Skip to content
Nonprofiteer
← All organizations

HEADWATERS SCIENCE INSTITUTE

EIN 47-1714438 SODA SPRINGS, CA

Browse the largest nonprofits in California

Revenue 2025
$1,580,487
Expenses 2025
$760,109

Program services were 92.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
U19
Classification
1000
Street
PO BOX 913

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2025

Mission

We are educators, scientists, and community members with a mission to foster curiosity through science. We engage students' natural curiosity, guiding them to design and perform experiments that answer their own questions through the scientific method. We use professional scientists to mentor students through their research projects.

Activities or mission (Part I)

We are educators, scientists, and community members with a mission to foster curiosity through science. We engage students' natural curiosity, guiding them to design and perform experiments that answer their own questions through the scientific method. All students are mentored by scientists.

  • Headwaters Science Institute's Introduction to Research Programs uses our Student Driven Research approach to engage over 1,500 elementary, middle, and high school students in authentic, inquiry-based science experiences. Centered on the scientific method, these programs empower students to design and carry out their own independent research projects. Students begin by learning how to ask meaningful scientific questions, then work alongside professional scientists who guide them through investigation, data collection, analysis, and presentation. This approach allows for exploration across a wide range of scientific topics while building critical thinking and problem-solving skills. By asking and answering their own questions, students develop a lasting connection to science and the natural world. Headwaters' Student-Driven Research programs have been recognized as "Accomplished" by STEMworks at WestEd, placing them among the top STEM programs in the nation.

    Expenses $259,273 · Revenue $149,269

  • Headwaters Science Institute's Truckee/Tahoe Summer Camps engage over 300 students each year in week-long, inquiry-based outdoor science experiences in Truckee, Donner Summit, and Kirkwood, California. Each session is centered around a theme, such as plants, insects, or water, and is designed to help students explore the natural world while building an understanding of the scientific method. Guided by professional scientists, students learn to ask questions, investigate their surroundings, and develop a deeper appreciation for the environment. These camps create meaningful, memorable connections to science through hands-on exploration in some of the Sierra Nevada's most unique ecosystems. In addition to their educational impact, the summer camps provide critical earned revenue that supports staff and the ongoing development of new, high-quality program materials.

    Expenses $77,156 · Revenue $156,376

  • Headwaters Science Institute partners with West Contra Costa County Unified School District Expanded Learning to deliver engaging, hands-on environmental science programs funded through West Contra Costa Unified School District. Throughout the school year, Headwaters runs after-school programs at seven school sites serving over 300 students, along with Saturday Research Field Days that engage approximately 150 students per session in authentic scientific investigation and fun learning. Students explore their local environments using schoolyards and nearby parks as outdoor classrooms, to build skills in observation, data collection, and critical thinking. Headwaters also offers immersive spring break and summer science camps that extend this same scientific learning beyond campus through field trips to Bay Area natural sites, science museums, and zoos. Across all programs, students work directly with scientists and participate in real-world science experiences designed to foster curiosity, deepen environmental understanding, and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards.

    Expenses $313,800 · Revenue $792,996

  • We have tabling outreach, talks in the community, and free online programs such as, Lunch with a Scientist. Lunch with a Scientist is the biggest of these programs. It is an online library of talks with companion investigations for the teachers to use with their students. This program is completely free forteachers and studentst. Every 2-3 months record a new talk. Each scientist talks about their research and how they got into their career.

    Expenses $53,365 · Revenue $2,243

As filed on the 2025 return.

Officers and directors · 2025

As listed in Part VII of the 2025 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Megan Seifert

    Executive Director

    Total calculated
    $91,169
    From this org
    $91,169
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    50

  • Donna Luisi

    Board President

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    3

  • Pam Wong

    Board Treasurer

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    3

  • Craig Rowe

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Anna Greenburg

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2025
    Revenue
    $1,580,487
    Expenses
    $760,109
    Contributions
    $460,219
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2024
    Revenue
    $925,619
    Expenses
    $659,560
    Contributions
    $219,691
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $771,556
    Expenses
    $615,542
    Contributions
    $181,579
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $399,721
    Expenses
    $385,940
    Contributions
    $207,373
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $399,721
    Expenses
    $385,940
    Contributions
    $207,373
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $288,073
    Expenses
    $177,371
    Assets (EOY)
    $329,664

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $288,073
    Expenses
    $177,371
    Assets (EOY)
    $329,664

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $249,481
    Expenses
    $177,131
    Assets (EOY)
    $218,962

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 11 November 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 9 November 2026 and read 9 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2025, the newest we have parsed for this organization.