Tybee Clean Beach Volunteers
Cleaning up Tybee one bucket at a time
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Despite the increased efforts of volunteers to remove litter from the beach before it harms marine life, the volume of trash in and around the beach and salt marsh in coastal Georgia continues to grow, likely a reflection of the explosive growth in single-use plastics. Virtually all of the litter we remove is comprised of cigarette butts and plastics such as straws, bottle caps, styrofoam, beach toys, and plastic bags. This plastic litter leaches toxins and degrades into small fragments that, if not removed, are consumed by marine life, often with fatal consequences.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Beach Clean Ups
Using recycled post-consumer plastic buckets and state of the art hand held grabbers, our beach cleanings are zero-waste and intensive. We remove every piece of human-made material and restore the beach to its most natural state. We do this on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and attempt to reuse, repurpose, or recycle as much recovers debris as possible. We often count the items removed to understand litter and marine debris trends on our island.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Age groups
Related Program
Beach Clean Ups
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our key metric of number of participants indicates the success of our outreach programs designed to attract individuals and groups to engage directly in beach and marsh clean up activities
Number of people on the organization's email list
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Beach Clean Ups
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
A key component of outreach involves growth in the number of people that request to be notified of our clean ups
number and diversity of group events, especially involving schools
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Beach Clean Ups
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We seek to actively engage business, community, and school groups in our activities, which include an educational component on the negative effects of marine debris and strategies to combat it
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
First and formost, we seek to remove litter from in and around the island’s waterways as a means of preventing harm to marine life. We seek to directly engage the public in clean-up activities on a weekly basis as both a means of removing litter from harm’s way and educating participants on the need to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics in their daily life.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Using social media, community events, and email lists, we invite volunteers to attend beach clean ups, trash-to-art projects, and other activities aimed at reducing litter. We also host university, school, church, and business group clean up events as a means of raising awareness and enlarging our impact through large-scale group efforts.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have a network of core volunteers that assist in set up and break down logistics and transport equipment to clean up sites in a branded cargo van. We manage several social media sites and an expansive email list for promoting our events as well as advocating for litter reduction.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In the past eight years, Tybee Clean Beach has hosted 435 clean up events involving nearly 14,000 participants. While many of our volunteers are locals, a sizable number come from broader Chatham County as well as visitors to the island from all over the USA that seek to give back to a place that they love. In addition to beach sweeps, we participate in numerous community events, art projects, lectures, and special events designed to increase awareness and engagement in the fight against marine debris, particularly throw-away plastics. We also manage several popular community projects, including a Hard-to-Recycle Center, an upcycling shop where recovered plastics are shredded and melted into useful products, such as planters and coasters, the Re-Beachables program, where abandoned or unwanted beach toys can be deposited and borrowed for reuse, and the Turtle Friendly Restaurant Program to recognize sustainability efforts of our local restaurants. Our network and impact continues to grow as we seek innovative ways of engaging City authorities, island residents, and visitors in combating the prevalence of litter in and around the beach and in the world’s oceans.
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.
Tybee Clean Beach Volunteers
Board of directorsas of 07/07/2023
Mr. Timothy Arnold
Brian Gilbert
BGilbert Sound Design
Chantal Audran
Executive Director, Tybee Marine Science Center
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 ? No -
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? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No