The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is a leading voice for U.S. protected waters, working with communities to conserve and expand these special places for a healthy ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes. Working together, we safeguard species and the places they call home, and preserve America’s maritime history.

National marine sanctuaries and monuments — our wondrous protected waters — teeming with life and inspiring a proud community of stewards for our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Increase the size of the National Marine Sanctuary System to enhance biodiversity conservation and maritime heritage and cultural preservation.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Two: Restore habitats to provide ecosystem services, enhance climate resilience of marine ecosystems, and support coastal communities.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: Inspire the next generation to pursue education in ocean science and conservation, and create a culture of stewardship for marine protected areas.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

The Foundation is committed to leadership and professional development at all levels of the organization. Recently, team members have engaged and served as leaders in JEDI focused cohorts including Race + the Ocean and the Resilience Initiative; professional associations including NationSwell and the Women's Aquatic Network; and have a variety of opportunities to participate in professional conferences and events. All team members participate in annual reviews and quarterly check-ins that include a plan with specific actions toward professional and leadership development that the Foundation can help support. Staff started a book club for women at the beginning of their careers focused on leadership and confidence building.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Foundation leadership engages externally to mobilize support for our mission both at an organizational and individual level. The Foundation is chairing the Fundraising Working Group for Mission: Iconic Reefs, a program that includes a multi-year commitment, dozens of nonprofit, public, and corporate partners with a goal of raising $100 million to support coral reef restoration. The Foundation participates in the Blue Funders Group to share resources and ideas for increasing funding for ocean issues. The Foundation hosts Capitol Hill Ocean Week every June, the largest policy conference of its kind in the United States - attendees include students, scientists, Members of Congress and the Administration, leaders from the corporate and nonprofit sectors, and more. With the help of sponsors, we are able to maintain a conference that is fee-free and open to the public. The Foundation hosts "fly-ins" on Capitol Hill to help community leaders and constituents advocate for our shared mission.

Like most organizations, the global pandemic and resulting shutdowns caused our team to rethink current and future planning - from fieldwork to events to fundraising to educational opportunities for students. Wherever possible, the Foundation team found ways to pivot with our programming. Some of the major changes, especially engaging a global audience for Capitol Hill Ocean Week with a robust virtual platform and agenda, expanded our reach and has given us new ways to communicate with new audiences. We are also open to more job positions being fully remote, opening access to an entire new pool of applicants from a variety of backgrounds. The 2020 killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others led to an overdue reckoning with personal and systemic racism, police violence and inequality in America. At the Foundation, we recognized that we had a lot of work to do both internally and with the greater environmental movement. While the internal work is ongoing, we used Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2021 as a convening point for the grassroots groups and environmental justice leaders who have long done work that has gone overlooked to have an amplified platform for discussion. For the first time in 20 years, the Foundation brought together an Advisory Council to plan and vet the program, sessions, and speakers; we realize that we are not a leader in this space and need to clear a path forward for those groups instead. It was a powerful conference that continues to influence ocean policy initiatives and JEDI efforts.