The Whale Sanctuary Project

“The form 990 is prepared by an outside cpa, submitted to the president, and reviewed by the board prior to submission.”

“Board members are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest as they occur; through the board's small size and frequency of meetings, any such conflicts are quickly recognized and resolved.”

“Compensation of the organizations president and executive director are based on review of comparable data and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request.”

“To establish a model seaside sanctuary where cetaceans (whales and dolphins) can be rehabilitated or can live permanently in an environment that maximizes well-being and autonomy and is as close as possible to their natural habitat.”

“Site selection: our management team and consultants conducted in-depth, on-site analyses of more than 30 prospective sanctuary sites in washington state, british columbia and nova scotia. Analyses included physical characteristics of the sites with respect to site requirement criteria established in the whale sanctuary project strategic plan, and conducted community meetings in 12 towns to ascertain community support for the project. By year-end, two finalist sites were identified. In addition to the expenses above there were donated legal services of 32,500 and donated consulting services of 18,256. The selected sanctuary site is expected to be announced early in 2020.”

“Management initiated fundraising meetings and social media outreach to expand the base of support for the whale sanctuary project. Additional fundraising materials were developed including a case for support brochure that was utilized for in-person major donor meetings. Whale aid in march 2019, the whale sanctuary project created the whale aid initiative to assist 97 whales who had been captured illegally in russia for proposed sale to marine parks in china. The whale sanctuary project mobilized an international team under the direction of executive director charles vinick and advisor jean-michel cousteau to go to russia, meet with senior government officials, and evaluate the health and well-being of the 10 orcas and 87 belugas being held in srednyaya bay in far eastern russia. The team advised the government that all whales were healthy enough to be released and we prepared a rehabilitation and release protocol recommendation for the russian scientific institute that was authorized by the government to conduct the release. Throughout the year, the whale sanctuary project also worked with russian whale protection groups and assisted in their efforts to call public attention to the plight of these orcas and belugas. During the summer and fall of 2019 the government released all of the orcas and 56 of the belugas in the sea of okhotsk, near where they had been captured in 2018. In november, the last 31 belugas were released into the bay of uspeniya lazovsky in the primorsky krai district. Contrary to the recommendations of the whale sanctuary project, this latter group was released far from the waters where they were captured, but we were gratified that all 97 orcas and beluga whales were released into ocean waters and were spared the fate of life in a tank. The whale sanctuary project received an official commendation from the russian government for our role in helping the release of these orcas and belugas.”

“Consulting - other 225,732 16,782 34,265 payroll service fees 0 2,500 0 total 225,732 19,282 34,265”