Washington · Nonprofit
THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY
THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,862,704 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($13,301,500). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $54M
- Funders on record
- 131
- Grants received
- $61M
- Net assets
- $119M
What The Seattle Aquarium Society does
Mission
Our mission is inspiring conservation of our marine environment.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The seattle aquarium is a conservation organization working to regenerate the health of earth's one ocean. We advance animal well-being, marine and ecosystem science, public policy, field conservation, education and species recovery that benefits the ocean and its inhabitants. We thoughtfully bring the ocean to life for the public with experiences that inspire awe, empathy, and conservation action. We manage five facilities and welcomed over 1 million people in 2024, plus many more people through our community programming outside of our campus. Our work supports a healthy future for marine life, people and the planet.(continued on schedule o).the aquarium opened on may 20, 1977. Since then, it has been an integral part of the city and the region, providing a platform for education and conservation. In 2024, the aquarium's historic ocean pavilion expansion opened, providing a platform to tell the story of how one ocean unites us, from the salish sea to the coral triangle. Seattle aquarium by the numbers for 2024:- 59,150 tickets for free aquarium admission distributed- 123,000 hours of service provided by 1,092 volunteers- 1,059 diver presentations provided to guests- 5,160…
$26,639,788 spentof which $174,869 as grants$25,136,404 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $26,639,788.
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 2022 to 2023, from $97M to $173M (+79%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 24% · 2021 31% · 2022 12% · 2023 17% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
49% of THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Robert W Davidson
President & CEO
Board chair
Michael Guidon
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 61 funders, grant income rose $436k → $8.9M.
24 of 131 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 131 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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
45% 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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 27% · 2019 63% · 2020 27% · 2021 31% · 2022 30% · 2023 30% — 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
52% of THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY'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
72% of THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.2M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$750k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$240k
- Department of Commerce$175k
- National Endowment for the Arts$75k
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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY: 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 SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY?
- THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY (Washington) receives grants from 131 organizations whose IRS filings report $60,862,704 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($13,301,500). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 131 organizations giving $60,862,704 in grants to THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY, 77 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $13,301,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SEATTLE AQUARIUM SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 131 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