Form 990 for tax year 2025

Totals

Total revenue

$2,082,755

Total expenses

$1,894,818

Contributions and grants received

$1,601,422

Grants paid

$0

Program service revenue

$457,532

Investment income

$22,111

Other revenue

$1,690

Total assets, end of year

$1,136,167

Total liabilities, end of year

$177,652

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$958,515

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$1,559,800

Management and general expenses

$166,300

Fundraising expenses

$168,718

Program service expenses (Part III)

$1,559,800

Program services were 82.3% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2025

• Our science programs are the Snowy Plover and Least Tern Program, Waterbird Program, Landbird Program, Climate Change Program, Habitats Program. The Snowy Plover and Least Tern Recovery Program works toward the recovery of the federally threatened Western snowy plover and endangered California least tern. Biologists monitor breeding snowy plovers and least terns by surveying former salt ponds, stormwater retention ponds, and other suitable habitat of the San Francisco Bay where the birds breed. Program biologists work closely with local land managers and restoration projects to implement management practices to help recover the populations of these sensitive species in the Bay. The Waterbirds Program collects crucial data on the ecology and management ecosystems at a landscape-scale across California. Program biologists and over 100 volunteers collect and analyze large-scale data on waterbird abundance, distribution, foraging, breeding, and disease ecology from across the Bay Area. These data inform management of the largest tidal marsh restoration on the Pacific Coast of North America. In 2025 we continued new initiatives on Oakland Herons, phalarope foraging, and North Bay Colonial Waterbird monitoring. We also started several major new efforts: (1) drafting the first ever rangewide model of North American phalaropes with a novel two-species statistical model, (2) expanding our monitoring of gull and corvid abatement effectiveness to a new site in North Bay, (3) a new collaboration banding California Gulls with researchers from San Jose State University, and (4) co-authoring two region-wide analyses of waterbird health, the SF Bay State of the Birds and Our Estuary reports. The Landbird Program's bird banding has been ongoing for 44 years, involved hundreds of community volunteers who we train, and has been the basis of seven scientific papers in the last 5 years. Currently we involve 65 volunteers in bird banding, and collaborate with other researchers as well as local students embarking on research careers to understand avian responses to climate change and habitat restoration and improve research methods. We also host dozens of students every year ranging from middle school to college to learn about conservation ecology, in collaboration with the Education-Outreach Program and our Student Opportunities in Avian Research partners.

  Expenses $904,985 · Revenue $457,532

• The Habitats Program is a science-based restoration program focused on sustainable restoration of tidal marsh-upland transition zone habitats. In 2025, we added another 5 acres of restoration work at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, grew and planted over 40,000 native plants, and continued managing 27 acres of restored habitat around the Bay. We started work planting and managing 17 acres of newly constructed levee slopes in North San Jose, which will continue for the next 3 years. Restoring tidal marsh-upland transition zones provides critical high tide refugia for tidal marsh fauna, including the federally endangered Ridgway's rail and salt marsh harvest mouse. Healthy marsh vegetation also protects bayside communities from flooding by absorbing energy from incoming storm surges and accelerating sediment accumulation. Ecologists use applied research to find innovative methods for restoration, and work with land managers to integrate transition zone habitat into larger restoration projects. We expanded our successful partnership with Valley Water, Santa Clara County Parks, and educational nonprofit Marshmallow Minds to teach 6th - 8th graders from Title I schools about San Francisco Bay ecology and host them for restoration work and a short hike at Alviso Marina County Park.

  Expenses $616,522

• Our Education & Outreach Program connects people with our mission to promote sustainability in the Bay Area and beyond by engaging communities in avian science, habitat restoration, and education. We offer youth and adults activities virtually and in the field to teach them about birds, conservation, and science. We also participate in region-wide efforts to compile long term datasets to guide restoration and conservation planning efforts, and offer opportunities for the general public to be involved in scientific research by participating as volunteer community scientists in our scientific and habitat programs.

  Expenses $38,293

As filed on the 2025 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those.

Grants on this return

No itemized grants to organizations on this return.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2025

Filed

19 August 2026

IRS schema version

2025v4.2

Source object

202602319349300640

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

The source document this was parsed from is served over the API, which is where bulk and document access live.