This year marks an important milestone for The Ocean Foundation as it celebrates 10 years of success as the only community foundation dedicated to protecting the global ocean.

What began over a decade ago as a group of like-minded coral conservation experts, venture capitalists and philanthropy colleagues establishing a the Coral Reef Foundation, providing both expert advice about conservation projects and easy mechanisms for giving, quickly grew into The Ocean Foundation in order to support global ocean conservation efforts as a whole.

Founding board member Wolcott Henry had the idea to create a community foundation with donors who were dedicated to coastal and ocean conservation, as well as an incubator for innovative efforts through the use of fiscal sponsorships. “Our family foundation put in the seed money to get The Ocean Foundation started. To see that investment result in millions of dollars for the ocean is real leverage. TOF plays an important role in marine conservation; and Mark Spalding and his team provide sound advice and guidance based on experience and expertise in marine issues.”

Since its founding, The Ocean Foundation has continuously worked to identify solutions to the threats that face our ocean and the organizations and individuals best suited to implement them. In the first ten years, The Ocean Foundation has given more than $21 million to organizations in support of their hard work.

“It was great to be part of the design of The Ocean Foundation, and it is an honor to lead the incredible team that make up its staff,” says Mark J. Spalding, President. “I am proud of the effort we put into transparency, accountability and best practices to serve donors, nurture implementers, and generate new ideas. The collective passion of a mutually supportive community doing good work on behalf of the ocean is inspiring.”

The Ocean Foundation is uniquely positioned to merge the head and the heart – achieving quantity and quality in strengthening the ocean conservation community and the work it undertakes. Looking ahead the organization has even bigger plans for more successes over the next 10 years.

About The Ocean Foundation: The Ocean Foundation (TOF) is a unique community foundation with a mission to support, strengthen, and promote those organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world. We work with a community of donors who care about the coasts and oceans. In this manner, we grow the financial resources available to support marine conservation in order to promote healthy ocean ecosystems and benefit the human communities that depend on them. www.oceanfdn.org. The Ocean Foundation is rated 66/70 and 4/4 stars Charity Navigator and Guidestar.

The Ocean Foundation

The Ocean Foundation

Our slogan is “Tell Us What You Want To Do For The Ocean, We Will Take Care Of The Rest.” We work with a community of donors who care about the coasts and oceans. In this manner, we grow the financial resources available to support marine conservation in order to promote healthy ocean ecosystems and benefit the human communities that depend on them

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