ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Nordic Ocean Watch Denmark

CVR 39854082

The mission of Nordic Ocean Watch Denmark (NOW) is to strengthen the public focus on the extent of pollution in the oceans and its consequences. Furthermore, NOW wants to contribute to creating a future where marine pollution is reduced through the actions of the individual as well as volunteer initiatives.

NOW wants to reach a wide community of people. Anyone can take part in caring for the ocean, by making behavioural changes and participating in activities, many small actions can affect major change when combined.

NOW has three major focus areas which guide the practical implementation of NOW’s vision:

• Activation - We arrange activities enabling people to actively give back to the ocean.

• Knowledge sharing - We give the ocean a voice.

• Community - We foster ambassadors for the ocean.

In the following sections NOW’s achievements are presented within each focus area in 2022. The annual report also includes an overview of financial partnerships and NOW’s financial statements of 2022.

Activation

2022 was a challenging year for the cleanup coordinator team as there was a high turnover in volunteers. However, in the second half of the year NOW managed to attract two new members that brought fresh motivation to the cleanup coordinator team. 

In total, NOW organised and conducted 8 cleanups with approximately 100 volunteers participating. The total amount of waste collected was 129kg. The graphic below shows the percentage per category.

As in the previous years, World Cleanup Day was the biggest success with most volunteers attending this particular event. Other highlights were our revived cooperation with GoBoat, the first Art for the Ocean cleanup co-hosted with the music producer Guillaume Blanjean from Petite Victory Collective who used pieces of the waste we found to record sounds as well as the cooperation with Danmark Rundt. 

Knowledge sharing 

In 2022 NOW continued with the SoMe campaign “Did you know?” (#DYK) starting off with a special focus on trash data from the previous year’s cleanups. The amount of trash (in kilograms) collected in each trash category e.g. plastic or metal, is converted into comparable everyday items such as single use plastic cups and soda cans. In 2022 NOW carried on writing and publishing posts on the News Blog for the first six months of the year. The focus of the News Blog is topics of current interest that somehow relate to the ocean. Due to changes in the knowledge sharing admin team, the News Blog was put on hold for the remaining six months of 2022, to focus on other tasks. One of these tasks was developing teaching material for primary schools based on NOW’s vision and mission. NOW’s teaching material will be ready for implementation in the middle of 2023, coinciding with the new school year.          

Community and online communications

In terms of its online presence, NOW’s audience saw a slight increase in 2022. NOW’s website had, similar to 2021, 4.3K unique visitors and 14K page views.

NOW’s social media channels have also shown a positive audience increase, with 2.5% more followers on Facebook and 9% more followers on Instagram, currently at 1,832 and 1,918 respectively. NOW’s new LinkedIn account currently has 135 followers (status update February 2023), a 52% increase compared to 2021.

In 2022, NOW released six Ocean Hero interviews, continued the #ArtforOcean campaign, featuring artists dedicating their work to the oceans and/or collaborating with NOW, continued with 'Did you know?' Posts in collaboration with NOW’s biologists, celebrated international days connected to the oceans and the environment, eg. Earth Day, World Oceans Day and World Cleanup Day. 

NOW launched the ‘Clean Summer Now’ campaign, and joined forces with the projects Sailing for Seas and Row Round Denmark to promote cleanup activities around Denmark.

Last but not least, NOW participated for the first time with its own booth in the International Citizen Days, hosted by the municipality of Copenhagen to engage the expat community in volunteering.

Partnerships

In 2022 NOW continued the financial partnerships with corporate partners NIVEA, Organic Basics and Økofamilien. NOW also began new successful partnerships with CAS Trips and Greenspeak during 2022.

NOW is very happy for the continued cooperation and interest from corporate partners, which provide the financial foundation for NOW, making NOW able to carry out its vision and mission of protecting the ocean.

Furthermore, since becoming a part of 1% for the Planet and Benevity in 2021, NOW also receives  smaller one off donations from companies wanting to support our work, and these partnerships therefore also continue to involve more business and individuals in the environmental movement.

In addition to the corporate partnerships, NOW continues strong partnerships with our NGO and academic partners, including both local and international organisations in order to increase the organisation’s outreach and impact. In particular NOW continues the partnership with Aalborg University in relation to the research project on microplastic pollution in the Atlantic Ocean, which began in 2021.

Financial statements

NOW has closed the year 2022 with a profit of DKK 179,248, compared to DKK 203,840 in 2021.

The organisation has received donations for DKK 217,510, equal to a 3% decrease compared to 2021. Donations were mainly received from partners, and in residual part from other donors, particularly through the Benevity community impact fund. Only 1% of the total from cleanup collaborators.

Operating expenses were DKK 38,262 in 2022, an increase of DKK 17,981 compared to DKK 20,282 in 2021. The development was led by marketing & online branding expenses, mainly attributable to the annual team cleanup, from which photos and videos were used as branding material, and to the purchase of posters and banners. Social events expenses were related to monthly team building events for the team members. Administration expenses increased compared to 2021 mainly with reference to expenses for the organisation of the 2021 Annual General Meeting.

Cleanup expenses had a decrease of DKK 5,234 compared to the previous year, mainly due to the restock occurring in 2021, and to the reduced number of cleanup events. Savings were recorded also in Expeditions expenses and in knowledge sharing expenses.

No extraordinary or financial expenses occurred in 2022.

The financial position has also improved in 2022, with a balance of Cash at bank of DKK 428,365 as of December 31, 2022, compared to DKK 249,117 as of December 31, 2021. Consistently with 2021, also in 2022 NOW does not have any liability in its balance sheet. Equity is exclusively composed of profit for the period and retained earnings generated by the profit of 2021.