Cool thing: Alaskan Brewing’s Coastal CODE grants nonprofits funding to promote ocean health

Alaska’s 6,500 miles of rugged coastline has provided the inspiration for Juneau-based Alaskan Brewing Co.’s Coastal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone) initiative to protect coasts for over 12 years. Coastal CODE grants funds to nonprofits and projects that promote the health of oceans and waterways, and its Advisory Committee meets every fall to select grantees.

Coastal CODE is funded with one percent of proceeds from the brewery’s Icy Bay IPA. Since its creation in 2007, the clean-ocean initiative has provided over $300,000 of grants to nonprofits, with $25,000 granted in 2018 alone.

“We carefully select partners who promote beach, lake or waterway cleanup activities and water habitat restoration projects that we believe will have the greatest impact,” explained Coastal CODE Chair, Rochelle Lindley. One of Coastal CODE’s recent partners, Washington CoastSavers, utilized the funds to support the annual Washington Coastal Cleanup. “Last year, 1,295 CoastSavers volunteers worked hard to remove 18.8 tons of trash and debris from the Washington coast.”

In addition to its philanthropic efforts, since 2018, Coastal CODE has partnered with local organizations to host community cleanups across the Pacific Northwest to increase the initiative’s hands-on community work. This year, Coastal CODE funded seven cleanups across Alaska and one in Seattle.

“The communities and partners who helped with our cleanups this year participated in some fun and creative ways,” said Lindley. “In Cordova, volunteers spent two days collecting and prepping nearly 3,500 pounds of large fishing nets for recycling, while at the Sitka cleanup, prizes were awarded for the largest item recovered, which was a 241-pound metal pipe, and the strangest item, which was a lawn mower.”

More information about the grant proposal process can be found at: www.alaskanbeer.com/community. Interested organizations can apply for Coastal CODE grants by emailing [email protected].

The deadline for 2020 Coastal CODE grant applications is September 30, 2019.