Strategic Plan & Case for Support: Monthly Giving
Goal


Establish monthly giving as the best way to support the Surfrider Foundation
10% of active members – 2,500 to be monthly givers – by December 31, 2015 to
yield an additional $250,000 in net revenue.
Target Audience
 Prospective members
 Initially, target existing Surfrider members under $150 (single largest gift) to
upgrade their overall giving – and demonstrate early success with the program.
(Later, testing will include higher dollar segments for pledge gifts to move them
through the pipeline to middle donor giving at $1000+ annually.)
 Current and lapsed auto-renewal members
 Lapsed members
Case for Support
 Surfrider has saved numerous surf spots, ensured beach access and clean water
along our coastlines by fighting the threats head on.
 Since our inception, when we see something we love at risk, we act. The battle
for our oceans, waves and beaches will never end. We will always fight for what
we love.
 Right now, our chapter activists are working on over 95 campaigns to make sure
that your beach is open and accessible, the water you surf or swim won’t make
you sick, plastic is off your beaches and out of your ocean’s water and that your
coast is protected and preserved today, tomorrow and for years to come.
 To win coastal campaigns, it takes more than strategy, legal tactics or lobbying, it
takes people who dedicate their lives to protecting what they love.
 Share stories of activist heroes and their relentless push to see coastal wins in
their communities like…
o Surfrider’s former Board President, Rob “Birdlegs” Caughlan, who is
leading the Martin’s Beach battle taking place in his backyard in San
Mateo, California. Beach access is sacred in California. So when venture
capitalist Vinod Khosla bought coveted property just south of Half Moon
Bay in 2008 and quickly closed the only access road to the beach, Rob
acted. Surfrider filed suit to reopen the access and is currently awaiting
the ruling. Rob has led the strong army of grassroots activism for the last
three years to advocate for beach access at Martin’s Beach. Perhaps Mr.
Khosla underestimated the lasting power of grassroots activism. What he
is learning is that our activists fight coastal battles like these for as long as
it takes to win them
o Joe Woerner and the Jersey Shore Chapter are 5 years into the “Save
Asbury Park” campaign. This effort will undoubtedly go on for another 5

years, if not more. But Joe is in it to win it, no matter how long it takes.
He’s leading a campaign in his hometown to save a piece of beach
property from development and turn it into a county park for everyone
to enjoy.
o For almost 20 years, Peter Cole has seen a series of wins and losses for
the North Shore of Oahu. A Waimea surf pioneer and founder of the
Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter, he organized his community against
a large-scale development project just above the famed wave at Pipeline,
that would have ruined the rustic feel of Oahu’s North Shore and
negatively impacted the area’s idyllic beaches and surf breaks.
o Craig Cadwallader’s selfless dedication and unwavering leadership in
Surfrider’s South Bay CA chapter has led to great wins like the plastic bag
ban in Los Angeles County, which makes LA the largest city in the nation
to ban single use bags and is expected to eliminate a significant portion of
the billions of bags that were consumed in the city each year that were
creating a blight of litter in open spaces including parks, beaches, streets
and rivers.
Your on-going support each month ensures our Surfrider volunteers have the
resources they need to protect our beaches from harm.
Building a Successful Case for Monthly Giving
These fundamentals should always be incorporated into development of each sustainer
message (as below):
 Connect the threat/problem(s) to the impact on people and our coasts – make it
simple/easy to understand
 Create urgency and tie it to the mission
 Create a role for the donor which is just as important as the chapter activist
 Make the offer tangible & relatable (donor-centric language)
 Outline the impact/outcome of the monthly gift – not just for today but for
future generations
 End with a strong call to action – “become a _____________ today”
Monthly Giving Messaging Elements
It’s Your Conservation Action – By becoming a monthly donor, it’s your conservation
action to protecting what you love – the water you surf, the beach you play on, the
majestic coastline. Monthly givers help support our activist network who have feet in
the sand protecting our coastlines from harm with unwavering determination to win
every battle our beaches face.
Your Impact - A simple monthly gift has a ripple effect, allowing us to be proactive in
terms of finding long-term solutions, knowing that the resources are secured by our
most committed members.
It’s Yours to Control - Your commitment is easy to set up and easy to alter, or cancel.
And if you have any questions or concerns about our membership, our Member Care
team can be reached at membership@surfrider.org.
Your Connection (Community, shared goals, movement) – Monthly givers may
motivated by the idea of being a part of something larger than themselves. Providing
them with a sense of community may fulfill the need of some of these donors to be a
part of a “movement”.
Impacts/Tangible Asks
Just $13 a month… could support our BWTF program with one clean water test
Just $17 a month … could protect a ½ mile of U.S. coast through our beach preservation
program in a year’s time
Just $21 …
Just $25 … could bags and gloves to remove 50 pounds of trash from the beach
Messaging Goals
 Create an urgent and emotional connection between Surfrider’s work and
monthly giving as the solution.
 Empower members that monthly giving is their conservation action
 Develop strong call to actions and asks.
 Promote monthly giving as simple, convenient, concise and easy for donor:
 Auto renewal
 No need to write monthly checks
 Change or cancel anytime via toll-free # or online
 Promote monthly giving as the most efficient and effective way to support:
o “Paperless”
o “Your gift goes X times farther”
Highlight the tangible benefits of belonging to the program
 Making Waves
 Premium – 30th Anny Tee?
 Paperless
 Discounts
 Special Invitations/Sneak Peeks
Branding Components
TBD whether or not a program name or specific messaging/treatments will be used to
identify this group differently than others.
Logistics
Deduction Timing. When a new online sustainer joins, their first gift will be charged
immediately. All subsequent monthly gifts will be charged on the anniversary date of
their first gift.
Frequency. Only sustainers giving monthly will be considered part of the
program. Alternate frequency (quarterly, semi-annual, annual) gifts will be considered
as installment, one-time donations.
Minimums. The minimum monthly gift accepted to become a sustainer is $8.
Touch-Point Strategy
Sustainer Fulfillment. Within 10 days of signing up to become a monthly giver, a
welcome pack will be mailed out.
Appeals. Active monthly givers will be suppressed from all special appeals with the
exception of year-end appeal.
Upgrade. Every year, after 12 months of consistent monthly giving, members will be
asked to increase their monthly giving amounts.
Credit Card Expiration Dates. All credit card expiration dates not updated by the donors
will be automatically extended to allow the continuation of monthly charges.
Sustainer Rejections. Monthly givers whose credit cards could not be processed after
the initial and subsequent monthly gifts will receive an automated email within 24 hours
of the failure to alert them of this issue along with the opportunity to provide updated
account details. A paper notification (if needed) will follow.
Sustainer Cancelations. Sustainer pledges with 3 consecutive missed payments will be
automatically canceled. These will then flow into the sustainer win-back calling
program.
Business Rules of Treating Monthly Gifts
Monthly giving will be set up as a “sustainer” in roundCause:
 Giving record set to “Membership”
 Giving schedule – Includes the monthly gift amount, frequency as “Monthly” and
years as duration as “indefinite”
 Payment Start Date – date of initial monthly gift
 Stage Name Overrides are applied after record creation when either the donor
becomes delinquent or cancels their monthly gift:
1. Force Suspended – donor requests to suspend or to put a hold on their
monthly giving. This should be considered temporary, not long-term.
2. Force Canceled – donor requests; or retentions strategies are unsuccessful to
update payment information.
3. Force Uncollectible – record deemed uncollectible when after 2 unsuccessful
attempts a credit card monthly transaction can be processed. Record should be
marked cancelled if retention strategies are not successful in getting updated
payment information.
4. Force Completed – should a donor request a definitive time period for
monthly giving (i.e. one year), and the monthly giving end date occurs
When higher dollar segments are targeted, sustainer gifts can be listed as “donations”
with various frequencies.