Frequently asked questions

Answered by a team member at See Turtles

• What is your mission?

  SEE Turtles connects people with sea turtles in meaningful, personal and, memorable ways. We help the sea turtle community connect, grow, and thrive by supporting community-based conservation efforts. Our programs provide funding, resources, and tools to protect endangered sea turtle species in the Global South.

• How are donations used?

  Our award-winning programs include:
  -Billion Baby Turtles provides support for important turtle nesting beaches around the world.
  -Too Rare To Wear is a campaign working to end the demand for turtleshell products.
  -Our educational programs help schools, travelers, and the public learn about these incredible animals and how to protect them through presentations, podcasts, webinars, our blog, and other ways.
  -Our Sea Turtles & Plastic campaign helps coastal communities get plastic waste out of sea turtle habitats around the world.
  -We promote equity in the sea turtle community through our Sea Turtle Inclusivity Fund
  -We also coordinate the annual Sea Turtle Week each June to raise awareness about these species and the threats they face in partnership with more than 150 organizations around the world.

• What can be done with a $100 donation?

  $100 can support a coastal communities' effort to save 1,000 endangered baby sea turtles at an important turtle nesting beach.

• What progress has been made already thanks to your donors?

  Since 2013, we have helped save more than 9 million hatchlings at 60+ nesting beaches around the world. We have given more than 200 grants totaling over $900,000 to more than 50 organizations in 25 countries protecting 5 species.

  We have provided more than $150,000 for critically endangered hawksbill turtle conservation through our partners with the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative. This is helping to save more than 300,000 hatchlings of one of the world's most endangered sea turtle populations. Our support also brings income to rural coastal communities, supporting more than 150 jobs around the world.

  We launched the SEE Shell App, the first mobile app that addresses the illegal wildlife trade by using artificial intelligence to recognize these products. Our collaboration with Fundacion Tortugas del Mar in Colombia has helped to reduce the trade in Cartagena by more than 80%. We have provide funding, resources, and technical support for their work since 2017 and have helped them expand their program to other communities including Tolu, Coveñas, and Santa Marta, and funded workshops for government officials and teachers.

  We have provided $80,000 in funding for 12 projects that recycle plastic into products that support community residents in Costa Rica, Curacao, Colombia, Indonesia, Principe, Nicaragua, Kenya, Mexico, and Uruguay. We are also helping local communities clean up hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic from turtle nesting beaches around the world.

• What is the history of your organization?

  SEE Turtles was launched in 2008 as the world's first effort to protect these species through ecotourism by conservationists Dr. Wallace J. Nichols and Brad Nahill. Originally begun as an Ocean Conservancy project, SEE Turtles was later fiscally-sponsored by the Ocean Foundation and most recently Oceanic Society. In 2016, SEE Turtles became an independent 501c3 non-profit based in Portland, Oregon. In recognition of our work to protect sea turtles around the world, the organization was awarded the prestigious Changemakers Award from the World Travel & Tourism Council and the Skal Sustainable Travel Award, and were most recently a finalist for the Go Blue Awards from Loggerhead Marine Life Center.