Pacific Marine Mammal Center
Building a Better Ocean
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
PMMC has been helping protect wild marine mammals and connecting people with the ocean since 1971. Our core mission is to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured marine mammals and return them back to their ocean home. PMMC has helped nearly 10,000 marine mammals over the past 50 years. While in our care, we get unique insight into these animals’ lives and can learn about the pressures they are facing in the wild. Through their stories, we educate our community about ocean conservation, conduct research that informs policymakers how to better protect our oceans, and train the next generation of ocean advocates. Conservation is a very important area of focus, since trash, plastics and chemicals have become an increasingly vital concern for the health and safety of our oceans. Through the range of our numerous high-impact research based education programs, we increase marine science knowledge, ecosystem understanding and inspire environmental stewardship.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Animal Care
PMMC’s Animal Care Team is composed of more than 100 highly trained volunteers who, under the guidance of our veterinary and animal care staff, provide high quality care to our patients from rescue to release. The majority of our patients suffer directly or indirectly from human caused illnesses or injuries. The most common causes include starvation due to ocean warming and decreased prey availability, entanglement in fishing gear and ocean trash, impacts from harmful algal blooms, and cancer due to contaminants in the marine environment. PMMC’s unique access to these critically ill and injured marine mammals also allows us to provide hands-on teaching and training opportunities. To facilitate this, we have created a Marine Mammal Teaching Hospital, and have created a variety of externships, internships, and fellowships to help expand our reach past our patients and into the future of marine mammal conservation.
Scientific Research
PMMC’s research program focuses on ocean conservation and health, including projects ranging from studying the impacts of DDT exposure, to understanding the consequences of harmful algal blooms, to gaining insight into antibiotic resistance patterns of bacteria in our coastal waters. We embrace the mindset that each of our patients is a window into the health of our oceans. All aspects of interaction with our patients are key to supporting our research efforts, ranging from bloodwork results to necropsy findings, and standardized sampling protocols. We recognize the opportunity and responsibility to provide access to data and samples to relevant parties. Through collaborations with academic partners, non-profits and government agencies, PMMC aims to provide scientifically based guidance to policymakers, natural resource managers, and the general public in order to make the oceans a safer and healthier place for all.
Education
Education focused on marine science and conservation has always been a cornerstones of PMMC. Our staff and volunteer docents and teachers educate approximately 36,000 children and adults through a range of online and onsite programs, and outreaches on marine mammals, marine science, and ocean stewardship. PMMC also offers free specialty programming for title I schools, at risk youth, and children’s hospitals. Our visitor yard, which is free, welcomes approximately 40,000 visitors annually and provides education through our very knowledgeable docents, as well as interactive exhibits covering our marine mammal rescue, rehabilitation and release, marine mammal life history and ecology, and all aspects of ocean conservation, including the impact of humans. We also offer leadership development and internship opportunities to both teens and college students in order to mentor the next generation of marine scientists.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people, People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Children and youth
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2020 impacted by COVID
Total number of free admissions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
2020 and 2021 show impact of covid, from which we are now recovering. Metric primarily shows activities and reach, but also reflects resource usage, since free guided tours are provided by docents.
Number of animal rescues and responses
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Animal Care
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
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?
PMMC remains the only marine mammal rehabilitation facility in all of Orange County, California, licensed to rescue, rehabilitate, and release marine mammals that strand on local beaches. We provide a much-needed service to both marine mammals and the general public by rescuing and treating stranded animals off the Orange County coastline and public beaches. Not only do we provide immediate service to the sick or injured animal in need; we also protect the public from an interaction with a wild animal who is distressed or ill.
The goal, objectives, and intended outcomes of our Animal Care program are:
GOAL: To act as a caregiver and rehabilitate all marine mammals in need of medical attention
TARGETED OUTCOME: To release 75% of marine mammal patients back into the wild as fully rehabilitated, functional representations of their species.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Objective 1: To provide top quality food, medical supplies and laboratory analysis to each and every animal that enters our facility.
Objective 2: Provide advanced diagnostic and supportive care to each patient to allow for the best chance of recovery possible.
Objective 3: Provide each patient with a disease-free, sanitized habitat that encourages healthy recovery.
Objective 4: Be prepared to treat the unusual mortalities that are assaulting these animals each year.
While we cannot predict with certainty how many patients will come through our doors every year, or what new disease or injury they will have, every dollar that we can procure to underwrite our animal care program ensures that we will have the resources needed, as needed, to fulfill our mission to the best of our ability.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With a staff of 26 (including a staff veterinarian) and a network of over 200 volunteers and board members, PMMC consistently achieves our goal through an efficient animal care program and a broad range of educational programs that inform and encourage the public to participate in protecting the animals that share our coastline, as well as promoting practices that will ensure a healthy ocean environment.
PMMC strives every day to meet our outcome target of a 70% success rate for patients admitted under normal conditions, and we are working hard to maintain and even increase that statistic each year through practice and research. It is through a collective effort from staff, volunteers, and our donors that we are able to make our mission a reality and succeed at preserving life for so many of our patients.
Our staff are trained in a variety of roles and can each perform various functions, ensuring that the work never gets "old". Also, our high rate of rehabilitation and release maintains a high level of optimism and hope regarding the future of our patients. This alone keeps our staff and volunteers eager to continue helping marine mammals in need.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
With over 50 years of service, providing dependable, continual animal care services to marine mammals in Orange County is crucial to our overall organizational effectiveness. PMMC's impact is significant for both the animals and the communities we serve, indicated by the quality of care we are able to provide each patient. This impact is measured by the successful rehabilitation and release rates and the number of animals that we must humanely relieve of suffering due to incurable illness or injury.
PMMC is constantly growing our relationships with like-minded organizations in order to better share resources and collective knowledge. For animal care activities, we collaborate with other stranding centers from around the U.S., as well as National Marine Fisheries Service to share information and resources, including research discoveries so that the most up to date methods and strategies are being used.
PMMC takes the use and conservation of natural resources very seriously. We harness solar energy with our solar panel units and have window coverings that aid in climate control of our building. We utilize reverse osmosis drinking stations (instead of using wasteful water bubblers) and our office furniture is made of recycled materials. We are also very proud of our pollination garden habitat for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Our biggest conservation project is underway: building a water reclamation system that will conserve 80-90% of the water we use caring for the marine mammals.
The average rate of rescue over our 45+ year history is 200-300 animals per year, which means that, over our 49-year history, we have given 9,000 animals suffering from a variety of maladies including starvation, manmade and natural injuries, early-age abandonment, etc., a second chance at life. Over the same timeframe, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages have learned more about marine mammals and their ocean home by either participating in our educational programs or simply visiting our center. For the foreseeable future and beyond, we will continue to work to achieve our mission and provide another chance at life for marine mammals in need while increasing awareness and actions that help protect the ocean environment.
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
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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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.
Pacific Marine Mammal Center
Board of directorsas of 05/16/2023
Mr. Jeff Meberg
Independent Environmental Services Professional
Term: 2016 - 2024
John Kinney
Retired, Former Director Information Technology
Jeff Byer
Executive Vice President, PIMCO, LLC
Jeff Meberg
Independent Environmental Services Professional
Ed Batlle
Vice President, JHA Environmental, Inc.
Lisa Locklear
Vice President & CFO, Avanir Pharmaceuticals
Jeff Brumett
Senior Account Manager, North American Title
Rachel Stanaland
Veterinarian, Talega Animal Hospital
Diane Halvorsen
Retired CFO
Phil Shuluk
Director of Construction & Facilities Management, United Rentals
Tom Hale
Dr. Dan Haspert
Scott Katzer
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
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/05/2023GuideStar 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.