Save Our Shores

If we stand together, we can heal together.

aka Save Our Shores   |   Santa Cruz, CA   |  www.saveourshores.org

Mission

OUR MISSION is to steward Clean Shores, Healthy Habitats, and Living Waters to foster a thriving Monterey Bay and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. We focus on these three areas because we believe they are the most critical conditions for a healthy marine ecosystem.

Ruling year info

1982

Executive Director

Erica Donnelly-Greenan

Main address

345 Lake Avenue Suite A

Santa Cruz, CA 95062 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

94-2745941

NTEE code info

Natural Resource Conservation and Protection (C30)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (W01)

Professional Societies, Associations (O03)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Beach and River Cleanups

Save Our Shores hosts beach and river cleanups to help show the community their impact on the ocean.  We give a presentation about plastic pollution and then send volunteers out to clean the beaches.  We track the trash we find, which allows us to spot trends in trash and work on stopping it at its source.  We host hundreds of cleanups a year, educating thousands of volunteers and picking up over 30,000 pounds of trash per year!

Population(s) Served
Students
Parents

Save Our Shores gives interactive classroom presentations to youth K-12 in schools along the Monterey Bay.  We offer fun hands-on experiences and sometimes a even a fieldtrip to a local beach for a beach activity and cleanup.  We give hundreds of presentations every year educating thousands of children of all ages to be better stewards for our oceans.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Save Our Shores' advocates and catalyzes citizen action around a host of ocean and marine ecosystem issues to promote smarter policies and legislation aimed at protecting and conserving our coastal environment. Our focus is on plastic pollution, soil erosion, off-shore oil drilling, marine protected areas, endangered species/biodiversity and habitats

Population(s) Served
Adults

Save Our Shores hosts and continuous to build out an interactive web-based information hub relative to climate change impacts on our Monterey Bay and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The hub features summaries of studies translated to lay language, short documentaries and other videos, TedTalk-like presentations, teaching curriculum and tools, plus awareness building games for people of all ages

Population(s) Served
Adults
Economically disadvantaged people

Save Our Shores staff and volunteers walk the docks in our local harbors providing both recreational and commercial boaters and fisher folks with clean boating materials and discuss ways to prevent and/or manage engine oil leaks.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Families

Save Our Shores fosters responsible and restorative agriculture project that have the potential to filer agricultural and other runoff pollution to improve the health of rivers and sloughs that feed into the Monterey Bay and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Our focus is primarily on seaweeds. Mature seaweed can be harvested in also used for the production of biofuels and/or compost mulch.

Population(s) Served
Farmers
Adults

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of children who have the skills necessary to maintain personal health

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Age groups

Related Program

Plastic Pollution Education Presentations

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of children who have an innate motivation to master and control their environment

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Age groups, Ethnic and racial groups, Social and economic status

Related Program

Plastic Pollution Education Presentations

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

From policy change to educational programs, we’re ensuring ocean conservation throughout the community. Our programs and projects are designed to support the foundations of a thriving Monterey Bay: clean shores, healthy habitats, and living waters. Watch this video to explore how these focal areas fit within our Vision 2025.

THE THREE PILLARS

Save Our Shores’ three pillars are the guiding principles we follow to ensure the Monterey Bay thrives today and for decades to come. Click the icons below to explore each focal area. You’ll learn about Save Our Shores’ objectives and programs and how they each have a lasting impact on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

DEVELOP PRESCRIPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLANS
We’re customizing stewardship plans for our 10 hotspot beaches that will address localized issues impacting coastal health. We’ll build public-private partnerships to address enforcement, resources, and community support.

EXPAND OCEAN EDUCATION
We’re establishing stronger relationships with school districts to provide K-12 marine education for students’ full education experience.

BE BILINGUAL AND INCLUSIVE IN ALL SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
We’re communicating bilingually to engage our entire community and provide messaging that everyone can rally around.

LEVERAGE CLEANUP DATA
We’re identifying key litter sources and working with brands to improve product packaging coupled with responsible anti-litter messaging.

Adopt-A-Levee
Each year dedicated groups adopt a portion of the San Lorenzo River in the City of Santa Cruz and do three cleanups throughout a year.

Adopt-A-Beach
Dedicated local businesses and organizations join forces with Save Our Shores to host at least three cleanups at a beloved beach within a year. Interested in adopting a beach? Please email us at

Advocacy
We are continuously working with local politicians and government entities to create policy that prevents trash and other debris from polluting our oceans and degrading our Sanctuary.

Beach Cleanups
Save Our Shores offers public, private, and educational cleanups along the Monterey Bay and several of its waterways.

Educational Programs
Save Our Shores is teaching the next generation of ocean stewards. We offer in-class programming paired with a beach field trip aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).


We have prevented offshore oil drilling in the greater Monterey Bay area, continuously combatted plastic pollution, ended illegal sand mining along our Sanctuary's shores and so much more.

Save our shores 2020 accomplishments approximately 4,370 volunteers participate in at least one beach cleanup, removing over 6,300 lbs of trash and recycling from our regional beaches and rivers. We presented in over 64 classrooms and participated with 2,521 students on marine conservation projects. At four regional harbors, sos reached more than 1,000 boaters, educating boaters to safely discard used oil and waste products.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

    Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Suggestion box/email,

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    Our staff, Our board,

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,

Financials

Save Our Shores
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

Save Our Shores

Board of directors
as of 09/10/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Michael Jones


Board co-chair

Cathleen Eckhardt

Tristan Kass

Treasurer

Cathleen Eckhardt

Vice-Chair person

Mary Curtiss

Secretary

Nancy Connelly

Director

LeAnn Copriviza

Director

Justin Cummings

Director

Alejandro Garcia

Director

Charles Lester

Director

Faris Sabbah

Director

Jane Silberstein

Director

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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? Yes
  • 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? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/24/2021
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
Decline to state
Gender identity
Female

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 04/07/2021

GuideStar 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

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • 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.