WORLD OCEAN OBSERVATORY
The Sea Connects All Things...
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The WORLD OCEAN OBSERVATORY is a major utility for ocean communication as a means to advance public awareness and political will, and is dedicated to providing information and education about the health of the ocean. We believe that informed citizens worldwide can unite to sustain the ocean through mitigation and change of human behavior on land and sea. Our focus is the full spectrum of ocean issues: climate, fresh water, food, energy, trade, transportation, public health, finance, governance, security, recreation, and culture. Major programs include World Ocean Radio, World Ocean Explorer, World Ocean Journal, World Ocean Forum, and Citizens of the Ocean. It is our belief that the sea connects all things.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
World Ocean Radio
A weekly series of five-minute audio essays on a wide range of ocean issues from science and education to advocacy and exemplary projects, brought to you by long-time host Peter Neill. Available for RSS feed, podcast, and syndicated use at no cost by community radio stations worldwide.
World Ocean Journal
World Ocean Journal is a web-based e-magazine on ocean culture and solutions to today's ocean issues which incorporates essays, interviews, art, exhibits, and performances which profile some of the vital impacts of the ocean on our lives. World Ocean Journal is a free annual e-zine with distribution to an audience numbering in the millions. World Ocean Journal, a web-based electronic magazine on ocean culture and solutions to today's ocean issues which incorporates essays, interviews, art, exhibits, and performances which profile some of the vital impacts of the ocean on our lives. World Ocean Journal is a free bi-annual e-zine with distribution to an audience numbering in the millions. This is a new program: volume one was distributed to a mass global audience in January, 2014. With support, the Journal will reach expand its readership and attract scientists, advocates, and innovators to submit content and ideas for future volumes. Volume one was distributed to a mass global audience in January, 2014; Volume two was published in July 2015. With support, the Journal will reach expand its readership and attract scientists, advocates, and innovators to submit content and ideas for future volumes.
World Ocean Forum
Launched in 2015, World Ocean Forum addresses fresh ideas and new solutions, to provide serious, provocative, and imaginative conversations about the future of the ocean, linking unexpected people with unexpected ideas. World Ocean Forum is available in two formats:
1. as an online initiative for key ocean voices, professionals, and Citizens of the Ocean to contribute to an active forum of opinion, ideas, and proposals for change in ocean policy and action worldwide; and
2. as a monthly 30 minute audio interview with various experts on a wide variety of ocean issues. World Ocean Forum allows the W2O engage with and reach a larger global audience online as a means to amplify and distribute ocean information.
World Ocean Explorer
World Ocean Explorer ® is an educational, interactive 3D platform for ocean exploration and discovery. A cutting edge virtual aquarium, Explorer is designed to increase ocean literacy and interest in ocean fields of study through a free web-based interactive. Users enter through the lobby and can walk through to visit new and future exhibits, interacting with 3d models of species and environments. Through various portal doors to different exhibits, students and interested users can learn about species and habitat rarely seen, connect to the Ocean Literacy curriculum and content related to the Next Generation Science Standards, explore various ocean locales aboard a virtual manned submersible, and more. Schmidt Ocean Institute collaborated on the first exhibit--DEEP SEA--in 2022. THE HUB is now available and more theme-based exhibits will come on line in the future: CORAL REEFS, POLAR REGIONS, FRESH WATER, COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS, and more.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Through education, partnership, information exchange, public connection, and relentless communications, the World Ocean Observatory (W2O) is committed to building an expansive global community of Citizens of the Ocean to promote and conserve marine resources for the future of all mankind.\r\nGoals:\r\n< To build an educational initiative incorporating ocean information into exhibits, educational innovations, public programs, and informational services.\r\n< To share these resources through partnerships with existing museums, science centers, aquaria, libraries, NGOs, schools and other educational institutions, thereby reaching audiences around the world with the greatest effect and economy of scale.\r\n< To expand public awareness of the implication of the ocean for the future of human survival.\r\n< To serve as a central place of exchange for ocean information, education and public discourse. To serve as an independent forum and focus for ocean affairs.\r\n< To advocate for the ocean through an open, worldwide network of communication.\r\n< To provide a window on the future of the ocean for the general public and decision-makers around the world.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. To communicate globally\r\n2. To use the efficiency of partnerships and existing structures\r\n3. To reach a differentiated audience, locally and worldwide\r\n4. To affect the inter-generational transfer of knowledge\r\n5. To be science-based and humanities-driven\r\n6. To be non-litigious, independent and apolitical\r\n7. To advocate through information and education\r\n8. To promote civil discourse, peace and security on the ocean\r\n9. To be optimally economical in service, personnel, and overhead\r\n10. To be financially self-sustaining through grants and endowment
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
World Ocean Observatory is the leading organization advocating for the health and sustainability of the ocean through an accessible worldwide network of communication. Through education, partnership, information exchange, public connection, and relentless communications, W2O is building an expansive global community to promote and conserve marine resources for the future of all mankind.\r\n\r\nMany good projects are funded and implemented by many donors with ocean interests, often at great expense. If, despite these efforts, there remains a communications breakdown and outcomes are limited by inadequate public awareness, then a new communications model is necessary. Most organizations devote their resources to marketing their particular programs and endeavors and to engage their audience through membership publications, public relations, and individualized social media. \r\n\r\nWe must do more. It is clear we must continue to build a comprehensive, accessible, relentless program of communications to reach the largest worldwide audience possible. We must move beyond wishful thinking and inadequate action. \r\n\r\nThe World Ocean Observatory provides a unique model for ocean communications, aggregating comprehensive ocean information, consolidating educational resources, promoting other organizations' programs and successes, amplifying the ocean message, and multiplying ocean engagement with an audience above and beyond that of any individual endeavor. We are a collective voice for many ocean voices, a central place of exchange of content and accomplishment, and the promoter of best practices, innovation, and effective connection to the global ocean community. \r\n\r\nToday we perform this task with energy, imagination, economy, and efficiency, reaching a significant audience worldwide through the free distribution of a full catalog of ocean information. We do so at modest cost, with a conservative annual budget, provided by a small number of forward-thinking donors and private foundations who understand our concept, see our results, and are committed to our future. \r\n\r\nOur challenge is to reach an exponentially larger number of ocean advocates, to engage and link to ocean organizations and individuals at a scale that truly matters, through an informed, exciting, relentless, and enduring program of communications based on the understanding that the sea connects all things.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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WORLD OCEAN OBSERVATORY
Board of directorsas of 07/14/2023
Peter Neill
Mary Barnes
MaryBarnesArt.com
Trisha Badger
World Ocean Observatory
Tundi Agardy
Sound Seas
Peter Neill
World Ocean Observatory
Andrew Hudson
UNDP
Wendy Watson Wright
IOC-UNESCO
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as: