11th Hour Racing Grant

The 11th Hour Racing Grant supports initiatives aimed at restoring ocean health through local stewardship and sustainable practices. It focuses on projects that promote ocean literacy, clean technologies, and ecosystem restoration. Grants are available for organizations addressing climate change's impact on marine environments, with an emphasis on collaboration, measurable outcomes, and replicable solutions. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) organizations and international entities, though projects must avoid political advocacy and general funding.

Note: We review new applicants on a rolling basis throughout the year.
11th Hour Racing's Grantmaking Strategy
11th Hour Racing fosters systemic change to restore ocean health — our vision for the future includes cleaner, healthier waterways through strong local stewardship and collective action around the world.
As the climate crisis intensifies, so does the impact on ocean health. We work to facilitate this transition by supporting local solutions to global problems, led by community organizations and industry leaders.
By supporting local pilot programs that model best practices of sustainability, restore coastal ecosystems, and advance ocean stewardship, our grantees are creating systemic change to restore ocean health.
Focus Areas
11th Hour Racing seeks proposals that align with one or more of our focus areas:
Increasing Access to Experiental Education & Career Pathways in Ocean Field – expand experiential K-12 education programs and maritime career pathways to increase access and create the next generation of ocean leaders and educators.Clean Technologies & Best Practices – advance practices and technologies in coastal communities and the marine industry that reduce waste, prevent plastic pollution, improve water quality, and assess new circular solutions.Ecosystem Restoration – improve water quality, bolster coastal resilience, and sequester carbon through coastal habitat restoration
Further examples of potential projects include but are not limited to:
Increasing Access to Experiental Education & Career Pathways in Ocean Fields: Expand experiential K-12 education programs and maritime career pathways to increase access and create the next generation of ocean leaders and educators.
Clean Technologies & Best Practices: Efforts that advance emerging methods and/or technologies that reduce the environmental footprint of coastal communities, sailing-related activities, and the maritime industry. Activities may include improving coastal community practices regarding plastic pollution prevention or food waste such as composting; environmentally responsible vessel disposal methods or construction materials; sailmaking or boatbuilding material alternatives or processes. Does not include: policy development; proven technologies (such as conventional solar photovoltaic), community beach or offshore clean-ups of marine debris, or advertising.
Ecosystem Restoration: Using coastal habitats like mangroves, salt marsh, and seagrass to sequester carbon (commonly referred to as Blue Carbon), using oysters and vertical farming to improve coastal water quality or innovative approaches to restoring coral health. Does not include: coastal infrastructure projects, conservation easements, or land acquisition.
Evaluation Criteria
Project submissions are evaluated based on the following criteria:
Environmental impact: the magnitude of the project’s environmental benefits.Capacity and Organizational Expertise: organizational capacity and qualifications necessary to implement the proposed project.Innovation and Creativity: how unique the project is or the methodology used are.Feasibility of implementation: technological, financial, and political factors that may influence the success of the project.
Strong consideration will be given to projects that involve collaborations and stakeholder engagement, model best practices, can demonstrate measurable outcomes in a one-year timeframe, and share successes broadly. For anything we fund, particularly demonstration projects or place-based work, we prefer opportunities for broader impact through replicating or scaling.

Eligibility

We will prioritize projects led by 501(c)(3) organizations but other types of non-profit or charitable entities may apply as long as the proposed project addresses one or more of 11th Hour Racing’s strategic goals outlined above.11th Hour Racing awards grants in the U.S. and globally, therefore international organizations are welcome to apply.Current grants are 1 year in length.First-time grants to new organizations are generally smaller in size.Our grant funding must be tied to a specific project, with measurable outcomes.

Ineligibility

Projects seeking funding for political advocacy, lobbying, litigation, fundraising, or legally mandated mitigation projects are not eligible.We generally do not offer multi-year grants.We currently do not offer general funding, capital or infrastructure grants, or endowment funding.