California · Nonprofit
WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH
WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,272,876 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($830,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Watsonville Wetlands Watch does
Mission
Watsonville Wetlands Watch advocates for wetland issues, educates in schools and in the public arena, restores degraded habitats, and preserves wetlands of the pajaro valley, especially involving members of the watsonville community and the students of the pajaro valley unified school district.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Wilderness and Watershed Conservation: Implemented a wide range of native habitat and watershed restoration projects, including floodplain and wetlands restoration, urban habitat restoration, urban forestry, on-farm conservation projects, public trails and access improvements, and community outreach and volunteer projects. Projects were completed with many local, state, and federal partners, including the City of Watsonville, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, and private landowners.
$685,366 spentof which $11,900 as grants62% of program spendingEnvironmental Education Programs: Watsonville Wetlands Watch provides outdoor and classroom based experiential environmental education programs for over 6,000 students in K-12, as well colleges and universities that increase knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the environment and unique habitats of the Pajaro Valleys wetlands and provide meaningful ways for youth to contribute to local environmental and sustainability solutions. Our education programs are operated out of the Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center, an environmental education center and community center on the campus of Pajaro Valley High School. We run a volunteer docent program and offer free tours and lectures to the community that encourage the publics appreciation and increased understanding of the value of wetlands in the Pajaro Valley.
$424,110 spentof which $60,720 as grants38% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,109,476.
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 2023 to 2024, from $3.1M to $3.9M (+26%).
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: 2020 58% · 2021 52% · 2022 59% · 2023 65% · 2024 62%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $208k → $334k.
4 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH’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
WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 53% · 2019 43% · 2020 26% · 2021 46% · 2022 33% · 2023 37% — 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
56% of WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
95% of WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $608k 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
WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.6M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$3.3M
- Department of Commerce$246k
- Department of the Interior$52k
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 WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH: 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 WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH?
- WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,272,876 to it, the largest being The David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($830,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,272,876 in grants to WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH?
- The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $830,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH 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 Watsonville Wetlands Watch →
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 26 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