Save Our Seas Foundation
/OVERVIEW: Save Our Seas Foundation invests in marine-related research, education, conservation and storytelling projects to protect ocean diversity, focusing specifically on vulnerable populations of sharks, rays and skates.
IP TAKE: Save Our Seas conservation and research grants tend to support individual researchers at universities and institutes around the world. Its storytelling grants, meanwhile, generally go to independent journalists and photographers who are paid to cover an agreed-upon conservation project. All grants appear to prioritize early-career professionals from underrepresented groups in the developing world, although funding is not limited to any specific group or region. This foundation accepts applications for most of its programs, although eligibility, guidelines and due dates vary significantly by program.
PROFILE: Based in Geneva and founded in 2003, the Save Our Seas Foundation is “dedicated to protecting life in our oceans.” Its founder, Abdulmohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh, is “a passionate scuba diver with a deep love for the marine environment” who “heads a conglomerate of diverse international companies.” With operations in South Africa, the U. S. and Seychelles, the foundation serves as a conduit for conservation work on sharks, rays, skates and other vulnerable and endangered ocean species. The objective, according to its website, is to find projects that can draw widespread public attention and thereby create mass momentum for change. Three grant programs and a conservation fellowship support marine conservation and related writing and photography projects. The foundation also runs three shark education and researcher centers, publishes an online magazine and produces multimedia projects about ocean conservation.
Grants for Marine and Wildlife Conservation
Save Our Seas makes two types of grants for conservation.
Keystone Grants support research, conservation and education projects anywhere in the world, but limits its grants to projects that concern “marine chondrichthyan species (sharks, rays, skates, sawfishes and chimaeras).” Keystone grants are awarded on a biennial cycle, with applications accepted during the months of March and April during even years. The average Keystone grants size is $25,000 per year. After the two year grant cycle, grantees may apply for a Keystone Continuation Grant to support a third year of programming. Past grantees whose work is of particular interest to the foundation may also be invited to apply for a Keystone Special Grant.
Small Grants also support research, conservation and education projects that concern marine chondrichthyan species, but work on a smaller scale. Grants are awarded for one year, and the average grant size for this program is $5,000.
The application process for both programs consists of two stages, the second of which is by invitation only. Application guidelines and materials for each type of grant are linked to the funding guidelines page.
Additionally, Save Our Seas runs a Conservation Fellowship for past recipients of the above grantmaking programs. The program aims to help past grantees “retain and develop their expertise” and “are intended to be used to cover the living costs of the grantee.” Fellowships are limited to past grantees who are “living and working in a developing country,” “actively working on a shark or ray project in their region,” and were awarded a Save Our Seas grant fewer than five years before applying for the fellowship. The fellowship is awarded in the amount of $8,000 per year for two years.
Grants for Writing and Visual Arts
The foundation’s Ocean Storytelling Grants support “engaging stories” that communicate knowledge about ocean conservation through writing and photography. This program runs annually, but alternates between photography and writing each year. The foundation seeks “to support early career and emerging storytellers and aim to encourage new voices with new perspectives.” Applicants should have less than five years of professional experience in their field, and the foundation especially encourages “women and applicants from underrepresented communities to apply for this opportunity.”
Photography grantees are assigned to “document a marine conservation project specified by the SOSF” for a period of several weeks. Grants cover all expenses and provide a stipend of $350 per day for the duration of the project. The foundation reserves “permission to use all materials produced on assignment, including photographs, video and sound, exclusively for a 12-month period,” after which recipients may “license or sell the work to other media.”
Writing grantees, similarly, are assigned to write a feature article covering an agreed-upon conservation project. Grants cover all expenses, and recipients receive a $2,000 cash prize, plus a “fee for the assignment.” The foundation reserves “permission to use all materials produced on assignment (the article, any media) exclusively for a 12-month period,” after which recipients may “license or sell the work to other media.”
All application materials are linked to the program page.
Important Grant Details:
The Save Our Seas Foundation’s grants are awarded in amounts specified by its programs.
Keystone and small grants tend to support individual researchers working at universities and research institutes around the world, while storytelling grants tend to go to independent journalists and photographers.
With the exception of its Keystone Special Grants program, the foundation accepts stage I applications for all of its grant programs.
Examples and profiles of funded projects are available in the foundation’s annual reports.
General questions may be directed to the foundation via email at contact@saveourseas.com or via the foundation’s contact page.
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