The Riptide Project

Proposed By: Coastal Consulting

Date Submitted: January 31, 2021
Team: Jenna Bucher, Ryan Frost, Lauren Levinson, Eric Mansur, and Cole Normandin

1
March 11, 2021

Ms. Kari Mueller

Surfrider San Mateo Chapter Chair
504 Ave Alhambra F3
El Granada, CA 94018

Dear Ms. Kari Mueller and Surfrider Foundation:

Thank you for your time and consideration. We hope to meet the Surfrider Foundation’s needs to
strengthen and grow this driven organization towards protecting our coastal ecosystems.

Our team at Coastal Consulting is driven by helping and assisting companies in growth,
development, and business model improvement. Our experience, skillset, and expertise in non-
profit organization development will provide valuable contributions toward your business and
success metric models. Our team holds you, as our client, at the highest priority to ensure quality
service and premium consultation.

Coastal Consulting seeks to provide the Surfrider Foundation with an effective plan to boost
volunteer participation, as well as unique tactics to establish and maintain a community of
volunteers. The Surfrider Foundation strives to build a passionate community that shares the
common interest of protecting our oceans and beaches. Our group, which similarly values ocean
ecosystem protection, has the tools and expertise to provide outreach, networking, and volunteer
program services. We hope “The Riptide Project” will benefit Surfrider Foundation’s
organization as well as our local oceans and beaches.

We appreciate your valuable time. Please reach out to your Coastal Consulting contact, Jenna
Bucher (jbucher@cconsulting.com), with questions or concerns. Thank you for considering
Coastal Consulting, all of us look forward to doing business with you.

Sincerely,

The Coastal Consulting Team

Jenna Bucher, Lauren Levinson, Cole Normandin, Ryan Frost, and Eric Mansur
Coastal Consulting
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95050
info@cconsulting.com
(650) 722-1508

2
 Table of Contents

Executive Summary………………………………………………….... 4
Introduction………………………………………………………....….5
Project Rationale……………………………………………………….7
Deliverables……………………………………………………………. 9
Cost Analysis…………………………………………………………. 10
Delivery Schedule……………………………………………………..11
Success Metrics………………………………………………………..12
Team…………………………………………………………………...13
Discussion……………………………………………………………. 15
Appendix.…………………………………………………………… 17

3
Executive Summary

Our world’s oceans and beaches are currently suffering from the habits and behaviors of
humanity. We have created an urgent need to respond to plastic pollution, protect our oceans,
ensure full and fair beach access, preserve our coastline, and make certain that the water we
swim in is clean and safe for all. The Surfrider Foundation is leading the charge in making a
positive change to protect our oceans with a national team of volunteers that are working
tirelessly to boost awareness and take action. To substantially increase its impact, the Surfrider
Foundation must find ways to grow its volunteer ranks and create a community of like-minded
people.

For 36 years, Surfrider Foundation has thrived by inspiring a young audience to be active
and passionate about protecting the world’s waves, oceans, and beaches. With 10 regions
and 80 chapters, the Surfrider Foundation has a strong, established volunteer community. With
that, the Surfrider Foundation can further its mission by recruiting a more diverse group of
volunteers and finding ways to retain volunteers. This can be done by reaching out to more high
schools, elementary schools, universities, and local businesses. Expanding volunteer outreach
can attract more groups of friends, families, and co-workers, all of which have the common drive
to protect our oceans.

Coastal Consulting is a driven group of undergraduate students who value positive change,
concrete action, and creating a clear impact towards improving our planet. Our plan will
promote awareness and volunteer commitments for Surfrider’s volunteer program. With our
collection of demographic data, we plan to establish a community-focused marketing campaign
to promote volunteer service. Our list provides a carefully screened group of local institutions
who value service in the community, in which we look to promote The Surfrider Foundation; the
most impactful group to protect our coastal communities.

Objective: Volunteer Population Growth

➢ Establish the strongest demographic and populations for ocean protection volunteers.
➢ Build partnerships and relationships with local businesses, schools, organizations to
promote our outreach efforts.
➢ Implement additional tactics to maintain volunteer activity and establish a volunteer
rewards program to add incentives.

These definitive actions will encourage new community members to join and contribute to
Surfrider Foundation. The benefit over time will be a broader volunteer audience who will work

4
to ensure that our oceans and beaches receive more aid and relief from the contribution of a
growing volunteer base.

Introduction
Ocean Awareness
The ocean is one of Earth's most valuable natural resources as it is the home to the largest
ecosystem, provides habitats for rich marine biodiversity, is an essential source of food, and
contributes to human health, livelihood, and security. However, our oceans also face growing
challenges from human activity like pollution, habitat loss, development, and climate change. If
that isn’t enough, expanding industries such as offshore oil drilling, renewable energy, shipping,
and aquaculture threaten to crowd our oceans and degrade the health of the ecosystem.

The North Pacific Ocean is the most polluted of the world's oceans, holding an estimated two
trillion pieces of plastic representing a third of the total plastics found in the oceans listed in the
figure below. The most viable option is to minimize the plastic that is dumped into the ocean and
bring awareness to the importance of protecting our oceans through education and action by non-
profit organizations.

5
Problem
The Surfrider Foundation, founded 36 years ago by Glenn Hening, Lance Carson, Tom Pratte,
Chris Blakely, a group of surfers who were concerned about the environmental threats posed to
their favorite surf break by escalating coastal development. Since its inception in 1984, the
Surfrider Foundation has evolved into one of the largest non-profit grassroots organizations with
a volunteer-activist network dedicated to its mission to protect and enjoy the world's oceans,
waves, and beaches.

Today, the Surfrider Foundation has 80 chapters, including 96 student clubs, and more than one
million supporters, volunteers, and activists working on more than 100 active campaigns around
the country. Surfrider’s national network of chapter volunteers serves as the first response to
local threats in coastal communities across the United States.

Because of the nature of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the number of volunteers has
decreased dramatically. Surfrider needs volunteers, and the organization is struggling to find
unique ways to reach out to people wanting to serve while staying safe during the COVID-19
pandemic. From the very beginning of the pandemic, the Surfrider Foundation, San Mateo
Chapter has been challenged with recruiting and retaining volunteers.

Surfrider’s volunteers are the lifeblood of the Surfrider Foundation and are essential in helping
the Foundation tackle the issues that face the oceans and beaches. Surfrider's volunteers help
ensure that the marine ecosystems are protected. The chart below demonstrates prior beach
cleanups held by Surfrider and how much greater the impact they had concerning expectations.
The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean,
waves, and beaches through a powerful and engaged activist network.

6
Project Rationale

Our Objective:

This proposal details Coastal Consulting’s plan to address the issue of volunteer recruitment and
retention for the San Mateo Chapter of Surfrider. Our solution is designed to overcome the
limitations of a virtual environment forced upon all of us by the Pandemic. Our plan will be in
addition to the traditional volunteer season that will still involve in-person events and
opportunities. Coastal Consulting’s goal is to ensure that the San Mateo Chapter of Surfrider has
access to the volunteer community it needs and that this resource becomes re-generating and
self-sustaining.

Coastal Consulting’s delivery of a systematic targeted outreach and retention program will
positively transform access of the San Mateo Chapter of Surfrider to volunteers. With sustainable
growth and retention of its volunteer community, Surfrider can allocate more time and resources
to its main strategic goal, rather than continuously focusing its limited resources toward
volunteer recruitment efforts.

Captured by Corey Wilson

7
To achieve this, we plan to devise:

A System of Outreach and Retention

➢ This will be formulated for application to Surfrider’s volunteer efforts with the
aforementioned groups and volunteers in general. The program will include specific and
easily implementable methods for outreach and retention.
○ This will allow the San Mateo Chapter of Surfrider to delegate volunteer-
recruiting efforts to volunteers and create a regenerative and self-sustaining
economy of volunteerism.

Volunteer Source Briefings

➢ This will be created through the collection and consolidation of the names, the associated
number of individuals, volunteer program information, and contact information for six
large local employers and at least twelve public and private high schools near San Mateo
targeted for outreach.
○ This demographic data will be available to Surfrider for future use, outreach, and
volunteer recruitment beyond the scope of this project.

Suggestions for Outreach

➢ This will be created through the development of recommendations containing outreach
models, helpful individuals, background information, and other personalized strategies
for contacting and building relationships with these organizations.
○ This living document will facilitate outreach efforts by identifying the best
methods of approach for individual organizations

Obstacles:
➢ Outreach will have to be done remotely which decreases success rates.
➢ The system will require front-end effort before becoming self-sustaining.
➢ The time in which Coastal Consulting’s services can be provided is limited.
➢ Many schools are closed due to COVID-19.
➢ Some corporate volunteer efforts are suspended due to COVID-19 and/or financial strain.

These obstacles may be overcome through the development of an adaptable system of

recruitment that is flexible enough for implementation in both pandemic and “normal” times.

8
Deliverables
Briefing of six large San Mateo employers, which will include:
➢ Company Name
➢ Number of employees
➢ Volunteerism program details
➢ Contact information
➢ Outreach Methods
➢ Outreach Suggestions

Briefings of twelve target San Mateo high schools, which will include:
➢ Name of Schools
➢ Number of enrolled students
➢ Volunteerism requirement information
➢ Contact Information
➢ Outreach Methods
➢ Outreach Suggestions

A systematic and easily delegatable The Riptide Project handbook, which will include:
➢ Outreach:
➢ A call-script
➢ General Promotional materials
➢ Program information graphics
➢ Social Media campaign materials
➢ Retention:
➢ A formal active volunteer roster
➢ Suggestions for volunteer communication
➢ An advancement structure for volunteers
➢ Survey for volunteer feedback

9
Cost Analysis
The cost associated with the implementation and delivery of the project is the Coastal Consulting
hourly consulting fee of $23/hour. The cost breakdown is projected as follows:

Labor Tasks Hours* Cost Total

Ryan Management 35 $23 $805
Lauren Writing/Editing 30 $23 $690
Jenna School Outreach 30 $23 $690
Cole Financial Analysis 20 $23 $460
Eric Graphic Design 15 $23 $345
Total: 130 $2,990
*hours are estimated and may vary depending on the client’s needs

Additionally, to implement the action of student service days, the Surfrider Foundation may elect
to hire volunteers to chaperone the actions of the students. The cost breakdown below is an
estimated cost of the labor and materials:

# Volunteers Description Quantity Cost Total

1-50 Chaperones 1 $15.00 $15.00
1-50 Transportation 1 $15.00 $15.00
1-50 Masks 50 $0.25 $12.50
1-50 Total: $42.50
51-100 Chaperones 2 $15.00 $30.00
51-100 Transportation 2 $15.00 $30.00
51-100 Masks 100 $0.25 $25.00
51-100 Total: $85.00
101-150 Chaperones 3 $15.00 $45.00
101-150 Transportation 3 $15.00 $45.00
101-150 Masks 150 $0.25 $37.50
101-150 Total: $127.50
Grand Total Range: $42.50 - $127.50
*hours are estimated and may vary depending on the client’s needs

Notables:
➢ The Surfrider Foundation can provide transportation and chaperone services for
highschool volunteers, making planning easier on the individual high schools.

10
 ➢ Return on investment can be calculated by the number of high schools that return to use
the Surfrider Foundation service days. The return on investment is creating relationships
with these schools to grow the Surfrider Foundation Volunteer base.

Delivery Schedule
Week Deliverable Assigned
Members

1 (January 5) A call-script, General promotional materials. Ryan, Jenna

2 (January 12) Program information graphics, Social Media Ryan, Jenna

campaign materials.

3 (January 19) A formal active volunteer roster, Suggestions for Ryan, Jenna
volunteer communication.

4 (January 26) An advancement structure for volunteers, Survey Ryan, Jenna

for volunteer feedback.

5 (February 2) Briefing of first three target companies. Eric, Lauren

6 (February 9) Briefing of the second three target companies. Eric, Lauren

7 (February 16) Briefings of the first four target high schools. Cole, Eric

8 (February 23) Briefings of the second four target high schools. Cole, Eric

9 (March 2) Briefings of the third four target high schools. Cole, Eric

➢ Targeted briefings for twelve high schools.

10 Total (March 18) ➢ Targeted briefings for six companies. Team
➢ The Riptide Project Handbook.

➢ Report: The project will be delivered in full by the end-of-day March 18. We hope our
work can successfully increase The Surfrider Foundation’s brand awareness and
volunteers, so they have sufficient members to continue providing ocean awareness and
protection.

11
Success Metrics

Volunteer Roster Increase

Set a specific goal for the Volunteer Roster increase by group (Youth middle school, youth high
school, adult college, adult professionals, professional volunteers, etc.); Review the historical
volunteer roster and measure the delta. Across the different groups, Surfrider should aim for 20-
25% growth in the Volunteer Roster on an annual basis.

Event Participation

Review the volunteer roster at each event (Zoom meeting, ocean cleanup, etc.) and compare it to
the roster of similar events from prior years. Understanding the delta for attendance at different
types of events will provide insight into where focus and energy should be directed. For instance:
if attendance at Zoom meetings is falling, consider a change to meeting frequency, consider a
change to the length of meeting, review contents discussed, etc. Each event allows for different
attendance but for in-person events like ocean cleanups, Surfrider should aim for 75%
attendance/capacity with room to grow.

Volunteer Retention Rates

The average retention rate for a non-profit like Surfrider hovers around 66%. Review the
historical retention rate at Surfrider to understand its baseline and at minimum aim for 66% as
its retention rate. The retention rate metric is directly correlated to the efficacy of increasing the
overall volunteer roster and should be monitored quarterly.

Brand Recognition

With increased numbers of volunteers, the San Mateo Chapter of Surfrider Foundation will
increase its brand recognition. Utilizing The Riptide Project Handbook and social media
analytics, Surfrider can track the number of people learning about the organization on an
ongoing basis. Having more information regarding brand recognition can help Surfrider adjust its
marketing strategies to dynamically target more potential volunteers.

With these metrics, the Surfrider Foundation can measure whether or not Coastal Consulting has
provided adequate aid to the problem of getting steady and reliable volunteers and their
organizations.

12