horse then receives the necessary medications, vaccines, deworming, dental care, specialized diets and supplements. Geriatric horses are supplied with protective leg wraps, orthopedic boots and ongoing osteoarthritis care. All horses receive regular veterinary care throughout the remainder of their lives. A group of 27 volunteers helps with daily grooming, exercise, training, holistic care, enrichment, feeding and stall cleaning.
$209,143 spent100% of program spendingAnchor In at the Sanctuary Program - Our community mindfulness program, Anchor In at the Sanctuary, creates a space for members of the public to experience the sanctuary and find sanctuary for themselves. We focus on connecting to nature, to one self and to the horses through meditation, Reiki, eco-therapy and somatic practices. The sanctuary provides props and blankets for seated mediation. Trained facilitators volunteer their time to lead these experiences on select Saturday mornings from June through October.
Equine - Guided Learning Program - Sea Star Horse Sanctuary offers learning-based activities with horses to local youth through our ongoing collaboration with CPY (Community Partnership for Youth). This program emphasizes connecting with horses as respected guides to foster the development of empathy, confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness in addition to learning the presented concepts and skills at hand. In this program, students focus on connecting to nature and to our herd through disguised educational lessons about horses including herd structure, horse communication and senses, and basic anatomy. We introduce them to the basics of horse care through grooming, nutrition and holistic care modalities. The sessions include a reflection, journal or art component. The sanctuary provides healthy snacks and art supplies.
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $209,143.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2018 to 2019, from $23k to $12k (−49%).
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.
99% of Sea Star Horse Sanctuary’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Sharon Regan
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $14k → $23.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 Sea Star Horse Sanctuary’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
54% 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 Sea Star Horse Sanctuary.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $31k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Sea Star Horse Sanctuary has grown faster than half of the 3,693 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,693 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Sea Star Horse Sanctuary
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.
Public support
49%
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 Sea Star Horse Sanctuary: 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 Sea Star Horse Sanctuary?
- Sea Star Horse Sanctuary (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $65,351 to it, the largest being LESLIE L ALEXANDER FOUNDATION INC ($25,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sea Star Horse Sanctuary have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $65,351 in grants to Sea Star Horse Sanctuary, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sea Star Horse Sanctuary?
- LESLIE L ALEXANDER FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sea Star Horse Sanctuary 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 Sea Star Horse Sanctuary →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 6 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