California · Nonprofit
TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK
TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,518,895 to it, the largest being The McConnell Foundation ($19,339,941). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.6M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $21M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Turtle Bay Exploration Park does
Mission
To inspire wonder, exploration and appreciation of our world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Museum activities - the museum contains permanent, interactive exhibits and two large exhibition galleries. The experiences in the museum include underwater fish viewing, walk through historic re-creations, experiments with scientific equipment and art viewing. The exhibits feature a mix of interpretive material, multimedia exhibits, science experiments, self-guided exploration, and play features.
$2,472,860 spent$830,767 earned by the program51% of program spendingEducational and other programs - our programs include the: 1) arboretum & botanical garden that extend over 200 acres with direct links to the sacramento river trail system and comprise 20 acres of mediterranean-climate display gardens, a children's garden, a medicinal garden and a butterfly garden; 2) animal programs that inspire, create connections and foster appreciation for the diversity and magnificence of wildlife through conservation, education and entertainment; 3) paul bunyan forest camp that is an educational hub modeled after an old-time forest camp and consists of the mill-house museum, hand-on exhibits and an interpretive forest; and 4) school tour programs as well as professional development opportunities for teachers in the north state.
$2,413,063 spent$1,325,649 earned by the program49% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,885,923.
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 2021 to 2022, from $48M to $45M (−7%).
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: 2021 12% · 2022 4% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Lindsay Myers
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $4.9M → $2.2M.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK’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
TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 99% · 2019 99% · 2020 87% · 2021 97% · 2022 99% · 2023 74% — 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
44% of TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
99% of TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $135k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK's revenue fell 21% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- Department of the Interior$10k
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 TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK
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
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Turtle Bay Holdings Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK: 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 TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK?
- TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,518,895 to it, the largest being The McConnell Foundation ($19,339,941). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $20,518,895 in grants to TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK?
- The McConnell Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $19,339,941 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TURTLE BAY EXPLORATION PARK 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 Turtle Bay Exploration Park →
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 14 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