List of 2025 grant award recipients – see HOME page
2024 Awardees
2024 was the third year The Ferris Olson Family Foundation for Ocean Stewardship (FOFFOS) awarded funds for projects that supported the organization’s mission to protect, restore and enhance ocean and coastal environments. Awardees were:
South Carolina Aquarium (South Carolina)
Increasing Population Monitoring of the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. The project will provide information valuable for state and federal population assessments, management, and sustainable use of wild horseshoe crabs.
Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition (Oregon)
Train volunteers to monitor invasives of the Oregon shore and adjacent areas The research project enhances knowledge of the geomorphological role of invasive species. The findings will contribute to land use planning.
New England Aquarium (Massachusetts)
Conduct fieldwork to tag sandbar sharks for studying fine-scale behavior and habitat use. The deployment of temporary camera tags on sharks in New England will provide more detailed information on the behavior and habitat use of the sandbar shark.
The Marine Mammal Center (California)
Provide critical insights into cetacean behavior, threats, and mortality. This project is a continuation of a pilot project aimed at investigating boat/whale interactions and gear entanglements. It is expected to contribute information that will help shape policies to protect cetaceans and promote ecosystem resilience.
Inwater Research Group (Florida)
Identify disease prevalence in critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. This research will determine the prevalence and exposure of turtles to herpes viruses and assist in the management of the species and their habitat.
Friends of Casco Bay (Maine)
Expand sampling for PFAS in Casco Bay and advocate for policies to reduce these toxic chemicals. This project will collect data for the purpose of facilitating the development of a report aimed at the reduction of PFAS in Maine’s marine waters and educate the public about this issue.
2023 Awardees
The Marine Mammal Center (California)
Cetacean Conservation Biology Fellowship to Advance Whale Protection through Vessel Strike Mitigations in the Gulf of the Farallons and the San Francisco Bay). This project is a pilot project designed to study and monitor whales in San Francisco Bay and the Gulf of the Farallones, where the threat of vessel strikes is significant. Findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders with a goal of reducing the mortality of marine mammals in the San Francisco Bay and beyond.
Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium (Massachusetts)
Expanding tracking of leatherback sea turtles in Añasco, Puerto Rico: lasting conservation impact through new community partnerships. This pilot project is designed to establish a new leatherback sea turtle tagging study in western Puerto Rico. Prior to this, work had been confined to Maunabo and Dorado beaches. This new grant allows for study of leatherbacks on Añasco, a high priority because of the high number of nesting turtles found there.
2022 Awardees, Inaugural Year:
California Ocean Alliance (California)
Evaluating the behavior and population recovery of the Guadalupe fur seal (A. townsendi). A pilot study of mother-pup vocalizations to be used in the assessment of the population’s health and behavior.
Friends of Casco Bay (Maine)
Maturing, Improving and Expanding Our Volunteer Water Reporter Program. This project is an expansion of an existing program that trains and engages volunteers to share observations using geo-referenced photographs. The data provides information that assists in the protection and improvement of the quality of the Bay and assess changes due to warming conditions.
Manomet (Massachusetts)
Basin Oyster Project. A pilot study to evaluate the sustainability and ecosystem value of an oyster reef originally established in 2017 near Phippsburg, Maine. Data is to be used to create best practice guidance documents and disseminate it to state agencies and other interested parties.
As stipulated by the IRS and FOFFOS bylaws, grant awards from FOFFOS can only be made to organizations that are recognized as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS; however, research activities may occur outside of the U.S. FOFFOS expects that recipients use monies in an effective manner and not for administration or fundraising purposes and that at the end of the donation year a final report of the research is produced.
FOFFOS awards may be used to undertake a pilot project that explores methodology and demonstrates the feasibility of a larger scale, longer-term project. As FOFFOS is unlikely to have the financial capacity to fully fund a large scale project on its own, the organization requires that pilot submissions demonstrate an intention to seek funding for the continuation of the project.
FOFFOS may award grants for multiple years; however, organizations seeking funds must reapply on an annual basis. Grant applications are posted each spring on foffos.org.
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Ferris Olson Family Foundation for Ocean Stewardship 