California · Nonprofit
SUSTAINABLE SURF
SUSTAINABLE SURF (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,492,359 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,131,450). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What Sustainable Surf does
Mission
Our mission is to regenerate the health of our ocean planet and reverse climate change. We protect and restore blue carbon ecosystems around the world, and create educational stories that inspire people and corporations to take action.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Sustainable Surf started the seatrees program as part of its mission to reverse climate change and restore blue carbon coastal ecosystems by directly supporting local communities and scientists. All-time at the end of 2022 over 2.1 million seatrees combined have been restored, planted and conserved through the work of the program. Further 54k carbon credits have been retired, sequestering over 54,000 tonnes of c02 from the atmosphere.
$1,703,701 spentof which $130,000 as grants$14,939 earned by the program94% of program spendingSustainable Surf established the ecoboard project as the first independent 3rd party consumer-facing "eco-label" for surfboards. Over 40,000 surfboards were built in 2022 using our sustainability standard, bringing the grand total to 430,000 since the launch of the program in 2012. This project continues to grow year on year. Bringing together surfboard manufacturers and surf community to foster communication and sustainability commitments from both sides
$100,841 spent$20,843 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,804,542.
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 2019 to 2020, from $94k to $758k (+703%).
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: 2020 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of SUSTAINABLE SURF’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Jim Moriarty
Ex-board president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $46k → $1.3M.
13 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 SUSTAINABLE SURF’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
SUSTAINABLE SURF leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
75% 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 SUSTAINABLE SURF.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 100% · 2019 56% · 2020 40% · 2021 37% · 2022 61% · 2023 78% — growing more concentrated.
“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
44% of SUSTAINABLE SURF's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
74% of SUSTAINABLE SURF's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $899k that is directly attributable, 73% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
SUSTAINABLE SURF has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SUSTAINABLE SURF
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 SUSTAINABLE SURF: 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 SUSTAINABLE SURF?
- SUSTAINABLE SURF (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,492,359 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,131,450). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SUSTAINABLE SURF have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $3,492,359 in grants to SUSTAINABLE SURF, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SUSTAINABLE SURF?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,131,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SUSTAINABLE SURF 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 28 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