Washington · Nonprofit
SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY
SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $933,943 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($578,834). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $934k
- Net assets
- $300k
What Smelts Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society does
Mission
Smelts educates communities on how to be stewards of the environment by focusing on the ocean and its global importance to life on earth.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Marine scientists from around the globe have documented that the line and buoy system in pot/trap fisheries has caused injury and death to whales, endangered sea turtles and other marine life. Sublethal injuries which has reduced reproductive capability in marine mammals due to the negative effect from entanglement. There are many marine animals that are listed under the marine mammal protection act (mmpa) and endangered species act (esa) that smelts have priority to develop a solution to protect such creatures from injury. Smelts line less lift bag technology removes the need for vertical lines and buoys needed to haul bottom set trap/pot fisheries which is the current system for bottom set fishing. Large cetacean entanglements have threatened closures for commercial bottom set fishing. Smelts has had great interest and support for its line less lift bag technology from the island foundation, sr 3, noaa, pew charitable trust, national fish and wildlife foundation, division of marine fisheries massachusetts, california department of fish and wildlife, pacific mammal research, marine-med, blue planet strategies, stellwagen bank national marine sanctuary, woods hole oceanographic…
$1,300,277 spentof which $3,575 as grants$727,032 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,300,277.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $112k to $287k (+157%).
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: 2019 99% · 2020 59% · 2021 41% · 2022 63%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Richard Riels
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $238k → $40k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY’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
SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 76% · 2021 86% · 2022 59% · 2023 75% — 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
SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,559 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,559 animals nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.3M on record.
- Department of Commerce$3.3M
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 SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY: 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 SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY?
- SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $933,943 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($578,834). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $933,943 in grants to SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $578,834 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SMELTS SEA MAMMAL EDUCATION LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Smelts Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), 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