Schmidt Ocean Institute

About Schmidt Ocean Institute

Schmidt Ocean Institute’s most distinctive recent grant is a $978,122 gift in 2023 to Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche for a Falkor donation. That transaction captures how the foundation operates: it funds ocean science by pairing large infrastructure support with targeted grants for research, education, and public engagement. The recent record includes university research on ocean acidification and marine genetics, support for national ocean education competitions, and funding for ocean storytelling outlets. The foundation also backs organizations that connect science to broader audiences. It gave $50,000 to Nautilus Think Inc in 2025 to produce original content on the UN Ocean Decade and ocean research, and $40,000 to the National Academy of Sciences for the Blue Dreams exhibit. Alongside those public-facing gifts, Schmidt Ocean Institute supports technical and academic work such as seawater measurements, genetic analysis, and ocean observation activities. Its grantmaking shows a mix of one-time strategic awards and repeated support for selected partners, especially in ocean STEM and communications. The pattern points to a funder that combines vessel-based scientific infrastructure with program grants that strengthen the broader ocean research ecosystem.

What Schmidt Ocean Institute Funds

Ocean acidification is a clear theme in the foundation’s research support. It gave $180,000 to The Regents of the University of California in 2025 for seawater measurements to track ocean acidification, and earlier awarded $90,000 for the same purpose. Marine genetics is another research line. In 2024, the foundation gave $58,650 to the University of Rhode Island for novel approaches to analyzing genetic variations among samples, and $40,689 to Lehigh University for the same topic. Education and workforce development also appear repeatedly. Schmidt Ocean Institute gave $212,503 to the Consortium for Ocean Leadership for Ocean STEM building diverse leadership, and $100,000 to the University of South Florida Foundation Inc to support university programs that broaden access to the OCEAN STEAM fields and related blue economy workforce. For ocean robotics and student competitions, it funded the Marine Technology Society Inc $100,000 for the MATE ROV Competition and $50,000 for the MATE Inspiration ROV Competition at Mate Inspiration for Innovation.

How Schmidt Ocean Institute Gives