California Ocean Science Trust
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 651261006
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5012818320
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Water Resource, Wetlands Conservation and Management
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,872,976
- Expenses
- $2,245,478
- Assets
- $14,244,175
- Liabilities
- $322,205
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ELIZABETH WHITEMAN (Executive Dir.): $194,314 total reported compensation
- Lora Zook (Finance Director): $145,345 total reported compensation
- Anthony Rogers (Strategy Director): $144,471 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
California ocean science trust (ost) is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating progress towards a healthy and productive ocean future for California. Created by state legislation, ost bridges the gap between cutting-edge scientific research and sound ocean management. Ost delivers on this mandate by drawing resources to solutions-oriented science, supporting graduate education to foster the science-policy workforce of tomorrow, and delivering pragmatic, salient science advise to California policymakers, regulators, and managers.
What it reported doing in 2024
Program accomplishments this year included serving as science advisor to California, developing and creating an ocean health status, which will be published in the coming months; convening stakeholders, including state and federal government staff, on federal fisheries disasters and insurance; advancing state of the science flood risk assessment, modeling, and communications materials in collaboration with Cal Dept of Insurance; convening briefings for lawmakers on wildfires and their impacts on the ocean and coast, Harmful Algal Blooms, and eDNA; launching our SeaChange Scholars Fund pilot, which pairs graduate level students with state research priorities in partnership with CDFW and university partners; and working with the Oregon Ocean Science Trust and counterparts in Washington state to convene a series of stakeholder meetings within coastal communities with the goal of collaboratively developing a West Coast Ocean Science Action Agenda.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 72.3%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.8%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.34; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 27.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 72.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $194K · 14 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.