DiveHeart is a non-profit organization that provides scuba diving experiences and programs for people with disabilities. It was founded in 2001 by Jim Elliott, who still acts as the chief executive. DiveHeart partners with many organizations to help fund and support its mission of using scuba diving to build confidence in people with disabilities. While DiveHeart does good work partnering with others and fundraising, it could improve by establishing its own facilities and creating a clear long-term management plan.

1. Sowards II, Harold Ray
PLS 230 Rick Gage
DIVEHEART FOUNDATION

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Table of Contents

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Agency Description
1. DiveHeart is a non-profit tax exempt organization. Jim Elliott is the chief executive who
gets the final say in all decisions and acts as the head of the organization.
2. According to Ng (2016), she says that Founder Jim Elliott used to work with blind
downhill skiers and after he realized that there was a positive experience involved, and
along with his interest in scuba diving, decided to try and mirror the success. In 1996, he
left his media job and started focusing on teaching people how to scuba dive. Then in
2001, he founded the DiveHeart Foundation.
3. The mission: To build confidence, independence and self-esteem in the lives of children,
adults and veterans with disabilities through scuba diving, scuba therapy and related
activities.
The vision: To instill the “can do” spirit in participants, inspiring them to take on
challenges that they may not have considered before. Using zero gravity and the
adventure paradigm, we help participants believe that if they can scuba dive they can do
anything.
Facilities: In Illinois they use the following areas to practice and swim: Illinois Center for
Rehabilitation, Oak Lawn High School, and Double Tree Hotel. In Florida they use: AD
Barnes Pool. They are also located in Atlanta, but the location for the events vary. Their
headquarters however, is in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Programs: Oaklawn Program, Tri-County Program, DMW Program, Friendship Circle.
Leeds Endowment Program and Ortho Pro Program. Their headquarters however, is in

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Downers Grove, Illinois. They focus on Discover Scuba programs which focuses on
introducing people to water to help them get their freedom back.
4. Structure: Everything goes through Jim Elliott.
5. Partners include: Assist America provided comprehensive travel assistance to 27 people
who were taking part in the scuba diving program in Florida. Vicencia & Buckley
Insurance Services, Inc. also took part in that agreement as well, and they are the scuba
diving industries’ leading insurance provider. They partner with DiveBar and Nova
Southeastern University’s Coral Nursery Initiative when they take part in the Root
Project. The Eagle Scouts now help out with training and teaching people how to scuba
dive. They also have recently begun getting partnership with the Upper Keys and Rotary
Clubs of Florida, mainly in Key Largo. The Wounded Warriors Project helps connect
veterans to the project. While it may not be an organization or group, volunteers make up
a huge portion of DiveHeart’s partners as they provide anything from time to supplies for
the organization to use. According to the DiveHeart website, under their supporters tab,
the following are listed: Schiff Hardin LLP, Double Tree by Hilton, Rotary Club
International, Southwest, Aquarium of the Pacific, Scuba Travel Ventures, Divetech,
Diving Unlimited International, Black Lab, Rainbow Reef, Construction Cost Systems
LLC Owner Service Group LLC, Chevrolet, Dive Paradise, Lions Club International,
Watermark Property Management LLC, Kiwanis, Florida Keys Community College,
Shriner’s Hospital for Children, DiveBar, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Cobalt
Coast Dive Resort, Illinois Department of Human Services, Eagle Self Storage,
Chammyz, Enterprise, Heart & Soul Designs, Dive Industry Association, Scuba & H2O

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Adventure, Divers Supply, Copier Dynamics, X-Ray Mag, Deep Blue, Dive Georgia
LLC, US1 Scuba, California Diver, Abilities Expo, Scubaboard.com, Force-E, Four
Lakes Scuba Club, Hotel Cozumel & Resort, ICSSD, Nixon Peabody, Scuba Sirens and
Toucan Dive.
6. Responsibilities
Their Root Project works on transplanting coral reefs and performing maintenance on
nurseries.
The volunteers want to help out the veterans who have helped them, which can lower
negative stereotypes and build communications and connections amongst the community.
7. Board of directors:
President/Founder: Jim Elliott, Vice President: Ron Rispoli, Treasurer: William Bogdon,
Secretary: Sharon Kustka, Kerry Gruson, Michael Kaufman, Carolyn Brennan, and Mike
Hamel all constitute DiveHeart’s board of directors.
8. Funding comes from:
Various fundraising campaigns and online auctions. In 2012, the Illinois Department of
Veteran’s Affairs provided them with a $75,000 grant to help assist the program. The
Illinois Lottery’s Veterans Cash scratch-off game tickets are deposited into the Veterans
Assistance Fund, which can be allocated into any program to help out the state’s
veteran’s such as the ones DiveHeart promotes. On the DiveHeart website, there is a
donate tab as well. The founder Jim Elliott, writes books as well and donates 50% of the
sales to the organization.
9. Motivation
Helping make a difference for the people whose lives they touch.

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10. Plan written down? Not that I could find.
11. Employee benefits
Jim Elliott, who is the founder receives no salary from the organization. The majority of the
people who work for the agency are volunteers. The volunteers get to scuba dive for free as well
as getting to experience changing the lives of the people they touch.
12. Risk Management
According to their website, DiveHeart has a waiver that they require people to sign to avoid
lawsuit and that they accept the risks that they are participating in. According to Dowsett (2012),
the article mentions that people over the age of 45 tend to have a harder time adjusting to scuba
diving and have many complications to deal with that could result in their death due to their
bodies getting weaker and having less strength then before. I would assume from this that
DiveHeart would take this into account.
What does this agency do well?
Partnerships- Like I mentioned before they have a lot of partners which helps cut down
on the cost of the organization. The Wounded Warrior Project helps bring in user bases, the Boys
Scouts bring in a caring volunteer base who is devoted to helping out others, the Rotary Clubs
and other organizations help sponsor facilities (which helps cut down on having to maintain and
manage a facility of their own), Assist America makes it easier to provide travel expenses for the
poorer users and even the insurance policies are covered by one of their partners which helps
keep the cost of waivers down. As a manager, I would like to keep these partnerships going to
help keep management costs down and to help continue improving visitor experiences. I would
also try and sponsor with the USACE to help build programs at their dams, because they focus

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on military personnel, so they would help sponsor their mission and vision statement by helping
out this organization, which can be a win-win for both. Also, I could see partnering with the
ADA to again help each organization out.
Funding- I like the way Illinois provided them with a grant so that they can get things
going. Also, the fact that Jim Elliott donates 50% of the sales of his book to the organization is
incredible, because not only would that promote the book amongst users and thus drive them to
purchase it, it helps recycle that money back into the company thus bringing out better user
experiences and opportunities. Also, utilizing the partnerships are key, because it helps cut down
the total cost of the organization. As a manager, I would like to try and expand on the states
whose lottery programs we sponsor with. The organization has ties in Florida and Georgia along
with Illinois and we are only utilizing the program in Illinois. Imaging if the organization could
get the other two states that they already have ties with start contributing more funds to the
organization. Also, we could try and market to other states so they we can expand the name of
the organization and help try and expand the benefits to more users, because there is a lot of
states where there is bodies of water present and plenty of veterans to help out in these areas.
Helping out the environment- Through their partnership with Nova Scotia University’s
Root Program, they help clean up coral reefs, which helps make the experience for the user that
much more meaningful and also helps make the next experience that much more aesthetically
pleasing. As a manager, I would like to try and implement some other ecology practices into the
organization so that some of the volunteers can focus on litter cleanup and fish habitation and
even nesting patterns of sea birds. I could also try and study how clean our oceans, lakes and
streams are if I looked at the level of pollution present in the areas utilized by the program,
which would benefit scientists as well as we can release our findings to the public.

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Employee Benefits- Recommendations are nice for everybody, because it can help them
get a good job later down the road and helps them know that you consider their work to be
important. Free scuba diving is also nice because it allows them to have some fun while they are
working as well and take out some stress. Helping out veterans and people with disabilities
would make them feel good about themselves and the company and would promote a good
positive image that would help them get behind the mission and the vision and thus work harder
to help keep it succeeding. As a manager, I would change nothing about this concept. However, I
may add some volunteer of the month medals or certificates to help them know I continue to
support them and value their help.
Things they don’t do so well
They don’t have their own facilities, which could be a problem. If they had their own
facilities, not only could they train their volunteers here, they could provide events at their own
area and not have to rely on sponsorships to provide areas to perform at. Also, I couldn’t find a
management plan online, which I consider to be a problem, because it doesn’t help understand
what they are trying to accomplish over a set number of years.
Conclusion
I think this organization takes very good care of the people they are trying to help out with and
with their partnerships they do a great job of utilizing them. They could do more in terms of
helping out the environment, but that comes as a bonus when helping out the self-esteem of
humans. So, for me I would consider working for this company and helping them out, because
they have the right idea and can make a difference in this country.
References

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http://diveheart.org/about-us/our-board/
http://diveheart.org/about-us/about-diveheart/
http://diveheart.org/about-us/our-supporters/
Bauer, B. (2005). Assist America Supports Diveheart Foundation's Summer Adventure Program;
Providing Emergency Medical Services to Disabled Scuba Diving Participants. Retrieved
from: http://benefitslink.com/pr/detail.php?id=38976
Bove, A. (2011). Divers and Coronary Disease. Retrieved from: http://www.acc.org/latest-in-
cardiology/articles/2014/07/18/11/38/divers-and-coronary-disease
http://diveheart.org/programs/
(2015). The Florida Bar News. Retrieved from:
http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/jnnews01.nsf/8c9f13012b96736985256aa90062
4829/f4bbc0d4a31f8ed785257ed500437a7c!OpenDocument
Hadac, T. (2015). OP’s Scuba Emporium welcomes DiveHeart. The Orland Park Prairie.
Retrieved from: http://www.opprairie.com/op%E2%80%99s-scuba-emporium-welcomes-
diveheart
Twine, C. (2015). Scuba-therapy Group enjoys partnership with Upper Keys. Key Largo News.
Retrieved from: http://diveheart.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Diveheart-Key-Largo-
News-21-Oct-2015-pdf.pdf
Ng, R. (2016). Diving for the disabled. Retrieved from: http://www.uw360.asia/diving-for-the-
disabled/

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(2012). Atlanta Area Teen Holding Fundraiser to benefit DiveHeart. Retrieved from:
http://www.diverwire.com/post/dive-store-news/atlanta-area-teen-holding-fundraiser-to-
benefit-diveheart/
(2012). Online auction underway to benefit DiveHeart Foundation. Retrieved from:
http://www.diverwire.com/post/scuba-community-news/online-auction-underway-to-
benefit-diveheart-foundation/
(2012). DiveHeart receives $75K grant to help the disable learn to scuba dive. Retrieved from:
http://www.diverwire.com/post/scuba-training-news/diveheart-receives-75k-grant-to-
help-the-disabled-learn-to-scuba-dive/
http://diveheart.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DH-Media-Kit-Sep2015.pdf
Elliott, J. (2012). Retrieved from: http://diveheart.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/10/triblocal_diveheart_jan22.pdf
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/36-4446147
Plevin, S. (2014). DiveHeart brings adaptive scuba diving training to San Francisco. California
Diver. Retrieved from: http://californiadiver.com/diveheart-adaptive-training123/
(2012). DiveHeart’s Jim Elliott releases first book, SHARING AIR. Retrieved from:
http://www.diverwire.com/post/scuba-community-news/divehearts-jim-elliott-releases-
first-book-sharing-air/
Western Illinois University. DiveHeart Foundation. Retrieved from:
http://www.wiu.edu/coehs/coehs_stories/diveheart.php

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DiveHeart. (2014). Assumption of risk, waiver of liability and indemnification agreement.
Retrieved from: http://diveheart.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Diveheart-Liability-
Privacy-Waivers-Med-Info-Form.pdf
Dowsett, K. (2012). Risk factors for dive deaths. Scuba Scoop. Retrieved from:
http://scubascoop-kirkscubagear.blogspot.com/2012/06/risk-factors-for-dive-deaths.html
Ng, R. (2016). Diving for the disabled. Retrieved from: http://www.uw360.asia/diving-for-the-
disabled/
Phillips, L. (2014). Miami-Dade Country Parks, DiveHeart and Ortho Pro Associates present two
free “DiveHeart Scuba Experience” days in October for people with disabilities.
Retrieved from: https://www.miamidade.gov/parks/releases/2014-09-25-diveheart-scuba-
experience.asp