Florida · Nonprofit
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC (Florida) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,933,446 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC ($727,459). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $37M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $3.9M
- Net assets
- $54M
What The Florida Aquarium Inc does
Mission
The florida aquarium's mission focuses on our shared purpose of a commitment to save marine wildlife, with a vision to be florida's leading conservation-based aquarium. (continued on schedule o)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Aquarium visitation admissions - with a keen focus on delivering world-class animal care to thousands of animals, the florida aquarium welcomes visitors (over 1 million guests for the first time ever in both 2023 and 2024, 950,000 in 2025) to experience a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial animals with the goal of building awareness and inspiring action for species and habitat conservation. For edutainment, guests will also explore complex ecosystems, engage with interactive and informational exhibits and search for wild dolphins in tampa bay. More than a must-see attraction, the florida aquarium is working to protect and restore our blue planet through conservation efforts that included ground-breaking research and rescue efforts that help restore florida's coral and sea turtle populations.
$14,411,021 spent$26,709,939 earned by the program48% of program spendingConservation, research and animal programs - the florida aquarium is dedicated to using a science-based, impact-driven approach to meet its vision and shared purpose. With conservation being our foremost business focus we infuse our shared purpose throughout the aquarium, from messaging, to sustainable business practices, to science, to action. We strategically focus on conservation initiatives that advance our conservation priorities, amplify our expertise, leverage and promote our partnerships, and maximize our ability to serve as florida's leading conservation-based aquarium. We incorporate conservation messaging and action opportunities to connect our audiences to marine wildlife, expand their awareness of the aquarium's conservation commitments and efforts, cultivate their understanding that they too can take impactful steps to help build a positive future, and provide opportunities to increase their conservation action engagement. (continued on schedule o)
$12,260,064 spent$320,691 earned by the program40% of program spendingEducation and community programs - the florida aquarium's learning center provides technology-rich spaces for innovative learning opportunities, including camps, field trips, and on-site programs for learners of all ages. Our outreach programs bring hands-on environmental science learning experiences into a variety of community spaces. We impact even more students through our professional development workshops for teachers and virtual class programming. In 2024, almost 70,000 participated in the aquarium's learning programs. Over the course of the florida aquarium's history, over 2 million people have benefited from its science education programs. Aqua camps, educational day camps offered during school holidays and summer break each year, consistently sell out due to community demand and serve over 1,000 students each year. The florida aquarium's educators also travel up to 75 miles to provide in-person outreach programs in community spaces. (continued on schedule o)
$3,605,504 spent$1,312,038 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $30,276,589.
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 2020 to 2021, from $25M to $42M (+66%).
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 10% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 9% · 2021 35% · 2022 15% · 2023 11% · 2024 5% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Roger Germann
President/CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 23 funders, grant income fell $597k → $301k.
7 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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: $2.8M from 9 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation of Tampa Bay Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
47% 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 THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 34% · 2019 31% · 2020 21% · 2021 35% · 2022 47% · 2023 14% — 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
37% of THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
50% of THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM 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. $179k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC is better cushioned than half of the 134 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 134 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record — $1.1M federal, $33k state.
- Department of Commerce$1.1M
- SUPPLIES - GENERAL $33k
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $649
- FEES - GENERAL-FOR SERVICE $10
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 THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM 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
79% 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 19 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Florida Aquarium Foundation Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM 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 THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC?
- THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC (Florida) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,933,446 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC ($727,459). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $3,933,446 in grants to THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM INC?
- AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS AND AQUARIUMS INC is the largest funder on record, with $727,459 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM 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.
Play a game about who funds Florida Aquarium →
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 66 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