The Mesoamerican Reef ecosystem faces a broad range of escalating threats, including climate change, many different types of pollution, and an array of unsustainable human activities both on land and in the sea. We seek to focus our grantmaking on threats that are important and for which we see a viable path to meaningful results. We also are searching for ways to accelerate progress; the declining health of the ecosystem means that more must be done. We see enormous opportunities for restoring and protecting this vital ecosystem, through sensible, science-based interventions that will also promote lasting economic opportunities for the countries and people in the region. In the Mesoamerican Reef as elsewhere, we do not believe human well-being and prosperity are possible without the support of healthy, viable, and resilient ecosystems. We are focused on the Mesoamerican Reef because of its importance, the challenges, and the opportunities we see there.

We have grantees working in each of the four Mesoamerican Reef countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) and at the region-wide level. Some projects are focused on a particular site, such as a protected area, but most have a broader geographic scope. While we recognize the reef both influences and is influenced by other ecoregions and the broader global environment, we seek to focus our available resources within the Mesoamerican Reef ecoregion itself.

We fund international organizations active in the Mesoamerican Reef ecoregion and those based in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. We support groups working alongside government and those publicly demanding that government do more, faster to halt damaging activities and restore the health of the ecosystem. Most of our funding is granted to groups recognized as charities by the US government or with equivalent status, to enable us to provide more flexible funding, but we also selectively support smaller, locally registered organizations with critical roles in achieving a resilient Mesoamerican Reef. We recognize the vital role of government in restoring and protecting the ecosystem but do not fund government work directly.

Our grantees tackle threats to the Mesoamerican Reef stemming from human activities on land and in the sea. Projects on land include collaborating with farmers to reduce run-off of fertilizers harmful to the reef, improving the effectiveness of sewage treatment, and fighting illegal and unsustainable coastal development. In the ocean, work of Summit grantees includes helping manage marine protected areas, developing and advancing science-based recommendations for expanding fully protected marine areas and improving fisheries sustainability, and conducting coral restoration in key sites. Grantees working at the region-wide level provide essential scientific data on the health of the ecosystem and the efficacy of management, support individuals and organizations leading change on the ground, and seek and disburse additional funding from a widening array of sources for existing and new initiatives to benefit the ecosystem and the people and communities depending on it.

We fund work that follows the science on the health of the Mesoamerican Reef ecosystem, that takes an evidence-based approach to developing and refining strategies, and that seeks always to accelerate and maximize benefits to the ecosystem and the people depending on it. Partners employ a range of approaches, including policy reform, strategic litigation, stakeholder education and outreach, communications, development and mobilization of coalitions and networks, and technical capacity-building. We fund select monitoring projects needed to track the health of the ecosystem, but do not generally fund research.