Oceanic Global Foundation
Oceanic Global inspires us to care deeply for the ocean and provides solutions to protect it. The 501(c)(3) non-profit sheds light on humanity’s essential relationship to the ocean and empowers individuals, communities, and industries to create positive change for our collective wellbeing.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
93% of fisheries are exploited. 8-12 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year. 75% of coral reefs are projected to die by 2050. Only 2% of our ocean is currently protected. Our oceans are at a critical tipping point and we need to take action in the interest of ourselves and the planet!
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
BLUE
A first of its kind cross-industry standard, Blue offers a three-star verification system composed of open-source resources, step-by-step auditing and consultation support, and buying deals with vetted, sustainable vendors. Blue also offers product and packaging seals that verify individual products for meeting Blue’s plastic-free criteria. The two synergistic offerings work together to empower businesses to achieve measurable impact that protects our blue planet.
Oceanic Global’s industry solutions work began in the hospitality industry and has expanded to include specializations in the tourism, music, sports, office space, and CPG sectors.
Through Blue (previously The Oceanic Standard), Oceanic Global has engaged over 400+ businesses across 26 countries and built a network of over 60 trained consultants, and 300+ sustainable vendors offering alternatives to environmentally detrimental products and processes. It has also helped shape seven policies banning single-use plastics in the US, New York State, New York City, Ibiza, Barbados, and the Aeolian Islands so far.
Where we work
Awards
World Changing Ideas, Finalist 2022
Fast Company
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of single-use plastic items removed from the waste stream
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
BLUE
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total pounds of debris collected
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
BLUE
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Note: This numeric value relates to total pounds of plastic removed through corporate partnerships
Number of educational campaigns created
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of policies formally established
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Impacted 7 International policies on plastic-reduction at the city,state,and country-wide levels
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?
Oceanic Global (OG) engages new audiences in ocean conservation. The non-profit taps into universal passions to raise awareness for issues impacting our oceans and to provide individual and industry solutions that drive positive change. Oceanic Global takes a uniquely creative approach to conservation, creating immersive experiences that engage local communities, amplify the efforts of synergistic groups, generate measurable impact and ignite global action.
To solve the issues impacting our ocean, we must broaden the conversation and inspire new audiences to take action. Oceanic Global (OG) focuses on providing millennial audiences with grassroots tools to create behavioral change, while working with industries to generate quantifiable impact. Our call to action is responsible consumption.
We catalyze and facilitate the transition to responsible consumption at the individual, industry and policy levels. Our ultimate goal is to create a society in which we live in harmony with our natural environment, which primarily consists of our ocean.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Grassroots Activations: Educational Engagement and Community-Based Programs
OG‘s grassroots initiatives focus on empowering millennials to embrace behavioral change and responsible consumption through awareness campaigns as well as educational programming and events such as beach cleanups, film screenings, speaker panels.
Most recently, Oceanic Global was honored to participate as the official non-profit and production partner to the 2019 United Nations World Oceans Day event with this year's theme "Gender and the Ocean." It was a wonderful day of inspiring storytellers and expert panelists, exploring the gender dimension of our human relationship with our ocean and learning how these incredible individuals are creating a positive difference for both gender equality and our ocean. Our team was honored to be present in the program: Lea d’Auriol, Oceanic Global Founder, moderated the opening session and Natasha Berg, Oceanic Global BoD and Head of Communications, moderated the afternoon expert panel discussion.
We developed our Hubs Program to provide a platform for community programs globally and to expand our reach. The Oceanic Global Hubs are regional, volunteer-based chapters of the Oceanic Global team that drive localized impact on a global scale. In 2019, we launched Hubs in: London, LA, the Hamptons, NYC, and Barcelona. Each Hub is run by a diverse, elected 10-person Steering Committee that vote on focus program areas, and work closely with Oceanic Global headquarters to implement effective solutions to regional issues.
2. Industry Solutions: Sustainable Operating Practices at Scale
We launched The Oceanic Standard (TOS) as a set of free industry-specific guides for adopting sustainable practices that meet both business and environmental needs. TOS consists of various industry and country-specific, research-backed editions designed to support shifts in operational infrastructure, while promoting best practices for responsible consumption. TOS demonstrates that b2c and b2b change is possible, and serves as a resource for political action and reform.
Oceanic Global has awarded over 300 TOS badges in 30 cities with the help of 20 consultant partners and 100 sustainable vendor partners around the world, so far impacting four policies banning single-use plastics. We have hosted five country-specific TOS launch events (US, UK, Spain, Mexico, Barbados) as we grow this movement globally!
3. City-by-City Immersive Experiences
Every two years, Oceanic Global partners with a different international city to create an immersive experience that generates measurable impact in the community, while raising awareness and igniting action for ocean conservation. We hosted our inaugural event, Oceanic x Ibiza, in July 2017 in Ibiza, which sparked the island's upcoming ban on single-use plastics, and will be hosting our next event in the series in June 2020 in NYC.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our team consists of: 2 Full-Time Members; 4 Board of Directors, 5 Directors + Managers, and 11 Volunteers + Additional Part-Time Staff.
We developed our Hubs Program to amplify Oceanic Global’s international efforts, programs and campaigns as well as spearhead grassroots activations, host awareness and fundraising events, secure partnership opportunities, and develop programs that educate and engage new members. Each Hub works to identify and address environmental issues in its immediate community, while supporting the overall mission and goals of Oceanic Global’s corporate headquarters. Together, our international Hubs cultivate volunteers, donors, advocates, and ambassadors that support Oceanic Global’s long-term vision of making this world a healthier place for us all.
We establish 5 Hubs every year. In 2019, we launched Hubs in: London, LA, the Hamptons, NYC, and Barcelona. Each Hub is run by a 10-person by an elected Steering Committee consisting of individuals of diverse backgrounds that donate their time, resources, and knowledge to protecting the health of our oceans. Each Steering Committee is directed by two Chairs that are appointed by Oceanic Global’s corporate team and approved by the Board of Directors. Steering Committee members vote on programs to support within their city, and work closely with the Oceanic Global headquarters to implement effective solutions to regional issues.
Additionally, we have 20 partner organizations, including nonprofits, social enterprises, and individuals, helping us implement our industry program, The Oceanic Standard, globally.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Impact highlights to date include:
40 Events
38 Campaigns Launched
6 University Partnerships
180 Artistic Partnerships
15 Corporate Partnerships
300 Industry Partnerships
30 Nonprofit Partnerships
60 Speaking Engagements
+100MM Social Media Impressions
220K Email Marketing Reach
35 Global Beach Cleanups
30 Cities Activated
6 Festival Integrations
8 Augmented Reality Experiences
4 Policies Impacted
2019 KPIs:
Establish 5 Global Hubs
Increase Strategic / Corporate / Educational / Institutional Partners by 40%
Increase Network to 30 Ambassadors
Multimedia educational campaign around responsible consumption with target reach of 22 million impressions.
Grow social media presence by 60%, targets:
Instagram = 45.72K
Facebook = 30.3K
Twitter = 2,588
Increase Industry Partners to 500+
Increase Industry Program by 80%
Collaborate with City of NY on bills around banning single-use plastics.
Activate >200 school children through localized projects.
Launch a marketing campaign with >30 million impressions.
On July 20th 2017, OG brought together leading conservationists, speakers, artists, institutions, musicians and sustainable brands for a day-long festival that raised awareness and ignited action for ocean conservation in Ibiza, Spain. The dynamic event drew 5,000 guests and offered something for everyone – incorporating an expert speaker series, captivating art installations, virtual reality and augmented reality content, an eco-friendly artisan marketplace, a designated children’s section, and activations by OG’s NGO partners on-site. OG will be doing the same in New York in June 2020, looking to draw 10,000+ guests (predominantly millennial audience), engage 250+ influencers, ambassadors, musicians, speakers, brands, NGOs, partners, and provide a platform for 50+ solution-based brands & projects (b2b + b2c) to create a platform for our ocean.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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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
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Oceanic Global Foundation
Board of directorsas of 09/08/2023
Lea d'Auriol
Oceanic Global Foundation
Term: 2016 -
Natasha Berg
James Sternlicht
Nicholas Williams
Drive Sally
Daniel Romano
Grant Thornton
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? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
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? Yes -
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? Yes
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:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/08/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.