Getting Grants for Your Reef Ball Project
Securing funding for your project is always a challenge. Before you start anywhere else, the first place is to look at your local community resources. Few funders will provide assistance unless there is a strong community matching component. Even if your community does not have strong financial resources, components like volunteer labor, donations if boat use, scuba tank and equipment rentals, hotel space for trainers and volunteers and even meals for volunteers can all help. Find places in your community to build your reefs...perhaps donated space in a local concrete yard. And speaking of concrete....maybe that same concrete company has some left over waste concrete on rainy days or when someone ordered a bit more than they needed? Plan your project using our Step-by-step Guide to Reef Rehabilition for Grassroot Organizations and have a well written project proposal before you approach potential funders. Coral Rehabilitation projects with Reef Balls involve two steps that must be closely timed....deploying your Reef Balls must take place at most a few months before coral plantings and ideally right after placement in the water.
Your first step will be to apply for our Reefs Around The World matching grant program to fund the production and deployment of Reef Balls. When you apply for that program, tell them you are going to apply for the Coral Reefs Around The World program too.
Qualifying for a matching grant is simple and easy. Just send us a request on the letterhead of the applying organization. The requirements are:
• The project must be for public benefit
• A monitoring plan must be in place to include a minimum of two underwater digital photographings of your Reef Balls per year for a minimum of three years
• Proof of access to an artificial reef permit is required
• A publicity plan should be in place
• Qualifying grantees may purchase unlimited sizes or numbers of molds from us at our cost (40% off retail) but the molds obtained in this program will be restricted for use for your project or other qualifying grant projects only
• A training manual is provided with molds, but if recommended on site training is elected the grantee's will enjoy a 1/3 discount on training fees from our trainers & if salaried foundation trainers are used there will be no training fees charged
• There are no matching discounts for shipping charges, tools, admixtures or other accessories
• Grantee must show enough detail for us to reasonably assume the project can be accomplished
• Reef Balls under this program cannot be used for erosion control projects under this grant unless a VERY significant public gain can be demonstrated
If you elect to purchase finished Reef Balls, you are entitled to 10% off retail pricing from authorized contractors
Other requirements may include:
• Translations services are responsibility of grantee
• Grantee must have access to e-mail
• Project may not use other artificial reef materials not considered acceptable by our Foundation Board
Qualifying for a Coral matching grant is simple and easy. Just add information about how you will meet these requirements to your Reefs Around The World grant application email. The requirements are:
• Propagated Hard Corals can only be planted by Coral Teams supervised by a certified Level IV or higher Coral Team Propagation / Planting specialist
• Propagated Soft Corals can only be planted by Coral Teams supervised by a certified Level III or higher Coral Team Propagation / Planting Specialist
• Non-propagated corals can only be planted on Reef Balls by a certified Level IV or higher certified Coral Team Rescue Specialist
• A monitoring plan must be in place to include 24-72 coral fragment monitoring, a 90 day coral fragment monitoring and a minimum of two underwater digital photographings of your Reef Balls per year for a minimum of three years
• Proof of permit to handle corals may be required
• A publicity plan should be in place
• Qualifying grantees may purchase coral propagation tool kits and coral tables at our cost (40% off retail)
• Most coral rehabilitation projects activate a Coral Team to complete the work , but if your project prefers on site training to certify your team as Coral Team specialists the grantee's will enjoy a 1/3 discount on training fees from our trainers & if salaried foundation trainers are used there will be no training fees charged
• There are no matching discounts for shipping charges, tools, admixtures, coral putty or coral disk cement not included in regular Coral Took kits
• Grantee must show enough detail for us to reasonably assume the project can be accomplished and that the project will STRICTLY adhere to Reef Ball Coral Team Coral Planting Ethics & Rules
• This program cannot be used for mitigation projects under this grant unless a VERY significant public gain can be demonstrated beyond that which is mandated by the court or authorities
If you elect to have our professional Coral Team do your propagation, rescue and planting work, you are entitled to 10% off retail pricing.
Reef Ball Foundation Coral Propagation and Coral Rescue Teams
CORAL Team Activations -
Reef Ball Foundation Coral Team Division:
Over the past 2 decades the Reef Ball Foundation has developed a pool of worldwide talent willing to volunteer time and other resources for specific project needs. Whenever a reef restoration project presents itself to the Foundation, we can send a trained and seasoned Reef Ball Coral Team leader and can alert numerous potential expert or trained volunteers that can generate the talent pool required to tackle even the most challenging of reef restoration projects.
Volunteers for each project are chosen by invitation of the Coral Team leader based on talents, experience, availability, and specific project requirements. Contact us to see how our Coral Team division can provide you with a custom proposal to fit the specific needs/opportunities of your project. And of course, if you just need our Coral Team professionals to do the job for you we can take care of any coral rehabilitation effort for you.
Reef Ball Foundation teams are designed to be activated in emergency situations. With Reef Ball Foundation volunteer teams, we can repair the damage within a few months from the time of a disaster, not years. Contact us and proactively save your valuable reef resources and help us achieve our goals of saving our world's oceanic ecosystems.
Additional RBF Funding
We offer various special deals based on our funding levels and what we can reasonably offer to support worthy projects. Don't be afraid to tell us what you need so we can do our best to help! To aid our clients further, we have developed a project/sponsor matching database. This will help potential sponsors to find your project for funding.
This is a semi- automated website to allows us to track and present these projects.
In order for your project to be listed contact us, detailing exactly what your project is, what you are looking for funding-wise, possible time frames, status of permits, etc. The more information you can give us the better a chance you will have of attracting funding.
Along with your email, please send several representative photos as an attachment (at a minimum your project or organization logo).
