The Ocean Foundation
Description
The Ocean Foundation is a community foundation dedicated to ocean health, climate resilience and the blue economy.
It works as the only community foundation focused on the ocean, connecting donors, partners and governments to the informational, technical and financial resources communities need for ocean stewardship. It hosts donor-advised funds, pooled funds and a fiscal sponsorship program for ocean and marine projects, and evaluates conservation projects to guide donors toward effective ones. Its initiatives cover blue carbon and coastal resilience, ocean literacy, ocean acidification science, and marine plastic pollution.
The foundation grew out of the Coral Reef Foundation, started by underwater photographer Wolcott Henry, and was launched under its current name in 2003 in Washington, D.C. More than two-thirds of its grants support work outside the United States, and it has hosted projects on marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles and seagrass across every continent. Hosted projects have included the International Fisheries Conservation Program, SEVENSEAS Media and Shark Advocates International.
The foundation also builds capacity for local and regional conservation groups, supports island communities, and engages in ocean science diplomacy and research and development.
Latest news
Today, September 1, 2026. is the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the RMS Titanic wreck site by a joint US-French team led by Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel. …
1 Sep 2026
Comments of The Ocean Foundation: In Response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Request for Information:Potential Use of the Outer Continental Shelf for Offshore Space Launch and Re-entry ActivitiesDocket No. BOEM-2026-0232 Submitted by:Mark J. Spalding, President & CEOThe Ocean Foundation1320 19th Street NW, …
11 Aug 2026
COMMENTS ON Proposed Seabed Lease for Offshore Mining NJ18-08 Chincoteague
These comments focus on both known and potential submerged cultural resources, existing law and policies, and still-standing international agreements. They are drawn from five decades of experience in ocean policy, …
7 Aug 2026
How Two Shipwrecks Connect the Present to the Emerging Global Market of Centuries Ago
The vast waters of the Pacific, while known to and sailed by Pacific Islanders for millennia, were not widely navigated by the rest of the world until half a millennium …
23 Jun 2026
The National Academies Just Set the Record Straight on Ocean Observing
For the past two weeks, I have been writing, mostly on LinkedIn, about a decision I find genuinely hard to fathom: the United States is dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative …
17 Jun 2026
Arab Maritime Heritage: Navigators of the Indian Ocean April has been recognized as Arab American Heritage Month. While it celebrates modern US communities, The Ocean Foundation would like to reflect …
27 Apr 2026
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