Alaska · Nonprofit
SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE
SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE (Alaska) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,919,427 to it, the largest being ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM ($2,549,583). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $33M
What Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science does
Mission
The alaska sealife center generates and shares scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of alaska's marine ecosystems.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Visitor and education program: innovative education programs bring marine science, current research, and rehabilitation projects to learners of all ages, both on-site, across alaska, and beyond, through hands-on exhibits, guided tours, camps, and classroom partnerships. Live, interactive distance learning videoconferences connect students statewide to the center's animals and current research through inquiry-based, teacher-supported lessons.
$4,095,593 spentof which $1,469,152 as grants$4,689,379 earned by the program38% of program spendingFacilities: the 115,000-square-foot public aquarium is the physical foundation that makes the organization's full mission possible, housing the specialized cold-water exhibit habitats, quarantine spaces, and life support systems needed to care for resident marine life and treat stranded wildlife. Each year, more than 165,000 visitors come to the center from around the world, exploring exhibits while getting a firsthand look at the marine research and animal care happening on-site, allowing translation of the center's scientific work into accessible learning experiences.
$3,409,329 spent32% of program spendingAnimal care: the animal care team provides expert daily husbandry to its resident collection of marine mammals, seabirds, fish, and invertebrates. Care staff manage daily diet preparation, water quality monitoring, and enrichment and training programs designed to support each animal's physical and behavioral health. As one of very few aquariums in north america to house steller sea lions, the center has also supported successful births within its resident population, contributing to the collaborative management and understanding of this endangered species.
$2,063,253 spent19% of program spendingResearch program: a cold water marine research facility that conducts research into the biology, physiology, and ecology of marine mammals, seabirds, and fish in alaska's arctic and subarctic waters, with the goal of generating scientific knowledge that informs resource management and conservation policy. The center's unique combination of cold-water research facilities, live animal collections, and specialized staff enables scientists to use both experimental and field-based methods to investigate the physiological and ecological processes affecting marine animal populations. This also includes the activities of the north pacific marine research institute.
$728,397 spentof which $194,519 as grants7% of program spendingRehabilitation program: the only permanent marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation center in alaska. The center remains ready year-round to respond to stranded, injured, or orphaned marine animals and unusual events such as oil spills, deploying mobile treatment units when needed. Beyond direct animal care, each rescue contributes educational outreach and valuable scientific data to federal agencies and researchers that advances understanding of marine mammal health and supports the conservation of alaska's threatened and endangered species.
$476,101 spent$201,664 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,772,673.
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 2018 to 2019, from $43M to $40M (−5%).
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 33% · 2018 24% · 2019 20% · 2020 16% · 2021 26% · 2022 24% · 2023 30% · 2024 34% · 2025 35%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
51% of SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Wei Ying Wong
CEO & president
Board chair
Rachel Bunnell
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $256k → $480k.
13 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $316k from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Rasmuson Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE raised.
From the IRS filings of SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
82% 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 SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 92% · 2019 47% · 2020 60% · 2021 42% · 2022 43% · 2023 44% — 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
45% of SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
66% of SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE's grant income comes from Alaska funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 119 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $59.5M on record.
- Department of Commerce$53.3M
- Department of the Interior$3.9M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.3M
- Department of Defense$700k
- National Science Foundation$343k
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 SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE
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 Alaska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE: 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 SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE?
- SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE (Alaska) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,919,427 to it, the largest being ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM ($2,549,583). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $5,919,427 in grants to SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE?
- ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM is the largest funder on record, with $2,549,583 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEWARD ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alaska. 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 37 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