• To collect money for diving & oceanic charities
  We are committed to helping protect the oceans and to promoting good causes related to diving. In the past this has included offering free advertising and editorial space on the site to charities and now includes collecting money to help fund them.

• To help raise money for upkeep of the site
  For the last three years Clare and myself have built the site as a labour of love in our spare time (we both have day jobs and don’t get out much any more!), it has become increasing clear recently that the two of us can’t always keep up with the fantastic response we have received from the diving community. With this in mind we are trying to raise a little money to pay someone to help us keep up with contributions and to help pay for other overheads such as site hosting and the bandwidth required for the now incredible 40,000 + users a month. We’ve also had a few ideas for improving the site and may need to pay someone to implement them as all our time is currently spent keeping up with and adding new contributions – we don’t like to keep you waiting when you send new content in!
  
  However the last thing we wanted to do was plaster the site in advertising! Fortunately Pro Dive came to our rescue and have offered to contribute money to DSD every time you book a holiday via their site from a link on the directory. With this in mind please do make sure you visit the Pro Dive site via a link on DSD to book your holiday as it will then register as coming from us!

• Greenpeace Defending Oceans Campaign
  Greenpeace work incredibly hard to champion environmental causes including the plight of the oceans. Their oceanic division works all over the world on issues including over fishing, pollution, whaling and marine reserves.
  
  Find out more: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/

• Shark Trust
  The Shark Trust promotes the study, management and conservation of sharks, skates and rays. Any diver who has dived with these beautiful creatures cannot help be concerned by their plight and the shocking decline in their global numbers. Since the 1990’s an estimated 100 million sharks have been killed every year as a result of bycatch and demand for shark’s fin soup. Recent reports even suggest that some species of shark population has dropped between 75 and 90% since 1986.
  
  Find out more: http://www.sharktrust.org

The following are UK charities and as such we will donate to them proportionally to the number of UK based users that book a trip via dive site directory:

• Scuba Trust
  Scuba Trust helps those with disabilities and illnesses, giving them a focus outside of their usual lives by introducing them to scuba diving. As well as teaching them to dive they also organise and take them on diving holidays abroad. Scuba Trust was founded in 1996 and relies entirely on donations.
  
  Find out more: http://www.scubatrust.org.uk

• RNLI
  Anyone who has dived or lived in the UK knows the crucial role the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) plays in saving lives in British waters. They risk their lives on a regular basis in order to save those who have got into trouble out at sea. We are sure anyone who has dived off a hard boat in rough weather in the UK will appreciate the fact they are there to help if a difficult or dangerous situation arose.
  
  Find out more: http://www.rnli.co.uk

• Seasearch
  Seasearch is a UK based project for volunteer divers who have an interest in learning more about and protecting the marine environment. Their main aim is to map out the various near-shore zones around the British Isles and record what lives in each area to help establish the richest sites for marine life, sites where there are problems and the sites which need protection.
  
  Find out more: http://www.seasearch.org.uk

If you have a suggestion for a charity you feel may benefit from our contributions please contact us.

We’re not sure how much (if any) money we will make as yet! The more money we do make the more we can and will give to charity as we will only need so much to help upkeep and improve DSD, we’d like to have around a 50/50 split if possible.

It will take a few months for the scheme to get off the ground as we only receive funds from Pro Dive once the diver has been on the holiday – not when they make the booking. However once we have some funds coming in we will update this page with progress and how much we have been able to donate to the listed charities.

Update:
When we say it will be a slow start we really meant it! We've been up and running three months now and only 1 commission has been made so far due to technical difficulties with the initial set up! We're hoping these are now resolved and we will be able to get more commission to help with our contributions, we will update this again when we have more news!