Nonprofit Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility embraces three main concepts—reputation, accountability and transparency.  A widely quoted definition by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development states that "Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large."  Today, stakeholders expect companies to perform well in nonfinancial areas that involve human rights, business ethics, environmental policies, corporate contributions, community development, corporate governance, diversity, and workplace issues.  We at The Ocean Foundation are embracing this concept as are many of our donors.

•  We exist to provide high-end philanthropic advice regarding conservation of the coast and oceans
•  Excellence in all we do
•  Ethical and moral conduct at all times and in all our relationships
•  Innovation in all areas of our business as a means of attaining and sustaining leadership
•  To practice socially and environmentally responsible investing
•  To educate the public about the value of protecting the marine environment
•  To provide a healthful, productive and enjoyable workplace for all employees, with opportunities to gain new skills and advance personal career goals
•  We do not compete with our grantees doing the work
•  We do not compete for fundraising. We are bringing new money to the table
•  Because our money will go much farther in many other parts of the world, more than 50% of our grantmaking is non-USA focused
•  As a California corporation we support and are in compliance with the California Nonprofit Integrity Act. For example, we are independently audited each year and all our Form 990 IRS reports are publicly available on GuideStar. The California Nonprofit Integrity Act as well as current and potential future federal regulations aim to protect donors.

Carbon Free - we buy carbon credits through NativeEnergy.com to offset our contribution to climate change. We are buying more credits than we need so that we are positive, not just carbon neutral.  A note about TOF travel and its impact on greenhouse gas emissions:  We try to minimize the number of trips and to make every trip as efficient as possible.  We purchase more carbon offsets than our travel would necessarily require.  While we understand that carbon offset purchases remain an imperfect system, we work to identify those options with the highest ratings.