Oceanic Labs Research Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
870824831
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2021
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Cambridge, MA, USA
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$123,629
Expenses
$152,762
Assets
$33,344

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Allan Adams (President)

People named in this filing

  • Allan Adams (President)

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 2021. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Oceanic Labs is dedicated to protecting the ocean through research and innovation creating tools that facilitate ocean conservation and stewardship.

What it reported doing in 2021

Oceanic Labs is dedicated to protecting the ocean through research and innovation creating tools that facilitate ocean conservation and stewardship. During this fiscal year we created a set of tools most notably a novel tool for sampling and collecting environmental DNA in the mesopelagic 200m to 1000m underwater in the open ocean together with additional secondary sensor tools which we delivered to WHOI for deployment on their "Mesobot" vehicle. The resulting scientific discoveries had a material impact on the field of midwater genomics and the possibility of monitoring and preserving midwater biodiversity which is a great success for our mission.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 14
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98.8%; rating input score 99

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -23.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 110.6% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -60.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $151K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2020 to 2021
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.