A Transition for Summit’s Ocean Program

Roger Sant, Chair
Lex Sant, President

We are writing to announce the end of our Resilient Mesoamerican Reef program. We are undertaking a deliberative process to determine a new focus for our ocean program elsewhere in the world while being mindful of the needs of our existing grantees in the region. This decision does not affect Summit’s Equality for Women and Girls program or its Sustainable Cities program or either of those program’s grantees.

For the past 25 years, The Summit Foundation has sought to support a vision of a resilient Mesoamerican Reef, which can sustain the livelihoods and wellbeing of people who depend on it. Our grantee partners have undertaken inspiring work in service of that shared vision. In so doing, they have reinforced our confidence that human beings and natural systems must live in balance, with respect for people and culture as well as for the science and civic engagement that makes the resilience of natural systems possible.

Notwithstanding our pride in the work of our local and international partners, we have determined that The Summit Foundation’s capacity is insufficient to achieve our vision of a resilient Mesoamerican Reef. Continued grantmaking in the MAR precludes Summit’s ability to support potentially more meaningful ocean conservation outcomes elsewhere. As a result, the board has decided to discontinue our Resilient Mesoamerican Reef Program. Our admiration for our many grantees across the region makes this a sorrowful conclusion for us.

We know there are many organizations that depend on Summit’s support to do their work, and we do not underestimate the difficulty this decision may cause them. In planning our exit from the region, we hope to meet our goal of being minimally disruptive and we intend to provide multiyear, flexible transition grants to many of our current grantees, particularly those with whom we have had longstanding relationships. We have been making grants in the region for two and a half decades, however, and we appreciate that it will not be easy to quickly replace our support. Our program staff will continue to reach out to our current grantees to discuss support during this transition.

Restoring and protecting the Mesoamerican Reef ecosystem is essential for the health and well-being of the region’s coastal communities and economies, and for safeguarding a globally important center of biodiversity. Thus, we are earnest in our wish that others may take up the vision of a resilient MAR. We believe that science-based conservation, codified in law, can provide for economic livelihoods while sustaining the natural systems that make them possible in perpetuity. As we always have, we believe those solutions and the civic engagement required to produce them, must originate from and be represented by people in the region who have the greatest stake in such success. Since 1998, we have been grateful to meet and support such people and their organizations and our respect for their dedication will be a lasting hallmark of our experience.

Though we are leaving the Mesoamerican Reef as a geographic focus, we have made no other determinations about the future of this program, beyond a commitment that it will be focused on the ocean, around our current program staff, and the foundation’s vision of a world where people can thrive and nature can flourish.

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