Support the Mission

Why your gift matters now

Oceans Humanity Project is a new organization built to carry forward maritime medical work that already has a record. The missions that proved this model — physicians, dentists and nurses arriving by sea with medications and supplies — were completed under GPA Globalization Ministries. OHP was formed to carry that maritime mission forward and extend it to more coastal communities of the Caribbean and the Americas.

That is the honest position, and we would rather state it plainly than blur it: the approach is proven, the organization is new. Early support does the hardest and least glamorous work — it puts the first missions to sea under OHP's own flag.

Before you give: 501(c)(3) status pending

501(c)(3) status pending. Oceans Humanity Project is a new organization, and federal tax-exempt recognition under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is pending. It has not been granted. We therefore do not represent that gifts to OHP are tax-deductible, and you should not assume that they are. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice — please consult your own advisor before making a gift whose tax treatment matters to you.

If you would rather wait for a determination before giving, tell us. We will note your interest and let you know if and when OHP's status changes. We would rather have a donor who gave with clear expectations than one who felt misled later.

How to give

OHP does not yet have online donation processing. Rather than send you to a payment page that does not exist, we ask you to contact us directly. A member of the organization will respond with current giving instructions.

It helps if your message includes:

• Whether you are giving as an individual, a family, a business, or a foundation.
• Whether you are considering a one-time gift or recurring support.
• Whether you intend to give funds, or supplies and equipment in kind.
• Anything you would want to know before deciding — we would rather answer it than have you guess.

What a gift funds

A maritime medical mission has a short list of costs, and almost all of them are physical:

• Medications and clinical consumables — the pharmacy that goes ashore with the team.
• Dental equipment and supplies — dental care is among the most requested and least available services in the communities this model serves.
• Diagnostic equipment — the portable tools that let a clinician decide, rather than guess.
• Vessel fuel, maintenance and readiness — Mercy is the platform; a vessel that cannot sail is not a clinic.
• Volunteer travel and berthing — moving a clinical team to the port of embarkation and housing it aboard.
• Port fees, permits and logistics — the unglamorous requirements of arriving lawfully and being welcomed.

Taken together, operating this model costs approximately $500,000 per year. That budget covers vessel operations — fuel, maintenance and crew; medical supplies and logistics; mission coordination and planning; and administrative overhead, which is deliberately kept minimal.

One thing that figure does not cover should be said plainly. OHP does not yet own Mercy, the vessel this mission is built around. Her purchase is under way, and OHP has access to the vessel while it completes; part of what early support makes possible is finishing that purchase and putting her to sea under OHP's flag. Meet Mercy describes the vessel and the work she has carried.

What is not published here is a cost-per-patient or cost-per-mission figure. OHP has not yet completed a mission under its own name, and a per-patient number published today would be an estimate wearing the costume of a fact. When OHP has its own operating history, those numbers will appear here and in its financial reporting.

Why a contribution goes further here

Two features of this model do most of the work. Physicians and medical professionals donate their time, and medications are obtained at a fraction of retail cost. The practical effect is that contributions translate almost entirely into supplies, logistics and direct patient care rather than salaries.

The second is structural. Most global health investment goes into fixed infrastructure — clinics, hospitals, training centres. That work matters, but it is slow, expensive, and structurally unable to serve populations scattered across islands and coastlines. For those communities the barrier is not the quality of care available elsewhere; it is the distance between “elsewhere” and here.

A mobile platform brings care to them, and because it operates in concentrated bursts rather than maintaining a permanent facility, it converts fixed overhead into direct patient contact. Three advantages compound:

• Efficiency — a single mission can deliver a high volume of services over several days of continuous clinic operation.
• Leverage — clinical time is volunteered, so funding buys medicines, equipment and transport rather than payroll.
• Flexibility — a vessel can respond to emerging needs, to seasonal gaps in local healthcare capacity, or to post-disaster conditions.

What consistent annual funding makes possible

The following are goals, not results. They describe what this model is built to deliver once it is consistently funded at the level above. They are not a record of work performed, and no mission has yet sailed under OHP's own name.

• Four missions per year
• Care for thousands of patients annually
• Outpatient surgical procedures
• Preventive care and screenings for thousands more

The completed maritime medical missions behind this model were carried out under GPA Globalization Ministries. Those results belong to that organization and are described as its record, not OHP's, on Learn About OHP.

What OHP will measure and publish

A donor is entitled to ask what a gift produced. OHP is building measurement in from the start rather than retrofitting it later, and intends to track and report:

• Patients treated
• Procedures performed
• Cost per patient served
• Follow-up care coordination

None of those numbers exist yet, because no mission has yet sailed under OHP's flag. When they do exist, they will be published — including the cost-per-patient figure, which is the one most likely to be uncomfortable and is therefore the one most worth publishing.

Sponsorship opportunities

Some donors prefer to underwrite a specific, nameable part of the work. OHP expects to offer sponsorships of these kinds:

• Mission sponsorship — underwriting a single mission end to end.
• Clinic-day sponsorship — underwriting one community's day of care.
• Pharmacy and supply sponsorship — stocking the medications and consumables a mission carries.
• Volunteer berth sponsorship — covering the cost of placing one clinician aboard.
• Vessel readiness sponsorship — fuel, maintenance and the work that keeps Mercy able to sail.
• In-kind sponsorship — supplying goods or services directly rather than funds.

Other ways to give

Gifts in kind

Medications, clinical consumables, dental and diagnostic equipment, and marine supplies can all be useful — but only if they match what a mission actually needs and arrive in a usable condition and timeframe. Please write to us before shipping anything.

Employer matching, donor-advised funds and appreciated assets

These channels are worth raising with us, but you should know how they interact with OHP's current status: donor-advised fund sponsors and most corporate matching programs require a current IRS determination letter before they will release a grant or a match. Until OHP's application is determined, those routes are generally unavailable. Tell us if you intend to use one and we will let you know when it opens.

Planned and estate gifts

If you are considering OHP in your estate planning, please contact us and involve your own advisor. This is precisely the kind of gift where the pending status above matters, and where you should be getting advice from someone who represents you.

What happens after you reach out

• A member of the organization replies to you directly — not an autoresponder.
• You receive current instructions for how OHP can accept the gift you have in mind.
• You get a straight answer to any question about status, governance or how funds are used, including the questions we have not anticipated on this page.
• You are told what OHP can and cannot promise you, in writing, before you give anything.

Questions before you decide

Donors who want to look harder before giving are exactly the donors this organization wants. Learn About OHP sets out the continuity with GPA Globalization Ministries, how a mission works, governance, safeguards, and what financial reporting will be published. If something you need is not there, ask us for it.