Elisa Areano fell in love with sharks when she was studying to become a scuba divemaster off the coast of Central America. As she spent more time in the ocean, she began to yearn to do something to halt the deterioration of the marine habitat she was witnessing up close.
So eight years ago, she founded the Blue World Foundation, a small nonprofit in her native Guatemala focused on conserving the ocean and promoting sustainable livelihoods for fishing communities. While passionate about her mission, but without a background in conservation or development, she felt overwhelmed by how to find support for her work so she could expand her ocean sustainability and livelihoods programs.
It didn’t take her long to realize how complicated and time-consuming applying for funding from large donors could be and how many strings are attached to their grants. She also had trouble identifying funding sources that would allow her to use it for overhead, including additional staff.