Sanctuary Community Fund

To increase public support, long-term protection, and sustainable use of national marine sanctuaries and other protected waters, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is creating the Sanctuary Community Fund to invest directly in community partner engagement so that the heart of sanctuaries – the peoples, places, customs, and cultures – can help advance science and ways of knowing, stewardship, and outreach within the sanctuary community and beyond.

Through the Sanctuary Community Fund, the Foundation will deliver funding to local communities and groups within those communities that will support the discovery, testing, piloting, nurturing, capacity, and spread of the best ideas to protect our ocean and Great Lakes. To maximize the effectiveness of this community-based grant program, the Foundation will conduct robust RFP outreach and provide grant training opportunities that will increase participation of diverse sectors of the community, particularly inclusion of the indigenous and underrepresented groups who are intrinsically linked to our waters.

Our national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments are ideal places to focus attention and efforts to improve ocean justice, advancing health and prosperity for communities connected to the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes and for the whole country. As our Nation’s network of protected waters centered in community-based, comprehensive ecosystem management, these are key opportunities to increase engagement with historically underrepresented and marginalized communities.

The initial funds are included as part of a 2023 announcement from the Biden-Harris Administration of investments through NOAA to address coastal climate resilience and protect marine resources through the Inflation Reduction Act. The Foundation will leverage that funding to seek complementary private investment in the Sanctuary Community Fund, to create a collaborative impact model that utilizes the power of public-private partnership to solve the biggest challenges facing our National Marine Sanctuary System and its watersheds.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

The first round of grants will support community partners who want to advocate and advance the sites currently in the national marine sanctuary designation process and initial establishment of new sites, but do not have the resources to do so.  Partners in communities serving Designations in Progress will be eligible to apply. Past engagement roles and actions will not impact any organization’s eligibility for a grant award.

Future iterations of this grant program are intended to expand beyond Designations in Progress to the entire National Marine Sanctuary System.

The Foundation will release the initial Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Sanctuary Community Fund on October 7, 2024, on our website at marinesanctuary.org. The RFP will include specific instructions for applications. The Foundation will also host a virtual workshop during the application window,  to ensure an inclusive funding life cycle that sets reasonable expectations and offers intensive guidance for the application to organizations new to the grant-seeking and grant administration process. Award announcements will be made before the end of the year, and projects will be able to start project work as of January 1, 2025.

The Foundation anticipates awarding $2M from the Sanctuary Community Fund over two years, with multiple opportunities to apply for funding.

The Sanctuary Community Fund will work to achieve specific outcomes including but not limited to:

• Adding leadership capacity to individuals and groups to address ongoing concerns in ocean conservation,
• Increase awareness of National Marine Sanctuaries,
• Create opportunities for diverse sectors of the community to be ambassadors for the national marine sanctuaries that they care about,
• Increase access to sanctuaries and engagement with the designation process, and
• Build trust and familiarity between the National Marine Sanctuaries and the communities who are impacted the most by them.

The Impact We Seek

• Broad public demand for National Marine Sanctuary designation for  Designations in Progress, sites and increased public stewardship of existing sites.
• Equity and justice are integral to the way we manage ocean space.
• Cultural resource conservation and protection are fundamentally linked to our value of protecting   our natural resources.
• National Marine Sanctuary designations are validated and hold additional credibility because of the support of engaged communities who participate fully in a transparent and inclusive designation process.
• Communities inspire and initiate new nominations and designations resulting in a more diverse, representative, and inclusive National Marine Sanctuary System.

For more information about the Sanctuary Community Fund, please contact Paul Vaughan at pvaughan@marinesanctuary.gov