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Be a Hero for Whales

Why does your support matter? You see, the health of animals like whales, our ocean and humans are interconnected. Yet the greatest threats to whales are caused by humans.

We’ve made positive impacts before—like freeing whales from ocean trash and conducting vital research that led to shipping lane changes—all because of this caring community.

Today, you can get your gift matched and help provide double the tools and resources experts need to continue this critical work. Together, we can protect these gentle giants and their ocean home.

Be a hero
humpback whale flukes
Sasha Martin

Sasha Martin, MA, GMC

Director of Institutional Giving

The Marine Mammal Center's mission is more important than ever. By caring for marine mammals and our oceans, we not only more comprehensively care for our community, but we also inevitably care for human health in an ever changing world. 

With ten years of experience in grant writing (five in the academic world and five in nonprofit), Sasha is thrilled to join The Marine Mammal Center team as the Director of Institutional Giving in January 2025. Sasha has focused her career on community-driven impact, and looks forward to expanding this reach to other species (marine mammals) and spaces (the Pacific Ocean) that are an integral and formative part of our community.

Previously the Senior Manager of Institutional Giving at Planned Parenthood Northern California (PPNorCal), Sasha led institutional giving, consistently surpassing institutional fundraising goals and increasing grant revenue from an average of $1.5MM a year to upwards of $5.5MM a year. During her tenure, her institutional fundraising efforts increased organizational capacity and helped launch, expand, and sustain both medical services, equipment purchases, and non-revenue-generating programs that continue to be at the forefront of advancing sexual reproductive health equity, research, and information. She also led select communications efforts, including press coordination leading up to and following the Dobbs decision and writing/managing the annual report, newsletters, and select executive communications. Previous to PPNorCal, as the Development Manager at Smuin Contemporary Ballet during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sasha (one of two development staff) helped keep Smuin open and raised funds to increase access to performances and launch virtual performances. She has also honed her writing and editing skills while working with John Wiley and Sons and City Lights Publishers, and has served a variety of nonprofits, including RESOLVE New England, the Massachusetts Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, and Griot Theater.

Sasha holds an MA in Anthropology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and minor in Writing at UC Berkeley. She is Grant Management Certified (GMC).

During her graduate research and studies, she also created/led a seminar on the Anthropology of Reproduction; worked as a Research Assistant; helped edit numerous articles and anthologies (including Dr. McIntosh's Language in the Trump Era: Scandals and Emergencies and Dr. Lamb's Successful Aging as a Contemporary Obsession: Global Perspectives); co-conducted an undergraduate research lab; taught; and was elected as the Graduate Student Representative (a liaison between faculty and graduate students).

Sasha believes in active community engagement and volunteers for PPNorCal as a patient escort and for W.O.M.A.N Inc as an intimate partner violence (IPV) survivor support-line volunteer weekly.

She lives in Fairfax with two cats and a feisty bunny. She loves animals, writing, reading, podcasts, hiking, kayaking, camping, cooking, yoga, swimming, and doing art.

Areas of Expertise

  • Government Grants and Contracts
  • Foundation Stewardship
  • Fundraising
  • Program Development and Evaluation
  • Donor Communications
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