During the Miami and Palm Beach boat shows, our friends at SeaKeepers hosted fundraising events to help support their efforts and welcomed new members.

At the Yacht & Brokerage Show, the non-profit organization held its soiree in a private Miami Beach home. Hostess Norma Quintero, a well-known philanthropist, graciously opened her doors to a few hundred guests that included new members and long-time supporters, many of whom donated wonderful prizes for a classic silent auction—everything from original works of art from Guy Harvey to golf and wine cruises, to a test drive in a brand-new Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport.

In recent years, all charities and great causes have faced heightened competition for scarcer dollars. Like all others, SeaKeepers has had to come up with new programs and ideas to expand its membership base and donation programs through a number of new initiatives. Jeff Fraser, formerly of the Tradewinds Foundation, heads the SeaKeepers’ new yacht donation program. This recent initiative offers yachts owners who have not been able to sell their boats the opportunity to help a great cause and possibly get financial relief in the process.

A second initiative is the creation of the Scientific Vessel of Opportunity yacht fleet. This program allows yacht owners to host leading scientists on vital research missions aboard their yachts. The society’s role is to identify key research projects that can be carried out aboard a yacht and match them with yacht owners and crew who have the interest and opportunity to host these missions. This is something that the scientific community embraces.

“At a time of dramatically shrinking research budgets, finding platforms for performing marine research is one of the most limiting factors for finding out what’s happening in the oceans,” said Kevin Hardy, a ocean engineer with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. “At the same time, never in history have we had more need of data to understand the scope and impact of the rapidly changing ocean environment. Perhaps more than any other category of oceangoing vessel, yachts could play a significant role in filling the voids in our knowledge about the seas,” he said.

Using its membership base and its yacht industry partnerships, the society will connect scientists and yacht owners wishing to participate in this important program, a great way to support research globally.

For more details on the donation program, contact Jeff Fraser at [email protected] or Richard Snow at [email protected].
For more information on the Vessel of Opportunity program, email [email protected] or visit seakeepers.org

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