About The Flipper Fund

Flipper Fund Saves Dolphins

Flipper Fund Saves Dolphins

As the program which comprises all of EarthTrust‘s dolphin campaigns, Flipper Fund is the world’s most successful dolphin-saving program by a wide margin, having saved millions of dolphin lives as a direct result of our original programs. It’s the only program that can plausibly make that claim.

We’ve owned the issues that matter.

We’ve owned the issues that matter.

dead baby dolphin in driftnet

Flipper Fund takes on the biggest threats, defining the issues. EarthTrust is justly credited with having exposed the international pelagic driftnet industry and coordinated the successful worldwide campaign shut it down. This took 30,000 miles of invisible, dolphin-snaring spiderweb out of the seas, saving roughly 1 million dolphins per year per UNFAO estimate. It was the largest marine conservation victory in history, and ET created it and took it all the way to a United Nations ban.

The big dolphin wins have been Flipper Fund wins

The big dolphin wins have been Flipper Fund wins

StarKist president and VP with ET president DJ White, announcing the decision to commit to Flipper

Dolphins killed by U.S. tuna firms was an issue deadlocked for decades, killing hundreds of thousands of dolphins per year. EarthTrust‘s program cracked that wide open in 1990, binding the world’s largest tuna firm to the "Flipper" standard by contract in a stunning victory that paved the way for "dolphin friendly" tuna worldwide, and all the standards to follow.

Nobody does what Flipper Fund does

Nobody does what Flipper Fund does

Still-living drive-kill dolphins.

Hundreds if not thousands of organizations have protested dolphin drive kills.

Only one organization in the world has permanently shut a nation’s drive kills down, in an upbeat campaign that has stood the test of time.

If you care about drive kills, you belong with us.

We’ve showed the world the dolphin mind

We’ve showed the world the dolphin mind

Dolphin at the Delphis lab using a computer

Before our program, the world believed that self-awareness was a quality exclusive to a few of the great apes. Our breakthrough research opened the doors to comparative psychology, showing scientifically that these amazing creatures separated from us by 70 million years of evolution have self-aware, learning minds much like our own. It has changed the way we see dolphins, and the way we see ourselves and intelligence in the universe. And we did it while leaving the dolphins in control.

The Science of Saving Dolphins

The Science of Saving Dolphins

protecting dolphins with DNA market studies

Flipper Fund doesn’t chase the issues identified by others, it repeatedly is the one to discover the issues in the first place and solve them in a full-field touchdown. One example: using undercover DNA assays and ET-invented suitcase DNA labs to expose a massive market for dolphin meat mislabeled as whale in Japan. This dishonest commerce endangers both dolphins and Japanese consumers, and has been curbed by DNA testing, toxics testing, and publicity. Only we were able to put all the parts together to get it done.

Knowing dolphins in the wild

Knowing dolphins in the wild

spinner dolphin study team at beachside

Flipper Fund has conducted studies of the lives of wild dolphins, and shared the footage and information with the world in many TV documentaries. ET scientists have testified for the dolphins before congress, and in keeping their habitats safe from human intrusion. Because adding to the human knowledge of these incredibly social "non-human aboriginal people" is important to keeping them alive.

By the millions, and one by one

By the millions, and one by one

successful ET dolphin stranding intervention

We believe in showing the world that dolphins, like us, are individuals worth individual consideration. We use strandings as teaching opportunities, allowing humans to reach out and directly save dolphins in need. It’s a powerful experience and a powerful symbol. The number of dolphins directly saved is small, but the cultural impact can be large. We should never forget that the real fight for the dolphins will be won or lost by how our culture decides to regard them.

Teaching the next generations

Teaching the next generations

ET presenters in Taiwan

Direct interventions and tight strategy is great, but for permanent progress, we need to share with kids around the world just what we lose when we lose dolphins. That‘s why we’ve been a leader in educational video production, school presentations, and scientific projects helping break down cultural barriers on the dolphins’ behalf.

In the lead on future dangers

In the lead on future dangers

acidifying oceans from CO2 will become bacterial slimes

Flipper Fund has been the single most successful advocate in saving dolphins from 20th century perils.

We’re committing our lives to helping them survive the 21st century. Military sonars. Overfishing. Toxic pollution. And the most insidious of all, ocean acidification.

Dolphins cannot be expected to survive the acidified, slime-choked seas of 2100, devoid of coral reefs and calcareous plankton creating food webs. Dolphins will be saved, or lost forever, based on what happens in the next few decades.

If you think that the world’s most successful dolphin-savers should be funded to make the attempt, get in touch and do what you can.

Currently, the funding isn‘t there. We admit it: we’re great at saving dolphins, not very good at raising funds. We’ve always thought that results should speak for themselves.

Flipper Fund = Dolphin Saving

Flipper Fund = Dolphin Saving

ET diver pulls young dolphin from net

When it comes down to it, which big dolphin wins have come from anywhere else?

ET’s Flipper Fund receives a miniscule fraction of 1% of the annual funds given by donors to help save dolphins, yet has racked up most of the big wins across the board.

That means that Flipper Fund donors are the ones whose contributions have actually saved dolphins. Not just once, but repeatedly.

If you‘re wondering why other groups don’t make such claims, it‘s because they can’t.

Join the team that knows how to win.

Join the team that knows how to win.

dolphin vortex-ring sculpture, first documented by FF

Despite our overwhelming success at saving dolphins, we operate on tight budgets. Flipper Fund doesn‘t pull in the huge grants and donations of the "big name" groups. We don’t use wasteful direct-mail fundraising campaigns. We do efficient, effective, dolphin saving on the largest scales.

This means your donation goes a long way at Flipper Fund. You‘re not giving to a group with a hundred million in the bank, you’re giving to a group whose members have spent down their own personal savings to keep the campaigns going.

The world’s most successful dolphin-savers are Flipper Fund donors. Join us, and make the next victories possible. The dolphins really need it.