Volunteering with OceansWatch
OceansWatch is a not-for-profit organisation focusing on marine conservation and sustainable livelihood assistance in developing countries. OceansWatch is registered in New Zealand and the USA and volunteers are needed for both branches of the organisation. Volunteers need to cover their own costs when working with us.
Volunteer skills needed:
For our projects working on a yacht:
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Marine biologists
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Environmental scientists
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Divemasters
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PADI OWSI instructors
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Divers,
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Sailors
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Skippers
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Doctors
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Engineers
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Small business development advisors
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Organic horticulture and Permaculture advisors
For our offices in New Zealand and the USA (online or onsite):
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Book keepers
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Office manager
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Website marketers
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Accountants/business advisors
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Humanitarian development experts
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Artists
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IT experts
Generally we need the following skill set on the boats:
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1 Skipper
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1 Dive Master
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1 Project leader
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1 Humanitarian specialist
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1 Competent crew person
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3 ReefCheck trained divers
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1-2 Marine Biologist (or similar)
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1 High level First Aid specialist
The above set of skills constitute the core crew and need to covered by a maximum of 3 people (all minimum PADI Open Water qualified).
Depending on the boat and the project requirements we can take others to complement the crew who have appropriate skills.
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Trips are 3-6 months.
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You may need to stay in New Zealand for ~2 months prior to the trip working on the boat and helping with project planning.
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A donation of $200 per week is required (all your basic living costs will be covered)
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You must have an appropriate degree or higher qualification relevant to the project.
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You need to be able to prove a commitment to conservation through your work or volunteer record.
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You need to have spent some time in the third world.
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Preference given to people with a good knowledge of Coral Reef Ecology.
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Sailing experience is a distinct advantage.
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You must be First Aid trained.
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You must be appropriately insured.
Applying
In all cases please send us a resume appropriate to the position that you wish to help us with. Indicate what position you are interested in. Tell us when you are available and for how long.
You will need to be a fully paid up member of OceansWatch to work with us, as we are an unfunded not-for-profit.
For long term volunteers on the project lead boats we expect a full resume. You will then have to answer a questionnaire to help us with our short listing procedure.
Apply by email to operations@oceanswatch.org
How to Fundraise for volunteers on board.
If you have decided that you want to be a volunteer on one of our boats and are wondering how to raise the money, you need to read what is below.
Fisrt of all, thank you for your commitment towards OceansWatch and the socio-environmental issues we address. We are very grateful for your interest in volunteering and helping us to achieve our mission.
All the positions we advertise are voluntary. OceansWatch relies entirely on donations and grants to fund its work as we are a registered non-profit organization.
During our expeditions your on-board food and accommodation expenses are covered, however we request a NZ$200 per week donation (from when you join a yacht) to OceansWatch towards our necessary costs.
We are aware that it can be difficult for some people to make these donations so we would like to suggest some fund raising ideas.
You should also note that if you are an NZ or US citizen, you donations to OceansWatch may be tax deductable.
Fundraising online
You can build a fundraising campaign on the internet to help finance your OceansWatch trip. If you choose this way of fundraising please get in contact with us to explain your idea first. All the money that you can raise for OceansWatch will be deduct from what you owe as your donation. (Obviously if you are successful, you can go on and raise more funds, we will be very grateful to you.?). Many websites allow you to raise funds for a charity.
You can start by launching your own blog, explaining your project. We can provide you as many resources as you need. We have general information about the project, scientific resources, pictures and videos.
How to encourage people to donate for OceansWatch through your blog?
www.Ammado.com
…You will be surprised how easy it is! OceansWatch is registered on www.ammado.com, which is a donation website. First sign up on Ammado, it’s free and start a great career as a fundraiser!
First step: create your fundraising page. This page is your own page.
- Choose OceansWatch as your beneficiary
- Select the category
- Currency: NZ $
- Your target amount
- Your target date
- Your name and description of your project. Think carefully about your message…it’s not insignificant.
- Make your page attractive and update it frequently.
Advantages of this approach:
- For you, it’s free!!
- People donate to OceansWatch but they donate through YOUR page. In this way, you get a statement of the funds YOU have raised. Then you can easily send us your statement to us to deduct the amount from what you owe for your expedition expenses ?
- You can set a target amount.
How to promote your page: (you can find all the details on your page)
Get a widget to display on your blog or personal website. It looks like this:
You can choose the size, color, language…and if you feel like a designer, you can create your own.
It’s as simple as copy and paste the little piece of code.
“Ammado’s Giving Widget is a portable donations tool that can fit on any website, blog or intranet. The Giving Widget is powered by Ammado’s advanced donations technology, and so supports donations made in over 70 currencies, using all major credit cards, as well as many local payment methods. You can now customize the Giving Widget to fit the needs and layout of your website.”
Did you know?
In many countries, donations to nonprofits are tax deductible! Check with your local tax authority.
Ammado provides a receipt for all successfully processed donations on ammado. These receipts contain a unique code that can be verified by ammado and are provided to donors as evidence of their donation.
It allows people to create a “fundraising page”. A fundraising page is a special website (blog) accessible to your family, friends and colleagues that gives you the capabilities to accept donations online. You can share a special message of inspiration, start a blog and share images or a video to help you raise funds for a charity or cause that you care about.
Anyone is invited to make donations and leave a message of support to you, as the fundraiser. Donations are tallied and displayed in the fundraising page meter for everyone to see. Donations are automatically processed and transferred to your selected charity or cause.
1. Select your favourite charity or a cause you feel passionately about. OceansWatch is registered on Everydayhero.
2. Sign-up for a fundraising account. Registration is free, and you only have to sign-up once!
3. Personalize and create your fundraising page style
4. Promote and share your fundraising page; first by e-mail and then with social media tools.
See: Shannon Gordon example on Everydayhero, raising funds for OceansWatch.
http://www.everydayhero.co.nz/shannon_gordon
Causes.com:
The Causes concept works on Facebook. It’s an application.
• A cause is an online campaign for collective action that can be started by any Facebook user. The creator of a cause can champion any issue, from the global, like "End Poverty," to the local, like "Support the Berkeley Y.M.C.A." A cause can be started by any user even if he’s not the owner of the entity he promotes.
• A cause can be used to raise money for a beneficiary.
• A non-profit can have various causes.
• A cause can recruit members (=like friends on Facebook)
• It allows publishing news, photos, links… Should be updated frequently.
If you want to create a cause and help us, choose “OceansWatch” as the beneficiary. It’s already available on Causes database.
Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.
Think about your own project. It may be linked with your commitment with OceansWatch. Why not organizing a photo exhibition when you’ll be back?
In 2011 Julia Miller decided she wanted to come on a trip and needed Money to make it happen. In just a few weeks she raised >US$3,500. So with a little initiative it is possible to fund an OceansWatch trip.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1125702930/sailing-art-a-mural-on-my-sails
Local events
You can also do fundraising the traditional way. Why not organizing events in your city; let’s see an example. You want to organize a party in a bar.
1. Find a theme: it can be a collective game (trivial pursuit, music quizz), a show (if you or one of your friends has artistic talents), a contest (ie: a photo contest). Be creative and maybe try to link it with the project. Why not a “Pacific party”?
2. Find a place. Go in your favorite bar and ask to share the benefits of the admissions.
3. Organize all the event; planning, communication, tickets, music… Focus on the communication. If no one knows about your event, you may be disappointed that no one is coming.
4. You can display some information about OceansWatch (why not a short clip or a documentary?), to show to your guests where their money is going and get them more involved.
Local organisations
- Have a look at the local organisations that are available to you. E.G. your Yacht Club or Dive Club, in fact any club you belong to might put on a fundraiser with you and then you can send them monthly updates about what you are doing to help our planet.
- What about companies you have worked for? Some might be interested in helping out an ex employee.
- What about getting sponsored?
- There are other clubs too like Lions, Rotary etc which can help you.
For the different ways of fundraising listed above, you should focus on the communication. Internet offers a huge variety of tools to promote a cause. First, think about the social media: Facebook, Twitter are a good start and they are the basic tools to spread your information in a viral way.
Don't forget YOU ARE the main tool to spread your message. Explore your personal network! Talk with your family, friends and colleagues. Make sure your message is clear and understandable so that they can spread it themselves. Make a selection of information that you want to give about OceansWatch and your commitment…and don’t forget the URL of your blog when it’s time to invite people! Don’t be too formal…people like to listen to personal feelings and experiences, stories and anecdotes as well.
Think about a clear message and goal; don’t forget that your goal is to get money. If you don’t ask (be tactful), you won’t receive. People are often ready and happy to help.
Just be creative, innovative, and self-confident!
In the unlikely event that you don’t receive as much as you expected:
- We can keep the money you have raised as a “credit” if you want to apply the next year.
- On Kickstarter, if you don’t manage to reach your target, all your supporters are refunded and the project is cancelled.
- If you haven’t risen enough funds and you want to cancel your trip, all the money will be considered as a donation for OceansWatch.
