Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association
ActiveScience & Technology
About Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing end-to-end data services that support science, policy, management, and industry in the Great Lakes by enabling access to real-time, historical, and predictive lake data.
Focus Areas
environmental monitoringfreshwater and Great Lakes data servicescoastal resiliencywater quality and harmful algal bloom monitoringobserving system technology (buoys, HF radar, uncrewed systems)data platform APIs and access (Seagull)
Who They Fund
US IOOS regional associations (Great Lakes, GLOS partners)Great Lakes coastal communities and municipal water managersrecreational boaters, shipping and ferry operatorsresearchers and climate/ocean scientists
About Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association
A defining feature of Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association’s grantmaking is its support for the infrastructure behind Great Lakes data access, including a $615,230 grant to SpinDance for the Seagull Launch Sequence and a $372,526 grant to RPS Group PLC for data aggregation and management into GLOS and IOOS web portals. The foundation funds the systems, platforms, and observing networks that make real-time, historical, and predictive lake data usable for science, policy, management, and industry. Its recent awards show a strong emphasis on technical operations and applied monitoring. Michigan Tech received multiple grants for observing system maintenance, refurbishment, buoy-network work, and monitoring programs in the Straits of Mackinac. The Regents of the University of Michigan were funded for monitoring in Lake Erie and climate data products, while the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee received support for monitoring programs in Lake Michigan. Other awards reached projects tied to water quality, harmful algal bloom detection, and coastal resilience across the Great Lakes region. The pattern is practical and systems-oriented: funding tends to reinforce observation, integration, and platform development rather than isolated one-off research topics.
What Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association Funds
Great Lakes observing infrastructure is central to this funder’s portfolio. It awarded $337,115 to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2025 for monitoring programs in Lake Michigan, and earlier grants of $314,128 and $219,121 to the same institution for the same purpose show continued support for that work. Water quality and harmful algal bloom monitoring also appear repeatedly. The foundation gave $103,646 to Florida Atlantic University for an autonomous digital holographic imaging system to detect cyanobacterial composition abundance in Lake Erie, and another $70,000 to Heidelberg University to improve access to the Heidelberg Tributary Loading program through real-time water quality data and integration into GLOS. Community and watershed applications are present as well. The City of Defiance received $90,434 for the Upper Maumee Smart Watershed Pilot, and Lake County Department of Utilities received $62,266 for Lake County Ohio Water Quality.
How Great Lakes Observing System Regional Association Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$2M
Total Assets
$875K
Total Revenue
$4.9M
Total Expenses
$4.8M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $33K and $107K, with a median of $70K.
25th Percentile
$33K
Median
$70K
75th Percentile
$107K
Geographic Reach
Regional10 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Jennifer Boehme
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