California · Nonprofit
Sunflower Star Laboratory
Sunflower Star Laboratory (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $407,895 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($165,521). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $299k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $408k
- Net assets
- $212k
What Sunflower Star Laboratory does
Mission
Sunflower Star Labotory leads research and conservation to recover the sunflower star, building kelp forest resilience within our communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Expanded pycnopodia recovery working group. Includes collaborating with fellow researchers, locating specimens. Facilited 1st cryopreservation trials. Hosted pycno partner meeting - 1st meeting of all pycno researchers.
$88,777 spent84% of program spendingBuilt one more wet table settled & grew 240 bat stars, purple urchin trials ongoing. 19 lab tours & 31 outreach events. Onboraded 15 volunteers & completed our 1st summer intership.
$8,574 spent8% of program spendingFunded intern at minorities in aquaculture. Ssl is committed to growing, next generation of echinoderm aquaculture experts by partnering with institutions, donors & specialists to create interships to advance our mission.
$8,400 spentof which $8,400 as grants8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $105,751.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2023 to 2024, from $28k to $212k (+669%).
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.
95% of Sunflower Star Laboratory’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. 0 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
3 of 8 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 Sunflower Star Laboratory’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
Sunflower Star Laboratory leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
52% 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 Sunflower Star Laboratory.
“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
Sunflower Star Laboratory draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $193k 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
Sunflower Star Laboratory runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Sunflower Star Laboratory
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 Sunflower Star Laboratory: 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 Sunflower Star Laboratory?
- Sunflower Star Laboratory (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $407,895 to it, the largest being THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ($165,521). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sunflower Star Laboratory have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $407,895 in grants to Sunflower Star Laboratory, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sunflower Star Laboratory?
- THE NATURE CONSERVANCY is the largest funder on record, with $165,521 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sunflower Star Laboratory 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2023–2024), and the filings of 8 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