Giving back isn’t just something we do—it’s why Ocean Fest exists.

From day one, our mission has been clear: create a radical festival experience that uplifts our community and educates festival go’ers on how to better care for our coastal environment while raising money to directly benefit Mother Ocean.

Transparency

Ocean Fest proudly holds a Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid Guidestar—the highest transparency rating a nonprofit organization can obtain. View Ocean Fest’s Candid Guidestar page here to access revenue and expense reporting and other relevant nonprofit metrics and performance data.

The Ocean Fest Grants Program

Since our inaugural festival in 2019, Ocean Fest has awarded over $135,000 in grants to likeminded environmental nonprofits who share our passion for ocean conservation. These grants have gone toward efforts including marine debris removal, fighting offshore drilling, protecting critical habitats, and educating the next generation of ocean stewards, to name a few.

Recent Grant Recipients

  • Ocean Fest's 2023 grant supports and benefits the lower New River management plan for 2024, helping to protect the quality of water and life in coastal North Carolina.

  • Ocean Fest's grant has been used to purchase tabling materials for 3 NCCF offices to promote the NC Oyster Trail. This includes tents, tables, printed materials, models, etc., and is currently in progress.

  • Plastic Ocean Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit based out of Wilmington, North Carolina. Our mission is to attain science-based solutions to the plastic pollution crisis that inspire all to make informed choices to improve human and environmental health.

  • This program investigates strandings to improve our understanding of the biology of marine mammals that inhabit our local waters so that we may enhance their conservation. Through this, we aim to educate students through their participation in marine mammal stranding investigations.

  • The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network. This is an ethos we love to support!

  • The South End is one of the last undeveloped, privately owned sites on any North Carolina barrier island. This property features sound-to-sea frontage along the Atlantic Ocean, New Topsail Inlet, and Banks Channel. It also hosts an expanse of pristine dunes, beaches, estuarine wetlands, and maritime shrub forests, providing habitat for a diversity of coast-centric wildlife.

  • Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center. Their goal is to become a model for getting young people interested in leadership, community service, habitat restoration, environmental education, and taking care of the New River and coastal wetlands.

  • Audubon North Carolina is a regional office of the National Audubon Society.

    From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks, Audubon protects birds and the places they need across North Carolina using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation.Item description

  • The mission of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is to conserve and protect all species of marine turtles, both in the water and on the beach.