PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE
Protecting and Enhancing Puget Sound
Learn how to support this organization
PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE
EIN: 91-1285783
as of September 2025
as of September 09, 2025
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reports Download other documentsWhat we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Soundkeeper
PSA reviews National Pollution Discharge Permits, checks for compliance, and files citizen's lawsuits when not in compliance. PSA works to regulate storm water pollution and patrols and monitors the waters of Puget Sound in order to detect, document and report sources of illegal pollution.
Outreach
PSA has developed and maintains a redesigned web page and printed materials for outreach and education. The target audience is students, agency personnel, foundations and the general public, including recreational boaters.
Clean Water Program
PSA prevents pollution by working with businesses, boaters and residents to reduce harmful pollution.
Where we work
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King County (Washington, United States)
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Kitsap County (Washington, United States)
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Pierce County (Washington, United States)
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Skagit County (Washington, United States)
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Snohomish County (Washington, United States)
Affiliations & memberships
Waterkeeper Alliance - Founding Member 1990
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of public events held to further mission
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Clean Water Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Cleanup events, outreach, education
Number of pounds of marine debris removed from Puget Sound shorelines and waterways
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Clean Water Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Clean Water Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Participants in cleanups, community science activities, water quality monitoring
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
(1) Fully occupy our law and policy jurisdiction around the Sound.
(2) Build and foster better community connections to the Puget Sound and its watersheds.
(3) Improve water quality through local action, volunteerism, and innovation.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategies include:
• Sustain a legal docket and policy
advocacy initiatives which will impact
the entire Puget Sound
• Increase the number of community
and environmental enforcement
cases launched
• Achieve durable legislative victories,
locally, state-wide, and nationally
Deepen volunteer engagement and
leadership opportunities across
Soundkeeper’s public programs
• Build Sound-wide community science
networks
• Sustain impactful public outreach and
engagement
• Drive storytelling opportunities for
our legal and legislative work
• Ensure community engagement
programs drive clean water
improvements
• Track-down and eliminate sources of
plastic pollution through action and
education
• Improve shoreline and aquatic
habitat through cleanups and
restoration
• Support sound science and
innovations in public policy
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2023 info
2.89
Months of cash in 2023 info
8
Fringe rate in 2023 info
20%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
This snapshot of PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
Created in partnership with
Business model indicators
Profitability info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $158,723 | -$91,680 | $21,986 | $24,957 | -$123,708 |
As % of expenses | 11.9% | -7.0% | 1.8% | 1.9% | -10.1% |
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $154,225 | -$94,934 | $21,986 | $24,957 | -$123,708 |
As % of expenses | 11.5% | -7.2% | 1.8% | 1.9% | -10.1% |
Revenue composition info | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $1,432,873 | $1,240,339 | $1,231,429 | $1,251,576 | $1,102,823 |
Total revenue, % change over prior year | -4.7% | -13.4% | -0.7% | 1.6% | -11.9% |
Program services revenue | 14.3% | 12.7% | 5.4% | 5.2% | 3.1% |
Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Investment income | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.5% |
Government grants | 5.3% | 4.5% | 16.8% | 17.9% | 5.0% |
All other grants and contributions | 79.5% | 82.7% | 77.8% | 76.9% | 91.7% |
Other revenue | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -0.3% |
Expense composition info | |||||
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Total expenses before depreciation | $1,334,675 | $1,312,365 | $1,216,262 | $1,334,504 | $1,226,126 |
Total expenses, % change over prior year | -4.4% | -1.7% | -7.3% | 9.7% | -8.1% |
Personnel | 64.8% | 66.0% | 61.4% | 65.1% | 67.2% |
Professional fees | 14.4% | 16.2% | 21.2% | 15.0% | 11.8% |
Occupancy | 5.6% | 6.4% | 6.2% | 7.8% | 9.0% |
Interest | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Pass-through | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.6% |
All other expenses | 15.2% | 11.5% | 11.2% | 12.0% | 11.4% |
Full cost components (estimated) info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
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Total expenses (after depreciation) | $1,339,173 | $1,315,619 | $1,216,262 | $1,334,504 | $1,226,126 |
One month of savings | $111,223 | $109,364 | $101,355 | $111,209 | $102,177 |
Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $6,892 | $167,508 | $0 |
Fixed asset additions | $0 | $0 | $10,697 | $0 | $0 |
Total full costs (estimated) | $1,450,396 | $1,424,983 | $1,335,206 | $1,613,221 | $1,328,303 |
Capital structure indicators
Liquidity info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Months of cash | 9.2 | 9.8 | 11.1 | 8.7 | 8.0 |
Months of cash and investments | 9.2 | 9.8 | 11.1 | 8.7 | 8.0 |
Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 8.4 | 7.7 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 7.5 |
Balance sheet composition info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cash | $1,021,507 | $1,073,327 | $1,125,342 | $963,523 | $821,849 |
Investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Receivables | $105,084 | $129,189 | $183,160 | $70,749 | $95,650 |
Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $38,207 | $38,207 | $31,958 | $31,958 | $20,613 |
Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 75.7% | 84.3% | 47.7% | 59.8% | 66.2% |
Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 9.1% | 20.9% | 26.5% | 29.4% | 26.8% |
Unrestricted net assets | $942,151 | $847,217 | $869,203 | $894,160 | $770,452 |
Temporarily restricted net assets | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Permanently restricted net assets | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Total restricted net assets | $126,475 | $146,129 | $139,310 | $31,425 | $31,830 |
Total net assets | $1,068,626 | $993,346 | $1,008,513 | $925,585 | $802,282 |
Key data checks
Key data checks info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Soundkeeper & Executive Director
Sean T Dixon
As Executive Director, Sean works with the entire Soundkeeper staff team, board, and network of community partners, volunteers, and advocates to drive clean water progress across the Puget Sound and its watershed. As an attorney, entrepreneur, and environmental advocate, Sean has worked for years defending communities and ecosystems from pollution, supporting sustainable fisheries, pushing for climate adaptation and mitigation, and fighting for innovative approaches to solving the myriad threats facing our oceans, coasts, and waterways. Before moving to the PNW, Sean worked as an attorney at Hudson Riverkeeper, a local sustainable seafood fishmonger, and, most recently, as Chief of Staff for the Region 1 (New England) office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
PUGET SOUNDKEEPER ALLIANCE
Board of directorsas of 2/19/2025
Board of directors data
Allan Chartrand
Chartrand Environmental, LLC
Erin Breslin
Community Advocate
Janette Brimmer
Earthjustice
John Koblinsky
SAP Concur
Jonathan Frodge
Retired, Stormwater Scientist and Limnologist
Lizzie Jespersen
Pyramid Communications
Marla Dunn
Attorney at Law
Sara Parker DIRECTOR
Tim Carlson
REI
Tom Putnam
Putnam Films, Director Emeritus & Founding Member
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.