Championing Expedition Audacity: Fostering Exploration, Igniting Minds & Preserving Nature's Wonders
Empowering Ocean Exploration for a Sustainable Future
Join us in creating a lasting legacy for ocean health and ecosystem resilience.
2026 — The Year We Scale What Matters
The world’s most threatened ecosystems are changing faster than governments can respond — but not faster than we can act.
The Expedition Audacity Research Foundation exists for the people and places too often left out of traditional funding: frontline Indigenous communities, fragile marine ecosystems, and the undocumented edges of environmental crime. We bring science, justice, and storytelling to the gaps — the places where evidence is scarce, and where informed action can still change outcomes.
We don’t wait for permission. We go where the work is needed most, with the tools to turn silence into evidence and evidence into action.
Why 2026 Matters
After years of building partnerships, proving field capability, and responding to crises that governments couldn’t or wouldn’t touch, 2026 is our inflection point.
To meet this moment, we’re inviting supporters of every scale — from $5 donors to transformational funders — to help build something that lasts. Because catalytic change isn’t created by a handful of wealthy benefactors; it’s created by thousands of people pushing in the same direction, each giving what they can.
Our 2026 Priorities
1. Acquire and Refit Our Own Research & Justice Vessel — $800,000
After the pirate attack in 2025, insurers withdrew coverage for investigative work on chartered vessels. That vulnerability ends this year.
2026 is the year we secure and refit our own dedicated vessel, built for resilience, safety, and independent operations. This ship becomes the backbone of every mission: research, Indigenous partnerships, environmental justice, and deep-sea exploration.
A $10 donor helps pay for emergency gear, welding rods, or first-aid kits.
A $50 donor helps fuel the delivery passage.
A major donor helps harden the hull or build the safe room.
Everyone on the spectrum helps get the ship in the water and make sure she comes home.
2. Audax Ventus — Indigenous-led Frontline Storytelling & Research — $500,000
Audax Ventus is our flagship storytelling and research mission: Indigenous-centred, science-based, and committed to solutions rather than despair.
2026 activates full-scale operations, including:
- Indigenous-led research voyages
- frontline documentation of climate impacts
- youth environmental storytelling training
- crisis-response investigations
- film, VR, and education materials created with communities, not about them
Small donors power travel support, safety kits, youth gear, and Elder accessibility.
Large donors expand our capacity to run multiple expeditions and co-create long-term community programmes.
This is partnership, not charity — impact built together.
3. Deep-Sea Truth-Seeking: Expand the Boxfish ROV Programme — $600,000
The deep ocean is where some of the most critical climate stories are unfolding — and where illegal activity hides beyond the reach of satellites.
In 2026 we expand to a multi-ROV fleet, enabling:
- simultaneous field sites
- Indigenous collaboration on deep-sea monitoring
- documentary-grade imagery
- investigations into habitat loss, plastics, mining damage, and fisheries crimes
A $25 donor funds a spare part.
A $100 donor funds a battery module.
A major donor funds an entire ROV system.
Every gift pulls another hidden ecosystem into the light.
4. Clean-Energy Repowering of Our Support Vessel — $75,000
To work farther and lighter on the planet, we’re transitioning our support vessel to a low-emissions, high-efficiency propulsion system.
This upgrade reduces fuel dependency, expands working range, and aligns operations with our values.
A $10 donor might help pay for a solar panel bracket.
A major donor can fund the entire energy bank.
Together, they power the future.
Why Your Support — At Any Level — Changes Everything
We are built on a simple truth:
large-scale change happens when many people give what they can, not when a few people give what they must.
Small donors make us resilient.
Major donors help us scale.
Both are equal partners in the mission.
Your support — $5 or $500,000 — fuels:
- frontline Indigenous leadership
- deep-sea research and evidence gathering
- environmental justice missions
- documentary storytelling with impact
- vessel safety, resilience, and autonomy
- rapid response to ecological threats
- education, outreach, and solutions journalism
This is what trust-based philanthropy recognises: the organisations doing the work need flexibility, autonomy, and community backing — not bureaucratic gatekeeping.
Small Ripples. Big Waves.
This Isn’t a Slogan — It’s Our Operating Model.
When thousands of people give a little, they create stability.
When major donors step in, they amplify the impact of every small gift.
That synergy is how movements are built.
That’s how ecosystems are protected.
That’s how truthful stories outcompete silence and indifference.
An Invitation
If you believe the world needs more courage, more truth, and more people willing to go where the work is hardest, then you already believe in us.
Whether you’re donating the cost of a coffee or underwriting an entire mission, you become part of the same community heading toward the same horizon.
Be the ripple.
Join the wave.
Change the tide.
Join the Crew. Live the Mission.
Each season, we open our hatches to a select few.
Not as passengers.
As crew.
Come aboard our sailing research vessel for a week at sea.
Explore remote coastlines. Contribute to real science.
Learn the ropes alongside seasoned sailors, researchers, and educators who live this work every day.
You’ll share meals prepared by our onboard chef and step directly into the rhythm of expedition life—marine research, sailing instruction, documentary storytelling, and fieldwork in places most people will only ever see on a map.
This isn’t luxury in the traditional sense.
It’s better.
It’s purpose, discovery, and honest adventure—served with strong coffee, good food, and ocean sunrises few will ever witness.
What’s Included (All-Inclusive for up to 3 People)
Accommodation ranges from shared bunks to private queen cabins, tailored to your level of support.
- Comfortable 4-star living at sea
- All meals, snacks, wine, and beer
- Daily hands-on workshops in marine science, sailing, and ocean storytelling
- Unrestricted access to crew, research operations, and daily mission planning
- Remote anchorages, real fieldwork, and the full expedition experience
No hidden costs.
No fine print.
Just show up and sail.
Suggested Contribution
$2,500–$8,000 per week
—or secure your berth through our Donor & Patron Sweepstakes.
For context:
A yacht charter runs $20,000+.
An expedition cruise? Often double.
A land-based eco-lodge? Lovely, but it doesn’t float, it doesn’t sail, and it certainly doesn’t do science.
This is not Instagram tourism.
This is participation.
This is impact.
Go Deeper
Every dollar supports our non-profit mission:
climate research, Indigenous-led exploration, and youth access programmes around the world.
This is your chance to travel with meaning.
To learn. To contribute.
To step into something larger than yourself.
Join the crew.
Live the mission.
Help change the tide.
Donate Now
All donors and patrons are automatically entered into our monthly draw for a chance to spend a week at sea as part of our crew.
Contact Us
Whether you’re a longtime backer or a new friend, here’s how
Your support fuels our mission.
- Spread the Word: Share our story with friends, colleagues, and anyone who cares about our oceans.
- Partner With Us: Let’s collaborate on innovative conservation projects.
- Donate: Every contribution powers our research, vessel operations, and conservation impact.
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Expedition Audacity Research Foundation - E.A.R Foundation 33-3246352 - 501(c)3 - Dover, Delaware.
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