Coral Restoration Foundation

[9supratt4]

Hey guys...does anyone have any info on the Coral Restoration Foundation? In lieu of favors at the wedding, we will be making a donation to 1 or 2 charities/non-profits. As most of you know...we are both avid divers so repairing coral reefs is a big thing for use in that regard as well as my obsession with reefkeeping in my home (hopefully again soon ).

CRF is not rated on Charity Navigator as they don't have over $1,000,000 in annual revenue. I know Ken has spoke at club events in the past. Does anyone have any idea on what percentage of donations goes directly into the restoration program? I really don't want to donate to a non-profit that puts most of the money in their pockets, like a lot of the large non-profits out there.

Any info would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Classklown90]

I heard a lot of it goes to legal fees. A channel on YouTube I follow called Thomas brown. Pretty nice channel. Anyway he just said that in his latest video.

 

[9supratt4]

Legal Fees?? What legal fees would they have? That isn't comforting lol

 

[NikkiT]

Legal Fees?? What legal fees would they have? That isn't comforting lol

They need to spend $ to get permission to plant corals. Staghorn and elkhorn are endangered species on the protection list. There is red tape involved in Ken's projects, They are all in protected waters dealing with protected species, which results in legal fees. I don't know how much, but it is a 501(c)(3) so it is a corporation, and you could ask them politely how their $ is spent.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I dealt directly with Ken last year when I was Pres and we (NJRC) gave them $5000. While I don't know the specifics on where all the money goes to, I can tell you that this non-profit is legit. From what Ken told us last year, a lot of the donation money has recently gone towards setting up the international planting sites that they are developing. They've had so much success with what they started doing in the Florida Keys that Ken wanted to go global! So far, they've expanded to Bonaire and Columbia, but they are working on a couple other sites too. Some of the funding goes towards travel expenses, etc for him to visit these places, but most of it goes towards permits, properties and equipment to setup the nurseries, etc.

Not only are they truly making a difference with replacing the reefs, but they also put a lot of effort into education too. They keep excellent records on what gets planted, growth patterns, spawning data, etc. that all goes into reports that they share with environmental institutions, schools, universities, etc. They also have dive classes and have volunteer programs to get young people interested in their efforts.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that they are serious about what they do and treat it as a mission, not a business to make money for themselves. When Ken gives his speeches, you can tell how passionate he is about what he does and what he's accomplished... but you can also sense how much more he wants to do too.

IMO, this organization is worth donating to and I'll be looking forward to our club donating to them again.

 

[mnat]

I might be biased because of our work with ken, but I can't think of a better charity related to our hobby to donate too. Or you could donate to us lol.

 

[9supratt4]

Thanks Nikki & George for that! I have not met or even heard Ken speak. I like to use Charity Navigator as a tool to gauge a charity. I came across Coral Reef Alliance as they are a 4 million dollar charity and they have a very high 4 star review on charity navigator. So it is now between them and CRF.

I think I will contact them about their financials. It's my understanding that better non-profits make their financials available.

 

[Edwardw771]

Go dive with Ken. And you will see his team is doing amazing work down there. I'd bet by now our NJRC frag in my avatar is a huge colony.