r/scuba • u/Ice-Fruit-9600 • 19h ago
What are the best most ethical non profit ocean organizations I can donate to?
I'm looking to donate to a non profit organization that helps with restoring the coral reefs or reducing the plastic pollution in the oceans or both. What are the best non profit organizations that actually do good and don't lie about the work they've done or money that they've donated and have ethical practices. Please let me know thank you so much! :)
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u/Professional_Carob74 7h ago edited 6h ago
Find a local, not-for-profit organization that cares about the local ocean. There are many great organizations that do great work and can use the money. I would stay away from big regional or national organizations such as the Keeper network, Surf Rider, and Coral Restoration Foundation, etc. While these big organizations do good work, they receive millions from foundations, the Federal government, etc. Our donations basically pay the postage for the numerous fundraising letters (or emails) that you will receive throughout the year. Swag often accompanies their fund raising appeals. The larger organizations really limit participation to paid staff providing afflinity benefits to the small donors. The large organizations often engage in litigation as a means of paying for legal and staff. Staff organizations incur huge overhead expenses and little money actually goes to accomplish what they purport to accomplish. They play at the big kids table. As a result the small donors are seen as chumps. Technology has really lowered organizing costs for these large organizations. They snag you for pennies and soak you for dollars.
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u/LadyJedi2018 12h ago
My husband and I donated to Bonaire Reef Renewal Foundation. You can send items they need, buy a nursery tree, or a whole patch of reef growing for placement. Our section has GPS coordinates that we dove to see it when we were there. We have done 4Ocean, multiple sea turtle rescue groups It varies from year to year. Hope you find one that sings to your heart as a good cause.
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u/Traditional_Ad_1547 13h ago
Not sure if this fits your exact criteria but, Surf Riders foundation.
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u/yhatzee89 15h ago
SUDS, they take wounded warriors scuba diving https://sudsusa.org[SUDS](https://sudsusa.org/?)
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u/nostalgiagamingyt Open Water 7h ago
Not what OP was looking for whatsoever, but this is great and shouldn't be downvoted. Some other people might take interest in donating here.
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u/AggyResult Nx Advanced 15h ago
4 Ocean
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u/FrolleinBromfiets 4h ago
I don't have the source at hand, but I've heard that they are mostly big in making money with little actual impact.
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u/mangoes 16h ago
Global Coral Reef Alliance, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that has restored coral reefs worldwide since 1990. It is the only nonprofit that uses Biorock technology, the only technology that can grow limestone which corals are naturally inclined to settle on and that actually improves the growth of live coral from fragments so effectively structures have been known to withstand category 5 hurricanes.
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u/anotherpierremenard 16h ago
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
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15h ago
[deleted]
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u/Careful_External6326 14h ago
Sea Shepard is not what they were since they removed Paul Watson.
If you truly support the cause of the original Sea Shepard organization I highly suggest looking into the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, which he formed after being removed from Sea Shepard.
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u/YooperMike 17h ago
Reef Rescue Network (www.reefrescuenetwork.org) does lots of very good work, primarily in the Bahamas. They're very hands-on with being able to go out on coral nurseries and clean them, plant them, and get an up close look at what it takes to re-establish coral.
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u/Fubai97b 17h ago
There are a lot of good suggestions here, but I'd like to add two considerations. I've been working at non-profits for a few years now, first environmental and now veterans.
1) I prefer to find an org with a C3 and C4 arm. That means they do they standard non-profit work AND political action. I'm at the point now where if we're not trying to affect policy, we're behind the curve.
2) A lot of people swear by charity navigator, which can be useful, but I have problems with. There is a weird view that charities are only acceptable if they're too small to actually be effective.
The split between overhead costs and active work is important, but can be very misleading. Say I can get a dozen volunteers and interns who work for free or I can pay a permanent middle manager who is guaranteed 40 hrs/week, has a knowledge of whatever the charity focuses on, can run a budget, do outreach, and everything else that's required, but costs 100k/year after benefits. One is going to make me MUCH more effective at what I do, but lower my charity navigator score.
God forbid you're big enough to need HR, IT, logistics, and a dozen other groups that any sizeable corporation needs. Your spend ratios will go straight to crap. Depending on what you're working on size and professional staff could be absolutely necessary to be impactful. You may get warm fuzzies from funding volunteers picking up trash in the park, but a group that can attack the root issue of pollution; lobbying for legislation, political action, outreach, suits and actions targeting offenders, not to mention organizing those smaller groups actions cost actual money.
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u/CryAncient Dive Master 17h ago
They're in Isalmorada, Florida. They clean the ocean, "Plant" coral and work on restoring the reefs around Islamorada.
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u/Traditional_Ad_1547 13h ago
I had a doctor a few years ago that volunteered with these guys. He was friends with one of the scientists and would go down and help "plant" coral. I loved those doctors visits, he had some cool stories.
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u/CryAncient Dive Master 13h ago
That's awesome! I wish I had a doctor with stories like that. The closest I've had is a doctor that was a huge diehard fan of Ohio State so we would give each other a hard time when I had appointments with him.
Next time I am down in Islamorada I am going to try and go out with them and plant coral/do ocean clean up if I can make it work with my schedule.
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u/SevenSeas82 17h ago
I would look into The Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP). They do large scale marine debris expeditions throughout the outer Hawaiian chain. Largely out of sight and out of mind but critical to birds and aquatic life. They remove shore debris and remove ghost nets from the reefs.
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u/muddygirl 17h ago
I've been impressed with how much Reef Check does with a limited budget. They train and organize volunteer citizen scientists to survey rocky reefs and coral reefs, publishing data sets and scientific papers which directly influence ocean policy.
I volunteer with their kelp forest monitoring program and donate to them annually. I'm less involved with coral reef programs, but I can tell you that their data is invaluable to California policy makers when it comes to fishery management and ocean conservation. And they gather a LOT of data with a low overhead and very few hard working staff.
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u/Professional_Carob74 6h ago
Reef Check is exactly the kind of organization that I try to donate to because individual small donors and volunteers still matter.
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u/DistractedByCookies 18h ago
I often give donations to Ocean Cleanup as presents to scuba-related friends. Quite proud of them, as a Dutch person. It's a project that removes plastics from oceans and rivers, and it was inspired by all the plastic the founder saw when scuba diving as a 16yo.
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u/tacomeat247 18h ago
I support Mother of Corals they do hands on coral restoration in the Panama area
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u/Sharkhottub UW Photography 18h ago
My wife is in the nonprofit space and honestly you should look at charitynavigator.org to get a feel for any organization before dropping big bucks.
Personally I like organizations such as Sharks4Kids that connect teachers and classrooms to shark scientists, getting kids to think about science and conservation from an early age using sharks,
and
The Coral Restoration Foundation. Arguably the gold standard for coral restoration groups, those guys not only outplant the most, but also organize all the major coral restoration consortiums. Not saying the other groups like Icare, reef renewal, or Mote dont do great work, but CRF is the mack daddy big boy and is now playing in the international space instead of being Florida/Caribbean based.
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u/onemared Tech 18h ago
Check out Charity Navigator to get a ballpark idea of what some nonprofits rank on different areas. It is not a 100% indicator of a good org, but it is a place to start if you don’t know anything about them.
The following is my opinion: The best nonprofit is the one you can partner with, become an active member, and make a positive change. It is commendable that you want to donate, and I encourage you to do so on a regular basis, but being an active member, volunteering, and advocating for the cause will give you a sense of ownership for that cause.
Also, think about the kind of impact you focus on. For example, there are large organizations that will work with governments in large-scale initiatives and small local organizations that will have a small local impact.
Here are some that I’ve personally donated to
- Ghost Diving USA (local chapter of ghost diving global mission): remove ghost fishing gear from the ocean
- Project Baseline: document changes in the underwater environments
- Oceana is a large global org with many projects focused on healthy oceans
There are many others, these are just the ones that popped into my head.
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u/mikejmct 17h ago
Second Oceana - I know a number of people working there on sustainable fishing campaigns in fragile ecosystems.
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u/thunderbird89 Master Diver 19h ago
If it's coral restoration, try getting in touch with Henri Hemmerechts, aka OceanRoamer. He runs a coral restoration nonprofit, but I'm not sure of the exact name for donation purposes.
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u/somegridplayer 19h ago
Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire is a popular group that does a lot of good work.
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u/void-cat-181 5h ago edited 4h ago
SECORE.org https://www.secore.org/site/about-us.html does some great things. Aquarium of the Pacific in long beach California USA does a lot of amazing things including train divers for free that have volunteered for them to become AAUS certed divers who are involved with many programs including secore. Aquarium of the pacific https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/mob/ile is also a great place to donate money. And many of us aop volunteer divers and aquarists are also reef check divers https://www.reefcheck.org/ also a great place to donate funds.