Surfrider Foundation, MAKING WAVES, April 2004

MAKING WAVES, April 2004 issue: Table of Contents

by Chelsea Murphy

This is the sixth time I've written this article.

When I initially set out to write the 20th Anniversary piece for Making Waves, I thought the assignment would be pretty easy. After all, there is no shortage of subject matter in Surfrider Foundation's impressive and often colorful past. However, after several weeks of effort, I was still beating my head against the wall to finish the article. So far it's gone through five incarnations. Two were linear summaries of the Foundation's major achievements over the last twenty years. Next was a homage to the organization's original founders. Another was a mix of the first three, and my last attempt was a quixotic stream-of-consciousness piece that thinly compared the grassroots activism to the process by which swells are created and driven across the ocean, eventually cresting on some distant shore.

For all this effort, nothing seemed particularly moving when I went back and reread it. More than anything, it all seemed like a trite encapsulation of two decades of work and countless hours of volunteer activism. Then it dawned on me that I was looking in the wrong direction. I was looking backward, which I suppose is a natural reaction when confronted with any sort of anniversary or milestone. But outside of indulging in a bit of nostalgia, I wasn't accomplishing very much.

While the Surfrider Foundation has made some dramatic achievements in the last twenty years, it seems almost complacent for us, as an organization, to sit back and stroke our beards and reminisce about it. That's what we do when we're 70, 80 or 100ÐÐnot when we're 20!

So, for those of you who are looking for a recap of the last twenty years, do yourself a favor and head down to your local book store and pick up a copy of Matt Warshaw's Encyclopedia of Surfing. Not only is it a great resource for the who, what and where of surfing, but it also offers a fairly accurate and comprehensive history of the Surfrider Foundation, including most of our highlights (and even a few of our low ones).

As for me, I'm looking forward. In celebrating Surfrider Foundation's 20th Anniversary, I find myself more intrigued about thinking where we, as an organization, are going to be five, ten or twenty years from now.

In addition to being our 20th Anniversary, 2004 also marks the final year of the Surfrider Foundation's current strategic plan. Initially drafted in 1999, the plan was developed by staff from Surfrider Foundation's national office and members from the then-Board of Directors. Focusing on such areas as scope of work and chapter growth, the plan sought to chart the organization's path over the next five years. "The strategic plan provided the Foundation a sense of structure, direction and focus that was previously missing," says Chad Nelsen, Surfrider Foundation's Environmental Director. "It provided us with a solid foundation from which to move forward."

beach photo

Implementation of the plan paved the way for the most furious period of growth in the Foundation's history; allowing the organization to grow from 40 chapters and 15,000 members to 60 chapters and nearly 40,000 members. "We are in the midst of discussing goals and strategies for the next strategic plan," says Nelsen. "It feels like we've come so far in the last five years, and that we are now poised for exponential growth in our reach and effectiveness in protecting our oceans, waves and beaches."

One subject that is sure to be featured in the plan is the hiring of additional staff field coordinators. The Foundation has instituted regional field staff in several key areas over the last few years, including Southern California, Oregon, Washington and Puerto Rico. The responsibility of these staff members is to assist chapters in organizing both campaigns and membership initiatives.

"We've seen the benefit of having regional support staff on the ground to assist our chapters with their campaigns," says Ed Mazzarella, Surfrider Foundation's Director of Chapters. "In the case of our recent success in Rinc—n, Puerto Rico, we couldn't have been as successful as we were without having Leon (RichterÐÐSurfrider Foun-dation's Puerto Rican Field Coordinator) there to assist the local chapter."

The program has been such a success that the demand for additional regional support staff, particularly along the East Coast, has become a top priority. "With the number of issues and campaigns that we have popping up all the way down the coast from Maine to Florida, we have to find a way to provide some greater level of support for those chapters," says Mazzarella.

Surfrider Foundation is equally committed to advancing its commitment to environmental programs as well. In addition to continuing to expand the successful Blue Water Task Force, State of the Beach report, Beachscape and Respect the Beach Campaigns, the Foundation has big plans for its newest effort, the Special Places Campaign.

"We've just seen the release of two major governmental reportsÐÐlast year's Pew Ocean Commission Report and this year's U.S. Oceans Commission Report, both of which stress the same fundamental point: our oceans and coastline are not only dying, but dying at a rate that is unprecedented at any other point in our planet's history," says Nelsen. "If we, as a society, do not do something quickly and decisively, we could see a complete and total collapse of our ocean ecosystems in our children's lifetime."

In response, the Surfrider Foundation is diligently working in coalition with several other ocean and coastal organizations to establish a network of marine protected areas, as they recently did in California's Channel Islands and Rincón, Puerto Rico.

Surfrider Foundation ads

While the Environmental and Chapter staff is working to address some of Surfrider Foundation's more immediate goals, much of the effort by the Foundation's executive staff is focused on meeting the organization's medium- to long-term goals. Specifically, the Foundation would like to gain 100,000 standing members by the year 2010.

"Without question, our top priority is to increase the total number of our membership," says Matt McClain, Surfrider Foundation's Director of Marketing. "Nearly everything we do in terms of funding, activism and outreach depends on our success in building membership and activating volunteers. We need to generate critical mass that will tip the scale in favor of coastal and ocean conservation."

While much of Surfrider Foundation's previous recruitment efforts have been squarely set upon surfers, bodyboarders and other ocean wave riders, McClain believes that Surfrider Foundation must now look outside its traditional realm of support. "Yes, we want to continue to represent and reflect our interests as surfers," he says. "But we need to be able to tap into, and gain support from, the other 180 million people who go to the beach as well." McClain sees this effort moving into decidedly non-coastal areas. "I'd love to see us have a hundred members in Cleveland," he says, adding, "You don't have to live in Brazil to appreciate the value of saving the rain forest."

To that end, the Surfrider Foundation enlisted the assistance of one of the hottest agencies in the country, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The agency, whose innovative work has shown up in ads for such companies as IKEA and MINI, and is perhaps best known for its decidedly edgy work on the TRUTH anti-smoking campaign, took the Foundation on as a pro bono client in 2002 to help elevate and expand the Surfrider Foundation's brand to a wider audience.

"For us, who we decide to work with is never driven by the finances but by the chance to make a difference, and from what we knew about the Surfrider Foundation, there was a big opportunity to do just this," says Mark Simmons, Managing Director of CP + B, Los Angeles.

The agency spent nearly two years conducting background work, speaking with Surfrider members and other beachgoers to learn more about how the public perceives the various threats to our coastlines and beaches. The first of the new ads will begin appearing in magazines across the country this summer.

McClain is also looking into new ways to keep potential members involved with the Foundation.

"While our current system of utilizing regional chapters has proven very successful, as we continue to expand our membership base, we're continuously looking to new ways to franchise these people in as activists," says McClain.

Indeed, staffers at Surfrider Foundation's national office are keeping a close eye on this year's presidential election, not just out of political interest, but keeping watch over the various strategies being employed by the campaigns, as well.

"We've seen a lot of new tools and methodologies come out of this year's campaign, from house parties, to do-it-yourself media, to leveraging the Internet as a direct communication tool," says Mazzarella. "Many of these could be used to bolster our organization as well: fortifying our existing chapter network, while allowing non-chapter members to harness the power of connectivity."

Nearly all of Surfrider Foundation's short- and medium-term goals translate into the organization's larger, overarching goal for itself. Like all businesses, non-profit and otherwise, Surfrider Foundation is constantly challenged to maintain a level of profitability, thus sustaining its programs and keeping our beaches and coastlines safe.

"September 11th has forced nearly all companies and organizations to rethink the way they do business," says McClain. "There's no shortage of things to worry about out there. Over the last two and a half years, the public has been exposed to these powerfully horrific images on their televisions screens and on the front page of their newspapers."

"And for us to communicate to the public that our oceans, waves and beaches are dying at an unprecedented rate, it's challenging. The ocean still looks blue. The sand still looks warm and inviting."

Throw in several years of steady economic decline and you can see why funding remains a critical issue.

"As grant funding for the environmental sector continues to shrink across the board, we need to look at diversifying our revenue streams," says Chief Financial Officer Christopher Keys. "That means increasing membership, expanding our workplace and planned giving programs, and possibly tapping into more cause-related partnership initiatives."

When asked where he envisioned the Surfrider Foundation in twenty years, Keys said he hopes that, one day, the Foundation's operating reserves and an endowment will provide long-term financial stability.

"That would be nice," Keys says, looking out over the ocean. "There's still a lot of work ahead of us."