Become A Donor — Solutions

The Ocean Foundation's Solutions to Some Particular Philanthropic Challenges

Anonymity, flexibility, speed, and expert advisors on tap are just some of the ways in which The Ocean Foundation can help you give to ocean conservation.  Here are examples of some additional challenges that TOF can - and has - helped to resolve:

1. I need/want to give away money now, but I don't know to whom I want to give it yet
Donate now to TOF and give later, after our experts help you match your giving with your special ocean conservation interests.   Funds given to The Ocean Foundation secure immediate tax advantages, but regranting these funds to specific charities can take place with due consideration over time.

2. Our family foundation disagrees about grantmaking priorities
The Ocean Foundation offers the perfect solution for a family foundation trustee whose interests diverge from the rest of the Board.  Your foundation can grant a portion of its assets to one of our  Field of Interest Funds or to establish a TOF Donor Advised Fund, to be advised by someone other than the interested trustee.  As a result, your foundation's leverage is actually expanded while its defined grantmaking priorities - and your intra-board relationships - stay intact.

3. Managing our foundation is increasingly becoming expensive and burdensome
With rule changes and increased scrutiny of private foundation practices by Congress, the media and the IRS, managing a foundation is more complex than it once was.  By creating your own fund at TOF, we offer you the opportunity to create a mini-foundation or to sunset an existing private foundation, thus saving the time and energy that go into the many administrative tasks that accompany basic foundation operations

4. I'd like to leverage other dollars (including federal funds) with my donation
The community of donors at TOF gives you strategic leverage in your grantmaking from the first dollar.  In addition, grant lists and project ideas are shared with the marine program staff of larger foundations.  Most important, a special agreement with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) provides us with access to an array of vetted, peer-reviewed proposals the National Whale Conservation Fund, the Coral Reef Conservation Project, and the International Sea Turtle Conservation Fund.  These Funds hold hundreds of thousands of federal grant dollars that must be matched by outside sources in order to be released.  Our expert managers will direct your Ocean Fund gift towards the best of the NFWF proposals.

5. I'd like to engage in international grantmaking, but I don't know the rules
Making international gifts has never been more complicated.  With The Ocean Foundation, donors can rest assured that the groups are legitimate and carefully screened to meet all regulations, such as the new requirements under "The PATRIOT Act."  Wherever your interest lies, we can steer you to organizations that are doing great work on the ground and in the water!