The Monterey Bay and Channel Islands Sanctuary Foundation serve an important niche in the California nonprofit community. By partnering with the National Marine Sanctuary Program and other ocean and coastal management agencies, we’re able to help facilitate their important work. As a fiscal sponsor, the Sanctuary Foundation is able to solicit funds from many sources and implement projects to aid in the understanding and protection of the Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries, and other coastal and ocean resources in California.
The Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation (MBSF) was established in 1995 and starting in 2011, the MBSF has begun operations in southern California as the Channel Islands Sanctuary Foundation. Together the Sanctuary Foundation focus efforts on education, research, and resource protection for conserving and protecting the extraordinary environment and resources of the marine sanctuaries in central and southern California, coastal and undersea equivalents to our nation’s parks, forests, and wilderness areas.
The Sanctuary Foundation’s successes may be attributed to the private/public partnership link it provides and a strict policy to maintain a very high ratio of program expenses to management, administration, and fundraising fees. One major difference between the Sanctuary Foundation and the many other valuable nonprofit groups involved in ocean conservation is their broad reach and collaborative approach. We have consistently been involved in combining the efforts of multiple groups to ensure more unity in the programs, better integration of information, more efficient use of the funds available, and greater impacts throughout the state.
The Board of Directors is active in the foundation’s planning processes. The Board of Directors developed a strategic plan and the Board manages the foundation following this plan. This plan is informed by and aligned with priorities laid out in the following regional and national reports:
- The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force
- National Ocean Council Strategic Action Plans
- West Coast Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Health
- California Ocean Protection Council Strategic Plan
- Joint Ocean Commission Initiative
- United States Commission on Ocean Policy
- Pew Report – America’s Living Oceans
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