Why Saving the Ocean Still Runs Out of Money

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Ocean conservation is a
multi-billion dollar global effort.

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So why do so many marine scientists
and nonprofits constantly feel

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like they're running out of money?

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean,
your weekday ocean news update.

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If you care about staying informed
about the ocean every weekday, hit

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that follow button right now so
you don't miss tomorrow's story.

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This week, we're gonna be
talking about nonprofits.

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We're gonna be talking about
how to generate revenue.

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We're gonna be talking about
some of the problems that we've

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identified from nonprofits.

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And on Friday, I've got an interview
with James Meissner, who is a nonprofit

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consultant that will give people
like yourselves who have nonprofits

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some way of coping and some way of
building that revenue so that you

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can actually run a proper nonprofit.

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So we're gonna talk about that all
today, 'cause people often assume

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that if an ocean issue is important
enough, someone is gonna fund it.

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That's really what it comes down to.

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And unfortunately, that's not
always the case because that's

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not really how conservation works.

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In reality, many ocean conservation
organizations are operating on

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a year-to-year, grant-to-grant,
or donation-donation basis.

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Even some of the most important marine
conservation projects in the world

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struggle to maintain long-term funding.

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And that creates a major question.

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If we already know so much
about protecting the ocean, why

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does ocean conservation still
feel financially unstable?

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Marine conservation in general just
sounds massive, and to be honest, it is.

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But according to multiple
international reports, ocean

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protection receives a small fraction
of global environmental funding.

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I've seen that for all of my career.

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I've worked on projects where there's
been a huge funder whether it be in

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the industrial region, like oil and
gas or things like that, and they are

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watching every nickel and dime that
they are spending on their project

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because they don't want to spend a lot
on environmental projects because they

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realize that if they spend a lot and
they do a thorough job, that thorough

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jobs may say, "Hey, you know what?

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You shouldn't be doing what you're
doing here from an industrial

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standpoint." And so we start to see
just taking away the money and trying

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to spend a little as much possible
in environmental funding because

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they don't wanna get involved in it.

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Many marine protected areas exist
mostly on paper because there isn't

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enough money for enforcement, staffing,
research or monitoring, which we covered

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in the week that we talked about marine
conservation and marine protected areas.

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So science may identify critical habitats,
governments may announce protected

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areas, but without long-term investment,
protection often becomes symbolic, and

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funding is incredibly competitive.

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Thousands of nonprofits,
universities, indigenous groups,

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and conservation organizations
are applying for the same grants.

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So the competition has increased,
and the funding hasn't necessarily

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increased in the way that the
amount of competition has increased.

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That means organizations spend
huge amounts of time trying

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to secure funding instead of
directly protecting ecosystems.

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I can't tell you the number of people
that are scientists who have started

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organizations, have done a really good
job at maintaining these organizations

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for a long time, but they can't do
the science that they wanna do or

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the conservation that they wanna do
because they're always on proposals.

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It is one of the big headaches
of nonprofit management.

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Some researchers spend months writing
proposals with no guarantee of success.

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I know some organizations have shut
down because they didn't get the

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grants that they were supposed to get
and that's a tough pill to swallow.

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Others rely on short-term contracts
tied to political priorities that

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can disappear after elections.

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I wonder where we saw that before.

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And this instability affects everything.

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Research timelines, staff retention,
community programs, long-term

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planning, even public outreach.

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There's another layer to this.

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Funding increasingly follows visibility.

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Organizations that communicate
clearly often have a better chance of

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attracting donors and partnerships.

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I've watched organizations have a
really good and really great presence

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on social media, a really good
backing and showing all the stuff that

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they're doing, and sometimes I'm like,
"I wonder why they're doing that."

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It just kinda shows off that they
have all this grant management or

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they have all this money they're
getting from foundations because

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they can show off what they're doing.

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And sometimes you're like, "How
are they doing this?" Like, how are

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they getting all this stuff done?

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Their presence on social media,
their presence in their communication

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aspect shows what they're able
to do, which brings eyes to the

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organizations, which brings, "Hey,
this person is doing really well."

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As an example.

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I've been podcasting for 11 years.

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You've probably heard me say that a
lot of times on this podcast if you've

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been listening any time recently.

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But since I've been doing that,
I haven't necessarily posted on

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social media on a consistent basis
until, like, the last year or so.

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And when I started to do that, I started
to post on LinkedIn, like clips from

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my episodes, and on TikTok and on
Instagram, then people are like, "Wow,

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you're really working hard. You're really
doing a lot in podcasting." And I'm

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like, " I've been doing this for 11 years.

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I've been doing this for many
times, as many years that

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I've been doing this, really.

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I've been doing it for so long." And
they're just like, "I just noticed

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you do it now 'cause it starts coming
up on my feed, and I really like

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what you're saying." But they won't
necessarily listen to the podcast.

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It doesn't increase downloads to my
podcast or doesn't necessarily grow

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the show, but it shows that I'm
actually doing work, and I'm getting

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more eyes on the stuff that I'm doing.

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Doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna
grow the show, but it does help in

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making that appearance of like, "Hey,
you're actually working really hard on

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this. People come up to me and they're
like, " Well, you've been doing so much

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work. Like, how much time do you spend?"

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And I start talking about my workflow
and how much I do, and they're

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like, "Wow, I can't believe you're
actually able to do this." But it

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means that storytelling is becoming
part of conservation infrastructure.

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And this is why you see how ocean
organizations investing heavily

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in social media, documentaries,
podcasts, YouTube videos, newsletters,

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and influencer partnerships, not
because communication is trendy,

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but because the attention drives
support, and support drives survival.

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A scientific paper may contain
critical findings, but if the

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public never hears about it, it
becomes much harder to generate

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political pressure or donor interest.

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I'm not saying that scientific
publications are not important.

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They are important to maintaining
a scientific integrity.

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But you still have to go out into
the masses and speak to the donor

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and the people that you are talking
to that are helping fund your

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organization and have that communication.

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Large organizations have a huge
funding department, or probably more

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staff in their funding department
or their development department

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than they do in their actual science
department or their conservation

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department or their advocacy department.

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Because they need to have these
relationships and continue to

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build these relationships to allow
that money to continue to come.

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' Cause if you don't perform and
so to speak, for these donors,

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why are they gonna do it?

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If you don't relate the work that
you're doing to these donors and

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what their mission is and what their
message is and why they donated in

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the first place, you can't help.

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And so if you don't have that
communication aspect, whether it's

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to one donor or many, or even just
an audience that if you're getting

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funding from many people, you're
not looking at driving anything.

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That's a tough pill to swallow
for a lot of people when

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you're doing this type of work.

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So all this stuff, it creates
a difficult balancing act.

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Scientists need accuracy, but online
platforms reward emotion and simplicity.

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So it's a very different
way of communicating.

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Organizations are constantly
trying to simplify complex ocean

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issues with losing nuance.

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And honestly, some issues are
easier to communicate than others.

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Like sea turtles and whales
attract public attention quickly.

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If you show a video of a whale
breaching, that's pretty cool.

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In front of like, say, a whale-watching
boat, that's pretty cool.

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That's a really fun thing to watch.

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Or have a picture of that, that's
a really fun thing to see.

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That's gonna catch the eye of somebody
on Instagram say, "I wonder what this

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is all about." But fisheries management
policy is usually pretty boring.

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They're not really gonna say anything.

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Unless you have an image of something
really compelling and talking about it to

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your potential donors or to your audience.

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That's what really, really
matters in this situation.

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But fisheries policy may affect
food security, jobs, and ecosystem

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collapse far more directly.

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It may be more important.

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It's like every time I talk about
biodiversity, it doesn't get a lot

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of downloads compared to my other
episodes, say, on whales or sharks

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or sea turtles or anything like that.

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But it's probably one of the most
important things 'cause it'll save whales

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and sharks and sea turtles, right?

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Now, this is kind of something
that's been really interesting for me

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because I have developed this science
communication role in myself by doing

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this podcast and by looking at how I
communicate using newsletters, YouTube

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videos, and also social media, different
platforms and so forth, and continuing

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to create content to not only just
grow my show, but to expand my message.

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So I've learned a lot about
science communication.

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So much so that I've been recently hired,
I've been there for a month, at Pisces

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Ocean as the Oceans Communication Manager.

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And what's really great is that
Pisces is actually sponsoring

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this episode and this podcast.

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And what's really great is Pisces
actually works as a consultant.

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We're a consultancy firm, and we work
with clients, whether from the nonprofit

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sector, the for-profit sector, or
academic projects like large academic

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projects or even small academic projects.

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We work with organizations to
amplify their message to help them

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get funded So you're not always
looking for funding, but this is like

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once you get this started, once you
get a strategy, and once you start

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getting this produced, you start
increasing that money that's coming in.

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You start increasing that attention first,
and then the money will eventually follow.

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But it has to come with a
good plan with communication.

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So if you wanna check out what Pisces
is all about, go to piscesoceans.ca.

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That's piscesoceans.ca
for more information.

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If you have any questions, you
can just hit me up on any of

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my socials that I've put below.

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DM me, message me on LinkedIn.

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I'd be more than happy to chat with you.

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If you're having trouble raising
funds, having communication,

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even finding the time to do
communication, we can provide that.

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We have a thing called Pisces Points.

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It's really great.

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You do a strategy.

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We do Pisces Points.

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It's awesome, and we can
really get you started quickly.

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So check that out, piscesoceans.ca, and
I'll put that link in the show notes.

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So check that out.

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It's a new thing that I'm doing,
and I'm loving my job, and I

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love working with organizations.

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It's a lot of fun.

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We do a lot of cool things, not just
communication strategies, but everything,

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and I'm having a blast doing it.

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So come work with me as a
client, and I would love to help

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you out with our great team.

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All right.

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So let's get back into the episode
'cause we wanna know what happens next.

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Like, what's the future gonna look like?

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And to be honest, I think ocean
conservation is entering a period where

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financial sustainability becomes just
as important as scientific discovery.

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We need organizations like nonprofit
organizations and for-profit

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organizations to really step up for
the ocean because we're seeing a lot of

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governments step back from the ocean.

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They just don't have the funding, or
political parties have different types of

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strategies or different types of values
that don't always include the ocean.

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And so we need to have the
organizations step up even more.

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So we need them financially sustainable
so that we can actually continue on with

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some of the great work that they do.

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So organizations are looking
for some stable funding models.

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Some are building partnerships
with corporations.

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Others are developing memberships,
media platforms, educational products,

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or even community-driven funding.

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There's a growing discussion around
whether government should fund

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conservation infrastructure more like
public services instead of relying

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so heavily on donations and grants.

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But here's the reality.

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The ocean supports global food systems.

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It regulates climate.

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It supports tourism, shipping,
jobs, and coastal economies.

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Yet many of the people trying
to protect it are working in

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financially unstable systems.

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And that creates risk because conservation
only works when institutions are

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strong enough to survive long-term, not
grant to grant, donation to donation.

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That's not really what is
what we're talking about here.

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If ocean conservation constantly operates
in survival mode, long-term protection

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becomes much harder to achieve So I
want you to follow this podcast right

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now if you haven't followed it before,
so that you can get all the updates.

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We post from Monday to Friday.

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And for this week, we are gonna
be posting all about nonprofit and

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how you can survive as a nonprofit.

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So if you have recently started a
nonprofit, or you have one, or you're

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working with one, and you guys are
always struggling for funding, and

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that's nothing to be ashamed of,
this happens to a lot of people and

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a lot of organizations, I'm here
to try and help with this week.

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And at the end of the week, we have
James Meisner, who is on the podcast,

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where I did an interview talking about
what he does as a nonprofit consultant.

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He's got some great tips as
an ocean nonprofit, make

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sure you are raising funds.

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So check that out.

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That's it for this episode.

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I'd love to hear your feedback.

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Hit me up on my socials down in the
show notes below, or you can go to

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speakupforblue.com/feedback, and you can
just hit me up, write a text or type out a

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message, or even record a voice message.

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I would love to hear from you.

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I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.