Informing and inspiring clean-water advocates at an unprecedented level.
Informing and inspiring clean-water advocates at an unprecedented level.
ANOTHER YEAR OF MAJOR PROGRESS FOR FLORIDA'S WATERS AND AMERICA'S EVERGLADES
Thanks to your help, we’re reaching more people, educating them about our water-quality issues, and inspiring them to advocate for solutions.
Support for clean water and a restored Everglades is spreading like wildfire, and this groundswell of a movement continues to grow.
OUR WAVE OF CHANGE HAS NEVER BEEN MORE POWERFUL
With your help, we’re shaking up the status quo every day and inspiring new clean-water warriors to help turn this effort into an unstoppable force.
Here’s a snapshot of how our focus programs helped make sure 2023 was another year of growth for the clean-water movement.
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OUR PROGRAMS CREATING PROGRESS
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
This year kicked off with a bang, celebrating the groundbreaking of the critical EAA Reservoir, where our Executive Director, Capt. Daniel Andrews, was invited to speak about the pivotal moment and what it symbolized for the future of South Florida’s waters.
We made trips to both Tallahassee and D.C. to meet with senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle, primarily emphasizing the importance of continued bold annual appropriations for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). In D.C., we had an extremely productive visit accompanied by our partners from Orvis and Everglades Foundation. And at the state level, in early December, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced another record budget proposal for 2024 Everglades restoration funding at $745M.
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
The key to improved water quality is better water-quality policy. So, everything we do, we do with one goal in mind: influence policy and legislation at the state and federal levels to restore and protect our waters for generations to come. That means we must be bold advocates for our waters. That means we must show up in Tallahassee, Washington D.C., or wherever else our waters need a voice. And that means we must always remind our policymakers that these are critical issues for their voters—issues that impact the livelihoods, lifestyles, and economies essential to millions of Americans.
This year kicked off with a bang, celebrating the groundbreaking of the critical EAA Reservoir, where our Executive Director, Capt. Daniel Andrews, was invited to speak about the pivotal moment and what it symbolized for the future of South Florida’s waters.
We made trips to both Tallahassee and D.C. to meet with senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle, primarily emphasizing the importance of continued bold annual appropriations for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). In D.C., we had an extremely productive visit accompanied by our partners from Orvis and Everglades Foundation. And at the state level, in early December, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced another record budget proposal for 2024 Everglades restoration funding at $745M.
DIGITAL EDUCATION & AWARENESS
We’ve always believed that if everyone just knew about these water-quality issues, they would’ve been fixed years ago. More people aware and educated about our movement translates directly to more political will, which ultimately leads to true progress. So, our ability to reach new people, educate them on the issues, and inspire them to be a part of the solution is critical to the success of our mission. Our digital education and awareness efforts helped us reach MILLIONS of people this year, growing our army to help fight for the future of our waters.
By leveraging the power of social and digital media, we reached 3,459,327 people and made over 13 million impressions online this year, generating over 330K visits to our website, where we give viewers the educational tools to become stronger advocates. We also maintain a highly engaged educational channel through our weekly email newsletters, where we can directly deliver educational information to our army of advocates, while also offering other ways for supporters to be more involved in the fight. This year, we delivered 185 emails with 1.7 million total opens and an extremely high open rate of 65%.
OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
The passion from our community of supporters is what fuels this movement. Just as important as engaging people through their digital devices, our ability to reach, educate, and engage with existing and potential advocates in person is a huge part of what keeps this movement fired up. Our Outreach & Engagement program works nonstop to deliver education and awareness directly into the hands of communities across the state.
From community events to speaking engagements to fishing tournaments to business collaborations, we hosted, participated in, or spoke during 120 in-person events, exposing our water-quality issues and highlighting our mission to more than 13K total attendees. Our annual Guide Rendezvous circuit was bigger and better than ever this year, giving us a chance to engage deeply with our fishing guide network, core to the roots of our organization. With stops in Pine Island, Jensen Beach, and The Keys, we brought over 275 guides together for a science-based program to help empower them to be stronger advocates of the resource that their livelihoods—and our way of life—depend on.
OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
The passion from our community of supporters is what fuels this movement. Just as important as engaging people through their digital devices, our ability to reach, educate, and engage with existing and potential advocates in person is a huge part of what keeps this movement fired up. Our Outreach & Engagement program works nonstop to deliver education and awareness directly into the hands of communities across the state.
From community events to speaking engagements to fishing tournaments to business collaborations, we hosted, participated in, or spoke during 120 in-person events, exposing our water-quality issues and highlighting our mission to more than 13K total attendees. Our annual Guide Rendezvous circuit was bigger and better than ever this year, giving us a chance to engage deeply with our fishing guide network, core to the roots of our organization. With stops in Pine Island, Jensen Beach, and The Keys, we brought over 275 guides together for a science-based program to help empower them to be stronger advocates of the resource that their livelihoods—and our way of life—depend on.
SENATE BILL 2508 FILM TOUR
Compelling stories are what inspire action. So, this year we took our story about fighting corruption to the silver screen. In SB2508: A death threat to Everglades restoration, we walked viewers through the multi-layered challenges and oppositions facing Everglades restoration, while highlighting the progress that can be made when advocates rally together.
Through six film screenings across Florida—each featuring engaging Q&A panels—we showcased to 710 total attendees how a united voice can triumph over the status quo and create change for the future of our waters.
OUTDOOR INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Water quality in Florida impacts many different industries throughout the state and across the country, maybe none more so than the fishing and outdoor industry. So, it’s extremely important that the multi-billion-dollar nationwide outdoor industry is unified and active in support of the fight for clean water.
We’ve worked hard with our brand partners to rally the industry into a powerful, unified voice for clean water, and this year, the industry’s engagement and support to us and our mission was more committed than ever.
Industry brands truly stepped up this year, leveraging their platforms to help spread the word—from our keystone fundraiser event (the World’s Finest Skiff Raffle) generously made possible by Hell’s Bay Boatworks, to collaborations and awareness campaigns with brand partners like Columbia, Orvis, Costa, AFTCO, Marsh Wear, YETI, Simms, Richardson, Power-Pole, Z-Man, Mercury, and Pelagic.
We saw unprecedented activation from dozens of brands at this year’s ICAST (the world’s largest fishing tradeshow), and our annual Industry Summit, hosted in November, saw truly inspiring participation from industry leaders and brand executives.
Special thank you to the support of our Legacy Partners: Costa, YETI, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, AFTCO, Richardson.
OUTDOOR INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Water quality in Florida impacts many different industries throughout the state and across the country, maybe none more so than the fishing and outdoor industry. So, it’s extremely important that the multi-billion-dollar nationwide outdoor industry is unified and active in support of the fight for clean water.
We’ve worked hard with our brand partners to rally the industry into a powerful, unified voice for clean water, and this year, the industry’s engagement and support to us and our mission was more committed than ever.
Industry brands truly stepped up this year, leveraging their platforms to help spread the word—from our keystone fundraiser event (the World’s Finest Skiff Raffle) generously made possible by Hell’s Bay Boatworks, to collaborations and awareness campaigns with brand partners like Columbia, Orvis, Costa, AFTCO, Marsh Wear, YETI, Simms, Richardson, Power-Pole, Z-Man, Mercury, and Pelagic.
We saw unprecedented activation from dozens of brands at this year’s ICAST (the world’s largest fishing tradeshow), and our annual Industry Summit, hosted in November, saw truly inspiring participation from industry leaders and brand executives.
Special thank you to the support of our Legacy Partners: Costa, YETI, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, AFTCO, Richardson.
OUTDOOR INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Water quality in Florida impacts many different industries throughout the state and across the country, maybe none more so than the fishing and outdoor industry. So, it’s extremely important that the multi-billion-dollar nationwide outdoor industry is unified and active in support of the fight for clean water.
We’ve worked hard with our brand partners to rally the industry into a powerful, unified voice for clean water, and this year, the industry’s engagement and support to us and our mission was more committed than ever.
Industry brands truly stepped up this year, leveraging their platforms to help spread the word—from our keystone fundraiser event (the World’s Finest Skiff Raffle) generously made possible by Hell’s Bay Boatworks, to collaborations and awareness campaigns with brand partners like Columbia, Orvis, Costa, AFTCO, Marsh Wear, YETI, Simms, Richardson, Power-Pole, Z-Man, Mercury, and Pelagic.
We saw unprecedented activation from dozens of brands at this year’s ICAST (the world’s largest fishing tradeshow), and our annual Industry Summit, hosted in November, saw truly inspiring participation from industry leaders and brand executives.
Special thank you to the support of our Legacy Partners: Costa, YETI, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, AFTCO, Richardson.
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