Every year, millions of people choose to give back during the holiday season. Giving Tuesday and year-end giving offer opportunities to support the causes that matter the most to you—and help create meaningful change before a new year begins. For ocean lovers, Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to turn passion into action. This global day of giving provides a chance to support ocean conservation and help protect the marine ecosystems and wildlife that depend on healthy waters. As the year ends, your gift can help advance efforts to safeguard the ocean for generations to come.
Why is ocean conservation important this time of year?
Year-end giving is an important opportunity to support ocean conservation. Donations made before the end of the calendar year may qualify for a federal charitable deduction, depending on your tax situation and eligibility. For 2026, new rules allow taxpayers who do not itemize to deduct up to $1,000 in qualifying cash charitable contributions ($2,000 for married couples filing jointly), subject to applicable rules and limitations. If you want your gift to count toward your 2026 charitable giving, make your donation by December 31, 2026, and retain your donation records.
Our ocean faces urgent, year-round threats. Plastic pollution continues to threaten marine wildlife. Important ocean ecosystems need protection. Climate change is negatively impacting the ocean and communities that depend on it.
Your end-of-year gift helps Ocean Conservancy bringing together science, policy and advocacy to create solutions for a healthier ocean. For more than 50 years, we’ve helped mobilize millions of volunteers, conduct ground-breaking research, advance policies that reduce plastic pollution, strengthen protections for important marine ecosystems and advance ocean-based climate solutions.
A year-end gift helps carry that work forward. As you think about where to direct your generosity this Giving Tuesday and holiday season, consider giving to the ocean—and helping build a healthier ocean for generations to come.
Give to Ocean Conservancy
Giving Tuesday and year-end giving are opportunities to turn generosity into meaningful action. Whether you’re supporting ocean conservation, contributing to your local community or giving to another cause that matters to you, every donation can help create lasting impact.
What does my donation to Ocean Conservancy support?
Here are just a few examples of what your year-end gift helps support:
- Reduce ocean plastic pollution through advocacy, research and conservation programs
For more than four decades, our International Coastal Cleanup ® has mobilized nearly 20 million volunteers who have removed more than 400 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways around the world. In the past year, International Coastal Cleanup volunteers collected more than 1.3 million plastic beverage bottles and 885,000 plastic caps worldwide. Ocean Conservancy also continued its work to address abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, known as ghost gear, through the Global Ghost Gear Initiative®. - Protecting marine biodiversity and vulnerable ocean habitats
Ocean Conservancy researchers published groundbreaking research in 2025 examining how much plastic ingestion can be fatal to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. The research found that surprisingly small amounts of plastic can have deadly consequences. This science helps inform policies and solutions designed to address plastic pollution at its source and protect marine life. - Protecting important ocean ecosystems
Over the past year, Ocean Conservancy continued efforts to expand protections for the Central Arctic Ocean, a 1.1 million square mile ecosystem around the North Pole. We also helped advance international recognition of the importance of the ocean’s twilight zone, a region 200 to 1,000 meters below the surface that is home to many ocean fish and plays an important role in the ocean’s carbon cycle.
What are the different ways I can donate to Ocean Conservancy?
There are several ways to support Ocean Conservancy, depending on what works best for you.
- Make a one-time donation: A one-time gift is a simple way to support ocean conservation today and help provide resources for urgent work.
- Become a monthly donor: Monthly giving provides reliable, ongoing support that helps Ocean Conservancy plan for long-term initiatives and drive lasting ocean protection.
Explore all ways to give.
How much should I give?
There is no single right amount to give. The most meaningful donation is one that fits your circumstances and reflects the causes you care about. You can also consider making your ocean conservation support go further by becoming a monthly donor. Recurrent giving provides nonprofits like Ocean Conservancy with more predictable resources and that help support long-term projects.
Giving Tuesday and year-end giving are opportunities to turn generosity into meaningful action. Whether you’re supporting ocean conservation, contributing to your local community or giving to another cause that matters to you, every donation can help create lasting impact.
