California · Nonprofit
THE HYDROUS
THE HYDROUS (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $391,731 to it, the largest being NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY ($135,824). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $47k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $392k
- Net assets
- $62k
What The Hydrous does
Mission
The Hydrous is an education-centered nonprofit organization dedicated to translating scientific discovery in our ocean into public understanding. Our mission is to create "open access oceans" so that all people may explore, understand, and engage with beautiful and threatened marine invironments.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Content creationwe design digital and physical curricula to teach audiences of all ages about the ocean. For instance, we created an award-winning ocean education kit called "coral reefs: a hydrous learning expedition" that includes hands-on learning activities and digital experiences, designed for middle school students. Accomplishments: with support from national geographic and private donors, we have been able to distribute nearly 500 kits to students and educators in 20 different u.s. States. We also have created multiple "virtual dive" experiences using virtual and augmented reality (vr/ar) technology that have been viewed millions of times through online platforms and in-person events. These educational "dives" include immerse, ar reef, explore, and expedition palau.
$5,989 spent19% of program spendingResearch The Hydrous conducts research on the effectiveness of immersive virtual reality for marine education with research partners like the stanford university virtual human interaction lab, the university of oregon, and the university of gothenburg and funders like the national science foundation, national geographic, and meta.accomplishments: keith et al. (2026) enhancing motivation to learn marine ecology and increase ocean literacy through virtual reality in higher education. Ecosphere 17:3. Https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70565 . Fauville, g., pimentel, d., & woolsey, e. (2025). Ocean xr: a deep dive into extended reality for marine education and ocean literacy. Ocean and society, 2, article 10714. Https://doi.org/10.17645/oas.10714. Hamilton, j.f., kelley, b.z., monismith, s.g., kose, j.r. (2025) on the use of simplified geometries to represent turbulent flow over coral reefs. Journal of fluid mechanics: 1004, a11. Mcgivney, e., queiroz a.c.m., miller, m.r., sunny liu, beams, b., han, e., woolsey, e.s., frazier, k., peterson, x., hancock, j., bailenson, j. (2024) complexity of agency in vr learning environments: exploring association with interactivity, learning outcomes, and…
$9,620 spent30% of program spendingPublic engagementwe lead in-person learning activities and virtual dives by synchronizing virtual reality headsets at formal and informal learning institutions like schools, universities, libraries and museums. We also deliver talks and workshops at events and conferences, as well as publish our research findings in peer-reviewed journals. Accomplishments: speeches and events. The Hydrous delivers in-person learning activities, talks, workshops, and virtual dives at formal and informal learning institutions like schools, universities, libraries, conferences and museums. Orpheus island: fieldwork was conducted at orpheus island on the great barrier reef in australia to collect underwater footage for hydrous educational programming as well as for dr. Woolseys tour with national geographic live. Fgcu: a series of workshops and presentations delivered at florida gulf coast universitys the water school.
$16,698 spent52% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $32,307.
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 $92k to $793k (+759%).
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.
65% of THE HYDROUS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (77% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 2 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
Dr Erika Woolsey Peterson
CEO
Board chair
Dr Kristina Woolsey
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $36k → $110k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 60% 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 THE HYDROUS’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
THE HYDROUS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 THE HYDROUS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 60% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 91% — 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.
Where its funders are
60% of THE HYDROUS'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 $156k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $236k 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
THE HYDROUS's revenue fell 75% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,328 community improvement nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding THE HYDROUS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $157k on record.
- National Science Foundation$150k
- Smithsonian Institution$8k
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 HYDROUS
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.
Public support
75%
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 THE HYDROUS: 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 HYDROUS?
- THE HYDROUS (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $391,731 to it, the largest being NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY ($135,824). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 60% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE HYDROUS have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $391,731 in grants to THE HYDROUS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE HYDROUS?
- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY is the largest funder on record, with $135,824 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE HYDROUS 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.
Play a game about who funds Hydrous →
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 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