Ocean Solutions Fund

Summary: Experiment is an online platform for discovering, funding, and sharing scientific research. Since its inception, it has been used to organize 47,000 individuals to pledge $8.8 million to 939 scientific projects. These projects have produced over 60 peer-reviewed publications so far and more than 10,000 lab note updates in the public domain. Rather than going through lengthy grant writing processes, scientists from Stanford, Harvard, and Yale are choosing to use Experiment to fund and share their work. 

The Experiment Foundation was created with the mission to embolden curiosity and accelerate scientific discovery. Specifically, the Foundation works with foundations, companies, and government agencies to fund more science via platform patronage and challenge grants on Experiment. Experiment Foundation is piloting a new program to fund and support ocean solutions. Here’s how it will work:

The ocean solutions fund starts with a budget of $250k to contribute to ocean technology, science, and solutions projects on Experiment. The Experiment Foundation recruits, selects, and allocates that amount. At the end of a one year period, we will have a portfolio of experiments to show their work. All of the funding and progress is documented in public on Experiment, with the potential to leverage additional support from the crowd. Based on past data, we estimate the $250k budget will turn into $500k-$1M in funded science and 100-150 supported projects. The program will be evaluated using the same (or as close as possible) methodology used for the Wagner and Alexander assessment of the National Science Foundation’s SGER program as well as equity indicators to measure demographics, community impact and engagement. 

An sample of current and former ocean science and technology projects that have started on Experiment can be found here.

This program works by putting funding and discretion closer to scientists. It fixes some of the pitfalls of existing funding structures by supporting researchers and research that the existing system misses (a peer-reviewed study found that the Experiment model flipped science’s traditional reward model). For example, more women and early career scientists use and are successful with platforms like Experiment than traditional funding models. Importantly, by employing the techniques of platform philanthropy, the program will avoid the administrative burdens usually associated with high grant volumes, while increasing the impact of each dollar granted.