FUNDRAISING FAQ'S

We appreciate your interest in raising money for The Ocean Cleanup.

Fundraising is all about you, so the first step is choosing what you want to do. There is something for everyone, whether you're seeking a physical challenge, want to practice your skills or hobbies, looking to clean up a specific quantity of trash, or just want to get everyone together for some fun: it’s all possible.

Check out the pages under 'choose fundraiser' for more information, and the how to start page for steps to follow.

Check out our Tools and Tips page for inspiration on how to promote your fundraiser.

You can do anything you want to raise money as long as your event complies with the law, supports our mission, and is safe for both you and other participants.

We have three main streams:

• General fundraising
• Excercise fundraising
• Cleanup fundraising

People raise money in the most beautiful and inventive ways you can imagine! Every single donation you collect enables us to make progress in ridding the oceans of plastic.

Yes, we’d love for you to fundraise. Please ensure that your parent/guardian reviews and accepts our fundraiser terms and conditions, and that they provide supervision throughout the entire campaign. We’re here if any of you have questions.

First and foremost, you have to create a personal account. While creating this account, the 'create a team' option is automatically given to you.

Already have a fundraising account and want to make it into a team fundraiser?
No problem; once you are logged in, you will see 'create a team' in the navigation bar. Fill out the information there and you have your team!

Hey there,

Sad to hear you leave, but you can always fundraise on your own or in a new team!

You can message your captain, and they can remove you. 

If you are a team captain, we recommend that you first assign captaincy to another team member. If you leave the team before doing so, the team will become deactivated.

You can get in contact with us to change captaincy.

If you are experiencing trouble with joining a team, please ensure that you are not already in a team. At this time it is not possible to join multiple teams from the same account.

If you wish to do so, create an extra account with another email.

Handing over the captain's hat to someone else? That is possible!  

Firstly, discuss this with the person you would like to take over for you, then you can reach out via our contact form and we will change this for you. 

We are glad to know that you are eager to cover some ground!

For teams, you cannot set a distance or cleanup target; your distance or cleanup is counted by adding all the team members’ logged activities. You can always mention what your goal is in the introduction text of the team page.  

When you log your activity under your individual fundraising page, it will show up later on the team page! 

Use the Wall of Fame or the Find a Friend search bar. Alternatively, ask your friend for their specific fundraising page's URL, which was provided to them.

Many people use social media to engage their network, this is encouraged. However, personal emails, messages, phone calls, and in-person interactions can often be even more powerful, so don’t be shy to go direct!

Check our Tools & Tips page for message and image ideas.

Once your personal fundraising page has been set up, you will have access to your control panel. Here you'll be able to track donations, see who your donors are, edit your page and so much more, so you’ll always know exactly where you stand.

To edit your fundraising page, you will first need to login to your account.

From your navigation bar, you can go to progress view, here you have an overview of everything you need. You can change your profile picture and header image here.

To share your page, go to get sponsors under my fundraising.

To add a donation that you have received in cash, go to my donors under my fundraising.

Go to edit my page for the following:

• Page name
• Personal URL
• Fundraising target
• Blog posts
• Gallery

From the navigation, go to the fundraising page to view what your page looks like; description, the amount raised, and your achievements. In the navigation bar, if you click on create a team you can edit or enter a team name, target, image, description, preferences, and more.

In the navigation bar, if you click on my account, you can edit the following:

• Personal details
• Personal URL (note that people who have your old link will end up on a broken page, so send them your new link)
• View history
• Reset password

 

Desktop/tablet: Under your fundraiser's page name is a link with a 'view' button. Click there to be able to make changes to one of the following:

• Fundraiser description
• Add blog posts

 

To edit your team page, go to my team. From there you will have options like:

• Adding offline donations
• Sharing the page
• Editing team page: monetary target, name, open/closed, add team password
• Removing and adding team members

Good question!

We are sorry to say that it usually takes a few minutes for everything to show up.
Give it a few minutes, refresh your page, and double check if your changes were saved.

If it is still not updating after giving it some time, feel free to reach out to us.

To edit your fundraisers’ name, go to my account. Under update account you will find the option to change the name of your fundraiser. Click save, and then you're done!  

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit project funded by donations. Funds raised are allocated across the Oceans, Rivers, Catch Management, and Research teams, meaning every contribution has a tangible impact on our work removing trash from the oceans and is put to good use wherever it will make the most difference.

HIGHLIGHTS RESULTING FROM YOUR SUPPORT

REMOVING over 9 million kilograms (20.2 million pounds) of trash from the environment 

DEPLOYING 15 river Interceptors in 8 countries, with many more in the pipeline 

CLEANING up plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with System 03, which is expected to be the blueprint for scaling to a fleet of systems. 

GROWING from a team of volunteers to over 130 employees – building on a strong base to scale-up in oceans and rivers worldwide. 

Make sure to check out our dashboard for more information on ongoing projects.

We understand that you may want to direct your donation to a particular project or initiative. Our mission is to rid the oceans of plastic, and achieving this goal requires us to make important and sometimes difficult decisions concerning resources and where to spend the money raised by our supporters. All donations are therefore processed on the basis of ‘’unrestricted funding’’ – a concept common to non-profit organizations around the globe and one which provides numerous advantages:

Flexibility: Unrestricted funding provides us with the flexibility to allocate resources where they are needed most. Ocean plastic pollution is a moving problem, affected by jurisdiction, demand, climate, and many other factors. It is therefore useful to our mission to maintain this freedom to tackle the problem where we can be most impactful.

Operational Efficiency: Unrestricted donations help us operate more effectively by letting us optimize our resources better in all aspects of our work and enabling us to make economic decisions.

Innovation: A significant portion of our success stems from innovation and our willingness to tackle problems that others have called unsolvable. Unrestricted funding allows us to invest in research and development to continually improve our technologies and strategies.

Wow - it’s great to hear your strong commitment to cleaning the oceans!

Currently, it is only possible to have one fundraiser for each category per email address. So, one general, one activity, and/or one cleanup fundraiser. We will do a site-wide refresh at the beginning of each year, so you can do another fundraiser in the same category. But if you don't want to wait for this refresh, you can reach out to us so we can deactivate your previous fundraiser.

Thank you!

Please see our  Shareable Pictures which you can freely use on your fundraising page.

The Ocean Cleanup logo may not be reproduced or copied, and use is prohibited without our permission.

The use of our logo in our Sharable Pictures is the only exception to this rule; please use these Shareable Pictures to promote your fundraising.

There are a couple of options for you:

• You can accept the cash and then register it here. As a thank you, recognize the donor in a post on your page.
• At events where you’re selling something, think about using the QR code connected to your unique fundraising link, so you can show donors your page right on their phone. Your QR code can be found under share your page (get support).

If you donate in EUR, your donation will go directly to Stichting The Ocean Cleanup, a registered Dutch ANBI foundation.

If you donate in USD, your donation will go directly to American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup, Foundation: a registered 501(c)(3) foundation in the United States.

After your donation, you will receive an automated receipt that you can use for tax purposes in the Netherlands, and in the US.

Read this FAQ for more information.

Absolutely, and we’re grateful for every bit of support we receive. You can make one-time or monthly donations, by clicking on this  link.

If you are unsure of where to look in your account to edit details, refer to the FAQ, How do I edit my fundraiser page/account?

You are able to remove your information by simply clicking on the text, removing it, and then saving the page.

If you wish to archive or delete your account, you can reach out to us via the contact page.

However, we recommend keeping your page. Even though your goal may have been reached, our mission of ridding the oceans of plastic isn’t yet complete. People can keep donating even after you’ve completed your challenge, and the fundraiser can serve as an inspiration to others.

Thank you for wanting to support the mission to rid the oceans of plastic!

FOR EURO DONATIONS

Bank/wire transfer: For European donors: You can donate to our Dutch ANBI Foundation (Stichting The Ocean Cleanup) in with the following details:

IBAN: NL73 ABNA 0529 4518 24
BIC: ABNANL2A
Account name: Stichting The Ocean Cleanup Account holder address: Coolsingel 6, 3011 AD Rotterdam, The Netherlands

BANK DETAILS
Bank Name: ABN AMRO Bank
Bank Address: Gustav Mahlerlaan 10, 1028PP Amsterdam, The Netherlands

FOR USD DONATIONS

You can donate to American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup, a US 501(c)(3) foundation supporting the same mission. You can learn more about it here.

These are the details of that foundation:

JPMorgan Chase Bank
383 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
ABA #: 021 000 021

Only in case you wire from outside the US please add the SWIFT address: CHASUS33

Account Name: American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup, Foundation
Account #: 0000 0074 2271 452

If you would like a receipt for your donation, please email certificates@theoceancleanup.org with your name/business name, address, email address, donation date and donation amount in order to provide your receipt.

A tax receipt is only required for US federal & state tax purposes for donations of USD 250 or higher.

CHECK DONATIONS

If you prefer to pay by check, you can do so to American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup, a US 501(c)(3) foundation with the mission to rid the oceans of plastic, and mail it to:

American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup, Foundation
Dept LA 24875
PASADENA CA 91185-4875

If you would like a donation receipt for your check donation, please email certificates@theoceancleanup.org with your name/business name, address, email address, donation date and donation amount in order to provide your donation certificate. Donation certificates are only required for federal & state taxes purposes for donations of USD 250 or higher.

You are always welcome to invite your company to match the donations you and your team have raised for The Ocean Cleanup – doubling your impact!
Your company can simply donate directly through your fundraising page.

If the company prefers to donate via bank/wire transfer, you can do so with the help of the instructions in the FAQ above: "Can we give via bank/wire transfer or check?"

If the company wants to share this externally, please refer them to our FAQ below: "How can we promote the fundraising activity?"

Your employees/colleagues may have some questions about The Ocean Cleanup. The following text is a draft email that you could send as an introduction to our work.

You could also add information from our website to this email if you would like to include more information.

"Hello everyone,

For [reason why you are doing this, i.e. team building] we are starting a fundraiser for The Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit project with the mission of ridding the oceans of plastic.

The fundraiser will be [type of fundraiser], where the goal is to collect [your goal in terms of money]. We would like as many people to join so we can have the biggest possible impact. You can find the link to sign up to our fundraising team here [insert fundraiser link]. If you have not heard of The Ocean Cleanup, we advise you to take a look at their website https://theoceancleanup.com/ and the photos and videos on their social media accounts @theoceancleanup. Don't forget to sign up before [insert date].

Many thanks,
[Your name]"

Let your colleagues tap into the power of their vast networks! They can share their individual fundraiser pages or team pages with friends and family. 

Although many people use social media to engage their network, emails, messages, phone calls, and in-person interactions can be more powerful – so don’t forget to approach people individually as well as posting online! 

Check our Tools & Tips page for message and image ideas.

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If you want to communicate about it as a company, we have some additional guidelines:

• The company can make one social media post and one blogpost to describe the fundraising activity. 
• Any message shared needs to be contextual, factual and stating the independence of the initiative.
• The company may not rally their customers to fundraise for their fundraiser. The campaign must be aimed at the employees (internal engagement).
• External messaging on fundraising for The Ocean Cleanup may not be tied to the sales of a product or sale. For example, it may not be posted on your website in the sales funnel or printed on packaging.
• The company may not use The Ocean Cleanup logo (other than the ones on the shareable assets).

For example, your company post could be like this: 

"Our employees have been cleaning up the beach close to the office and cleaned up X amount of trash at our team day! To add to the impact, they also raised funds from friends and family to help the non-profit The Ocean Cleanup clean up even more plastic in the ocean! Here's a link to the fundraiser, and here's some pictures from the activities."

Feel free to reach out if you have questions!