California White Shark Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
883258770
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Point Reyes Station, CA, USA
Phone
4065705284
Rating
44
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Other Services - Specialty Animals

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$105,986
Expenses
$101,625
Assets
$65,042
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Scot Anderson (Vice President?Research Scientist)
  • Dr Paul Kanive (President/Research Scientist)

People named in this filing

  • Scot Anderson (Vice President?Research Scientist)
  • Thomas Ritter (Treasurer/Artist)
  • Dr Paul Kanive (President/Research Scientist)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The California White Shark Project continues to collect scientifically robust data on the population of white sharks off central California. We aim to inform the general public, scientific community, and policy-makers about the status of white sharks off California. Additionally, we have added a public school outreach component to our organization where we reach out to K-12 schools to engage school children and educate them on white sharks, marine ecology, and what it's like to be a marine biologist.

What it reported doing in 2024

We published another scientific manuscript providing the first categorization of scars on white sharks and the story the scars can tell us about the movement patterns and healing rates of these predators. This paper will lead to further exploration of these scars by masters and PhD students in California.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 12
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 11.8%; rating input score 12
  • Program expense ratio: 12.3%; rating input score 12

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.1%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 38.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -59.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 11.8% of revenue deployed · 12.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $12K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 12/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.