Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Vero Beach Rowing (VBR) mission is "To promote and teach the sport of rowing to the community in order to develop physical fitness, personal character, and an ethic of cooperation through competitive and recreational opportunities." We have an active youth program that is aligned with FL State Education Physical Fitness and Environmental Standards and that targets development in the following areas: personalized rowing education and training as a sport/physical fitness, emotional support, socialization/team building, mental health well-being, and preparation for lifetime success. We collaborate with other community organizations to find youth that are disadvantaged and we provide our programs for free to ALICE youth. Many of these youths have no experience in the beautiful Florida water environment.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Youth Rowing
Vero Beach Rowing has created and sustained both middle school and high school rowing programs for students in Indian River County. Students come from all middle and high schools in the county and pay privately for this program, though in Fall of 2022, 41% of all high school athletes received some scholarship assistance from VBR. In order to reach strategic goals, VBR recruits disadvantaged youth from programs mentioned below. Teams attend regattas across the state and have been increasingly successful over the years, medaling in both states and junior nationals in 2022. A talented coaching staff of 6-8 individuals assist in the training of these young athletes both on and off the water. The main youth program runs from September through May. Specialized summer programs for youth include Learn to Row, Advanced Camp, and High Performance Camp with specialized training and for athletes that meet standards for higher level racing during the summer months.
Learn to Row
The Learn to Row program encourages members of the community at large to explore the sport of rowing. This introductory program generally includes basic instruction on the rowing machine to develop correct technique as well as on the water instruction in both singles with pontoons and larger sculling boats. All practices are supervised by coaches and assisted by adult VBR volunteers. The goal of the program is to introduce the sport to members of the community and attract new members.
Wellness on the Water (WOW)
In 2022 VBR labeled the initiatives that reach special needs groups, Wellness on the Water (WOW). Though we have partnered with Friends Beyond Diagnosis in the past, we are now including this outreach as a WOW program. In 2023 VBR added a new youth WOW program partnering with the Mental Health Association of IRC and the Youth Guidance Mentoring Academy of IRC. This program combined the experience of learning to row, processing life skills, and adaptation to change. These programs seek out relationships with non profits to improve well being, healing, and community.
Masters Rowing Program
The Masters Program includes all adults from post college through their 80's and for rowers at all levels. Whether you are an experienced junior or collegiate rower, or are someone just getting in the boat for the 1st time, there is an opportunity for fun and to improve technique and performance. Masters members can use the club's facilities and equipment year round and can participate in multiple scheduled coached rowing sessions each week. Memberships include coaching, full facility usage, and use of club owned scull/ sweep boats and oars, pending appropriate skills assessment by our coaching staff. Masters members may row any day, sunrise to sunset, weather permitting
Connected Warriors
Vero Beach Rowing partners with Connected Warriors by offering yoga classes to veterans. The mission of the Connected Warriors organization is "to elevate the warriors in our community by engaging them in a process of healing, growth and change in ways that benefit themselves, their families and the community." Using a community based approach, Connected Warriors strives to partner with all agencies that benefit veterans and their families. Connected Warriors acts as a leading advocate for veterans, active duty military, and veteran services with local, state, and the federal government.
Crossover Mission
Crossover Mission helps the kids who need us most to become successful adults through a program of year-round basketball training and one-to-one academic mentoring. Vero Beach Rowing offers free use of the facility during the summer to Crossover Mission Programs.
Our kids often live in difficult family situations and are surrounded by violence and drug abuse. Because of this, they are at risk of school drop-out, gang involvement and incarceration. Crossover redirects their lives by providing structure, accountability, positive role models and exposure to broader life experiences
Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County
Vero Beach Rowing provides free use of the dock facility to this program. Youth Sailing offers free sailing instruction to children of Indian River County. Sailing challenges and builds confidence by taking children outdoors, out of their comfort zone, and into a world of wind and water. They learn to rig and pilot their own sailboat on the beautiful Indian River Lagoon in Vero Beach. YSF’s success is measured in the competence, discipline, responsibility and leadership skills that blossom in our students.
Boys and Girls Club
The Boys and Girls Club identifies youth appropriate for Learn to Row, the regular middle school/high school and summer camps. VBR provides equipment and staff and the facility to introduce youth to the sport of rowing. This program is offered at no charge to Boys and Girls Club youth participants.
Hibiscus Childrens' Center
Hibiscus identifies youth appropriate for Learn to Row, the regular middle school/high school and summer camps. VBR provides equipment and staff and the facility to introduce youth to the sport of rowing. This program is offered at no charge to Hibiscus youth participants.
Gifford Youth Achievement Center
Gifford Youth Achievement Center identifies youth appropriate for Learn to Row, the regular middle school/high school and summer camps. VBR provides equipment and staff and the facility to introduce youth to the sport of rowing. This program is offered at no charge to Boys and Girls Club youth participants. Additionally, VBR brings single shells to the Gifford Pool so that interested youth have a chance to try it out in a safe environment.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth
Related Program
Youth Rowing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
VBR partners with organizations in to identify disadvantaged youth. VBR provides the facility, coaching, equipment, and a safe place for learning. Disadvantaged youth are eligible for scholarships.
Number of program graduates
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Youth Rowing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes all youth who are seniors and have completed our Youth Rowing Program.
Number of youth who demonstrate leadership skills (e.g., organizing others, taking initiative, team-building)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Youth Rowing
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Coaches' evaluation of Youth who have become team leaders and who have demonstrated the ability to motivate and inspire their teammates.
Number of children served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adolescents, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Youth Rowing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We track the number of children served in several categories. This is the total that pass through our Fall and Spring Rowing seasons. Also numbers for summer camps and disadvantaged youth.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We want to expand our outreach programs in the disadvantaged community to give Vero Beach youth the opportunities for personal enrichment and eventually college scholarship opportunities that rowing provides.
Our programs to date have been successful and growing, despite the COVID 19 disruptions. The table below shows the number of youths on scholarship support since we initiated this program in 2018.
Season Season Season Athletes Season % of youth Season
Scholarship Dollars Registered Session scholarship White
Spring 2018 1 $1,750
Fall 2018 4 $2,726 40 37 10%
Total 2018 4 $4,476
Spring 2019 4 $2,186 40 36 10%
Summer 2019 18 $6,600 46 39%
Fall 2019 19 $8,747 54 50 35%
Total 2019 20 $17,533 66
Spring 2020 8 $6,030 53 45 15%
Summer 2020 27 $8,796 78 35%
Fall 2020 12 $6,122 48 42 25%
Total 2020 31 $20,948 105
Spring MS 2021 3 $1,080 13 11 23%
Spring HS 2021 9 $9,895 38 34 24%
Camps 2021 21 $8,020 78 75 27%
Fall MS 2021 4 $1,620 31 13%
Fall HS 2021 9 $5,365 36 25%
Total 2021 27 $25,980 104 25%
Spring MS 2022 1 $405 12 8%
Spring HS 2022 14 $12,005 39 36%
SumHS Comp 8 $2,155 15 53%
Camps 2022 47 $12,092 93 51%
Fall MS 2022 13 $4,702 39 31 33%
Fall HS 2022 25 $15,070 53 50 47%
Total 2022 55 $46,429 119 46%
Spring MS 2023 9 $3,263 31 30 29%
Spring HS 2023 26 $24,141 63 50 41% 52%
Spring HS Comp14 $2,272 30 47%
Camps 2023 37 $30,196 89 42% 39%
Fall MS 2023
Fall HS 2023
Total 2023 55 $59,872 136
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We have already made great strides as outlined above.
Strategies for success include:
- Increasing the number of strategic partners than can identify these youths and bring them to us.
- Expand and continue to develop our existing partnerships.
-Expand our funding support of these programs. So far the funding has come from internal resources, but the expanded programs are going to require better outreach to funders and different funders.
-Add staff to specifically address the recruiting, retention and training of the disadvantaged youth.
-Develop a working partnership with the local school district.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have demonstrated our capabilities in all of these areas:
-We have or have had partnerships with local agencies in our county that work with disadvantaged youth. These include:
• Gifford Youth Achievement Center
• Boys & Girls Clubs
• Hibiscus House
• Homeless Children's Foundation of Indian River County
• Crossover Mission
-We have significantly increased both our coaching staff and administrative staff to manage these programs, nourish these relationships and to make sure that the youth have a good and safe experience with us. We have plans to hire specialists in this function as the program expands. VBR masters also volunteer their time to assist in management and implementation of these programs both on and off the water.
- We have successfully raised funds for this program for 3 years, covering all of the needs. As the programs expand, funding requirements will exceed our internal capacity, limiting our capabilities and program success.
- It is clear that recruiting and retaining these youths is more complicated than normal. Our existing staff has managed to keep up with it, but we also know that we will require dedicated staff for this purpose.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our progress to date, as measured by our primary indicator, the number of registrants, is great. See the results in the table above. Even with the disruptions caused by the COVID situation, we have managed to grow the program every year since it started 3 years ago.
We have successfully operated and funded the program with our internal resources.
What is next is to execute our strategy. We have implemented a donor database and management software package to replace what has been a very informal system. Getting past COVID will increase our capacity which is currently restricted to the use of small boats. The larger boats accomodate more youths, but the distance between heads is around 4-5 ft, insufficient for social distancing. Our County still has a relatively high infection rate, which is one measure that USRowing uses to decide when to allow use of the larger boats.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Vero Beach Rowing Inc
Board of directorsas of 10/01/2023
James Michael
James Michael
Charlotte Lajoie
Christopher Ryan
Jane Carter
Todd Young
Jill Diniz
Nicole Paradiso
Bill Kloppenburg
Sara Bumgarner
David Green
Shyla Powers
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/09/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.