Florida · Nonprofit
TAMPA BAY WAVE INC
TAMPA BAY WAVE INC (Florida) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,571,797 to it, the largest being THE NIELSEN FOUNDATION INC ($1,780,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.7M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $730k
What Tampa Bay Wave Inc does
Mission
See schedule o. Headquartered in downtown tampa, tampa bay wave is a by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in february 2011 with a mission to accelerate florida's innovation economy by helping entrepreneurs transform innovative ideas into real-world solutions and scalable businesses in tampa bay and communities elsewhere.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
90-day accelerator - the 90-day accelerator programs provide a dedicated executive coach, structured programming, intensive mentoring from industry experts, strategic introductions and preparation for investor meetings which ultimately culminate in a demo day.
$2,857,037 spentof which $1,871,372 as grants$117,528 earned by the program78% of program spendingCore membership program - core supports both alumni of the 90-day accelerator programs plus other startups who value affiliation with the organization and are dedicated to scaling and achieving high growth. Core membership allows startups to join a community of peer entreprenuers and have year-round access to mentorship, networking, and other curated perks.
$603,161 spent16% of program spendingSeed project - the seed project is an investigation into launching a seed fund to support the growth and sustainability of high-potential startups that have participated in the organization's programming. The seed fund is intended to provide early-stage equity investments to qualified companies and drive economic impact by fostering a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in the tampa bay region.
$212,243 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,672,441.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.5M to $2.8M (+81%).
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 36% · 2018 28% · 2019 34% · 2020 28% · 2021 24% · 2022 22% · 2023 56% · 2024 72% · 2025 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of TAMPA BAY WAVE INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Linda Olson
President/CEO
Board chair
Santo Cannone
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $130k → $420k.
5 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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: $233k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money TAMPA BAY WAVE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of TAMPA BAY WAVE INC’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
TAMPA BAY WAVE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 75% · 2019 55% · 2020 59% · 2021 36% · 2022 36% · 2023 53% — 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
63% of TAMPA BAY WAVE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
65% of TAMPA BAY WAVE INC's grant income comes from Florida funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $250k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
TAMPA BAY WAVE INC has grown faster than half of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding TAMPA BAY WAVE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $16.9M on record.
- Department of Commerce$16.4M
- Small Business Administration$500k
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 TAMPA BAY WAVE INC
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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 TAMPA BAY WAVE INC: 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 TAMPA BAY WAVE INC?
- TAMPA BAY WAVE INC (Florida) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,571,797 to it, the largest being THE NIELSEN FOUNDATION INC ($1,780,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TAMPA BAY WAVE INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $3,571,797 in grants to TAMPA BAY WAVE INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TAMPA BAY WAVE INC?
- THE NIELSEN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,780,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TAMPA BAY WAVE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 17 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing