Michael Volpe Investigates Update: An Interview with Kari Stoever

She is a board member and donor to One With the Ocean (OWO).

Michael Volpe

Aug 11, 2022

I recently spoke with Kari Stoever about my investigation of the California non-profit, One With the Ocean (OWO).

Kari is in a position to know, being a board member and a donor.

Following the interview, she also sent me this statement, “I have been a donor since the launch of OWO 501 (C)3. As a board member and supporter, I could not be more pleased with how the organization, led by Brian and supported by hundreds of volunteers, are connecting communities to one and other and the ocean.”

She echoed that statement in the interview, saying OWO brings people together and exposes them to the ocean: many of the people served, she told me, are from underserved communities.

While most non-profits serve some noble purpose, I found some concerning things about OWO.

I initially sent Kari questions through LinkedIn, expecting they be answered by email, she agreed to an interview and those questions were used primarily.

1) How is Bryan's compensation determined? It seemed like it was enormous compared to the amount raised. Is that unfair?

This question came up because, according to his testimony in a deposition, his compensation appeared exorbitant.

After I published my first article, his attorney reached out and said I mischaracterized Bryan’s salary.

In the article, I compared Bryan’s compensation to several non-profits, some of which had raised millions. Bryan suggested that raising approximately $200,000 would net him a salary of $150,000, though he also made several qualifiers. The non-profit has been operating since 2020; he’s referred to it as a “startup” so it seems like his salary is quite high.

Kari did not get into specifics of how the salary was determined, besides saying that the board approved it, and the donors were happy.

As of publication, a statement of assets and receipts has been published on Guidestar by OWO.

The 990s, the tax returns which 501 (C) 3 non-profits file, has still not been put on the site. Guidestar lists tax returns for most non-profits which are required to release their tax returns to the public.

2) Bryan mentioned having other chapters but it's not clear how their work is measured. It seems like many chapters are in name only, is that fair?

Bryan has boasted in other articles of having numerous chapters. Here is part of my previous story in which I described a story written by Bonnie Tsui.

Indeed, Mineo has built a cadre of devoted followers, and he holds open waters swims while also doing beach trash pick up, but there is already at least one dubious claim: when Bonnie referred to OWO as “the world’s largest open water swim group.”
They are all over the world- I found dozens in Australia- so what makes his the largest?
Furthermore, while Bonnie described his swims as safe in her article, I interviewed Ella Alderete who told me she nearly drowned when she went on a similar swim organized by Bryan.
Tsui described his organization as having nineteen chapters and 4,000 members, but even this has little meaning.

In the deposition, he described it this way.

Bonnie Tsui wrote the best seller “Why We Swim” and being featured in an article written by her goes along way.

Being described as having “the world’s largest open water swim group” in her article creates gravitas, but this appears based on mostly uncorroborated boasts.

Kari said each chapter has a “captain” who reports weekly progress to Bryan. Each chapter is entirely volunteer run.

3) Bryan touts these group swims but do you really need to create a non profit to get together to swim?

In Bonnie’s article, Bonnie accompanied Bryan as he organized a beach swim.

Though the Encinitas sunset swim was my first with OWO, I knew that Mineo had created something special: a group of conservation-minded swimmers who supply the knowledge and meet you where you are. Anybody can join for a swim at any chapter. New attendees are given OWO swim caps and welcomed for a free swim. Membership dues and donations go toward supporting core initiatives, including regular organized swims, more than 600 beach sweeps a year, and Play in the Waves, a program that offers free ocean education and swim lessons to kids in underserved areas.
That night on Moonlight Beach, I met OWO coach Antony Nguyen, who made it a priority to make everyone feel welcome at the swim. I swam to shore alongside a chatty swimmer named Ricardo Villa (“call me Ricky Ricardo”)—I’d learn later that he taught salsa dancing and was often the life of the party. And I met Anne-Marie Coman, who told me that she’d just started swimming with the group several months before. Like a lot of us, she’d had a hard year. As we watched the stars wink into view in a cloudless sky, we talked about the relief and joy to be found in the open water. To float is to forget, if just for a moment, the weight and worries of the world. It is improbable magic, a liminal state of grace that is not gotten to without some effort. Coman quoted back to me a phrase from my book: Swimming is a constant state of not drowning.
“That’s my mantra now,” she said. Then she teared up, and I did, too.

This seems serene and nice, but I don’t understand why a non-profit would be created to organize beach swims. OWO does do other things: including holding a series of swim lessons to the underprivileged, but he gets a lot of traction for organizing beach swims.

Beach swims can be organized without having to do a non-profit. Kari said that the time invested, getting permits, hiring lifeguards, and other work justified it.

4) The beach clean ups, it seems like there is no way to know just how many people participated. How is that measured?

The beach clean ups are another part of the OWO work, but it’s murky how much cleaning OWO does. In his deposition, he stated the following.