Global Fishing Watch Inc is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, District of Columbia, registered in 2017, with $19,594,410 in FY2024 revenue. CharityIndex grades it A, and it directs about 84% of spending to programs.
Revenue (FY2024)
$19.6M
▼ 71.8% vs prior year
Environment median: $250K
Expenses (FY2024)
$19.9M
Net assets
$67.2M
Employees
35
Measures how much of every dollar spent actually reaches programs, plus what it costs to raise $100 of donations. The worse of the two measures sets the letter (85%+ to programs is an A; under $15 to raise $100 is an A), averaged over the three most recent filings. For Global Fishing Watch Inc: 84% to programs · $2 to raise $100 earns a A on this criterion. See the exact thresholds →
Measures whether the organization is built to last: how many months its reserves would cover expenses (3+ months earns an A-range score, but hoarding 5+ years of budget is capped) and whether it runs a surplus or a deficit. For Global Fishing Watch Inc: 41 mo reserves · -1% margin earns a A on this criterion. See the exact thresholds →
Checks how the organization is run, from its own Form 990: an independent board majority, a board of five or more, conflict-of-interest, whistleblower and document-retention policies, and independently audited financials. The share of disclosed checks that pass sets the letter. For Global Fishing Watch Inc: 6 of 6 checks met earns a A+ on this criterion. See the exact thresholds →
Counts five disclosure signals: a recent filing, a mission statement, program descriptions, a listed website, and the full expense breakdown. More disclosure, better letter. For Global Fishing Watch Inc: 5 of 5 disclosure signals earns a A+ on this criterion. See the exact thresholds →
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Advancing ocean governance via transparency of data and ocean management tools.
Ocean monitoring: we continue to provide information on vessels transmitting ais and streamline the process of getting information on those vessels' movements and events in a simple web portal. our platform now includes fixed infrastructure like wind and oil detected from sentinel-1 satellite constellation synthetic aperture radar (sar), allowing users to see vessel interactions. we have also included new biodiversity and environmental layers taken from google earth engine, copernicus and noaa to improve the understanding of interaction with fishing.
Research: by the end of 2024, our research team helped publish 12 more papers,and the total number of citations for global fishing watch research to 6129 across 67 research publications.more information about global fishing watch's ongoing programs can be found at www.globalfishignwatch.org.
Revenue grew from $1.6M (FY2017) to $19.6M (FY2024) across 8 reported years.
Financial snapshot
Operating margin
-1.4%
Spent more than it raised in the latest fiscal year.
Total assets
$69.1M
Total liabilities
$1.9M
Net assets
$67.2M
Salaries & benefits
$9.3M
47% of expenses
Board members
10
10 independent
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Expenses | Net assets | Total assets | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $19,594,410▼71.8% | $19,860,765▲50.8% | $67,194,762▼0.5% | $69,085,365▲0.4% | 990 |
| 2023 | $69,478,777▲698% | $13,167,862▲13.3% | $67,506,680▲527% | $68,778,087▲477% | 990 |
| 2022 | $8,706,351▼2.1% | $11,621,612▲29.7% | $10,765,142▼21.3% | $11,921,504▼20.6% | 990 |
| 2021 | $8,894,996▲3.0% | $8,961,454▲39.4% | $13,680,403▲79.6% | $15,008,142▲80.8% | 990 |
| 2020 | $8,636,468▲62.5% | $6,428,121▲36.9% | $7,616,485▲40.8% | $8,300,011▲45.4% | 990 |
| 2019 | $5,314,622▼17.1% | $4,694,191▲96.6% | $5,408,138▲13.0% | $5,707,497▲12.2% | 990 |
| 2018 | $6,411,048▲296% | $2,388,292▲179% | $4,787,707▲526% | $5,088,660▲488% | 990 |
| 2017 | $1,619,585 | $854,634 | $764,951 | $865,188 | 990 |
Original Form 990 PDFs (the Form column) are served by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, as filed with the IRS. Create a free account to download the CSV report.
Highest-paid: Marine Laurent — $232,798 (1.17% of total expenses)
| Name | Title | Hours/week | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Laurent | Coo | 40 | $232,798 |
| Anthony Long | Ceo | 40 | $226,054 |
| Sarah Bladen | Sr.dir, Com. and Partnersh | 40 | $195,478 |
| David Kroodsma | Chief Scientist | 40 | $191,391 |
| Paolo Domondon | Chief Program Officer | 40 | $189,762 |
| Paul Woods | Cio | 40 | $162,335 |
| Timothy Hochberg | Head, Machine Learning | 40 | $157,679 |
| Charles Kilgour Director | Analysis and Capacity Building | 40 | $157,676 |
| Kimberly Vosburgh | Director, Communication | 40 | $152,763 |
| Fernando Serrano Paolo | Rs Ml Engineer | 40 | $151,743 |
| Alex Wilson | Director | 1 | — |
| Andrew Sharpless | Treasurer | 2 | — |
| Brian Sullivan | Chair | 2 | — |
| Enric Sala | Director | 1 | — |
| Enrique Tuya | Cto | 40 | — |
| Heather Stevens | Secretary | 2 | — |
| Jacqueline Savitz | Director | 1 | — |
| Jennifer Allen | Director | 1 | — |
| John Amos | Director | 1 | — |
| Maria Damanaki | Director | 1 | — |
| Contractor | Services | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Mototech Inc | Engineering and Data Analysis Contractor | $1,147,173 |
| Spire | Engineering and Data Analysis Contractor | $448,783 |
| Satellite Studio Digital Sl | Engineering and Data Analysis Contractor | $284,160 |
| Q5 Inc | Data Analysis Consultant | $246,058 |
| Idinsight Inc | Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Cons | $212,588 |
28 grants to Global Fishing Watch Inc totaling $31.8M, reported by foundations on their Schedule I filings — showing the 15 most recent.
| Grantmaker | Purpose | Year | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | Agriculture & food | 2024 | $1,431,433 |
| Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc | Environment & animal protection | 2024 | $1,200,000 |
| National Philanthropic Tr | Public, societal benefit | 2023 | $7,091,253 |
| Donor Advised Charitable Giving | Environmental and animals | 2023 | $2,445,000 |
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | General | 2023 | $1,677,162 |
| Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc | Environment & animal protection | 2023 | $800,000 |
| Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund | For grant recipient's exempt purposes | 2023 | $600,000 |
| National Geographic Society | Pristine seas | 2023 | $175,000 |
| Rewild | Research conservation | 2023 | $100,000 |
| Pew Charitable Trusts | Policy | 2023 | $100,000 |
| American Endowment Foundation | General operating support | 2023 | $100,000 |
| Donor Advised Charitable Giving | Environmental and animals | 2022 | $3,225,000 |
| Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund | For grant recipient's exempt purposes | 2022 | $1,201,000 |
| Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc | General | 2022 | $1,104,255 |
| Pew Charitable Trusts | Policy | 2022 | $1,000,000 |
5 grants totaling $1.3M in FY2024. All grants made by Global Fishing Watch Inc →
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Skytruth | To advance the open ocean project by mapping and monitoring the ocean and climate impacts of offshore fossil fuel production, expansion, and transport. | $692,718 |
| University of California Santa Barbara | Quantifying ocean-based greenhouse gas emissions | $267,030 |
| Duke University Affiliated Physicans Inc | This project plans to identify ten fishing nations along with their fishing fleet that will be decided based on their size, the impacts of their fleets primary gear type, if the flag state is used as a corporate safe haven for offshore corporations, their rfmo member state status, or other research criteria. | $218,861 |
| Nature Conservancy | To adopt new transparency measures at the regional level, through the general fisheries commission for the mediterranean (gfcm), and to support implementation of existing measures. | $74,760 |
| Impact Philanthropy Group | Establish the joint analytical cell as a scalable model to help countries harness data and technology to strengthen global fisheries governance. | $30,433 |
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Data for Global Fishing Watch Inc (EIN 81-5461345) comes from the IRS Business Master File and e-filed Form 990 returns, via CharityIndex. Figures reflect what the organization reported to the IRS for each fiscal year.