Thank You 2020 Annual Report 1 Our mission is simple. A message from our Board President and Executive Director Dear Friends, Needless to say, 2020 was dominated by the multitude of challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. With your help, however, Save The Bay stayed the course through a turbulent year. On a personal and professional level, every member of our team had to adjust suddenly to a radically new environment, but the constraints we faced in 2020 did not prevent us from achieving important progress. Our education team pivoted quickly to create an interactive, remote learning experience called “Breakfast by The Bay.” Over the course of last spring and summer, our educators created a rich library of educational materials for children, parents and teachers, and refined our teaching skills to accommodate distance learning. We have continued to adapt our education programs to meet the needs of our educational partners in this most unusual year. From an advocacy perspective, we continued interacting with partners, regulatory agencies and the scientific community. Our team advanced restoration of freshwater wetlands systems, river systems and salt marshes. We helped Bay communities to plan, implement and secure financing for climate adaptation projects. The advocacy team also remained vigilant, monitoring development projects and helping prevent major loss of freshwater wetlands in Tiverton, while continuing to promote public access and working with Southside Providence community partners to build momentum for a new public access point along the Providence waterfront. In the spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, we also made the most of the forced closure of our facilities, public programs and events. We converted our annual Taste of the Bay event into a crowd-based fundraiser to give back to our partners in the seafood, restaurant and food purveyor sectors. The Swim went virtual, with hundreds of participants swimming, kayaking, walking, running and cycling for the Bay. And, we accelerated plans to maintain or upgrade our Protect and improve facilities, boats and our Newport Exploration Center. Narragansett Bay. None of this progress would have been possible without you, our members, volunteers and supporters. Special thanks to our Board and Board committee members, who generously gave their time, treasure and talent to support and guide our efforts during a difficult year. Thankfully, summer is just around the corner. The Bay beckons! Every Save The Bay accomplishment is made possible by the support of our members, donors, volunteers and community partners. With appreciation, Our 2020 Annual Report highlights the milestones we were able to meet with your help during the past, most challenging, year. Thank you for your support. Jonathan Stone Cheryl Nathanson Executive Director Board President ON THE COVER: Volunteers planting dune grasses at the Fields Point, Providence, R.I. restoration site. 2 3 With your help... BayUpdates habitats have on watersa guardian. & habitats 16,195 80 gallons of Bay water In 2020... sampled for micro- unique species identi- fied at the Millbrook plastics • We continued to help salt marshes adapt to rising sea levels by improving drainage Bog restoration site at Ninigret and Winnapaug Ponds, and monitoring Quonochontaug Marsh, where 5,500 we’ve elevated the marsh to help it adapt to sea level rise through a process called “sediment placement.” This year, we documented new native plant growth in the linear feet of Maid- placed sediment and planted more new Spartina grasses! ford River floodplain flagged • Riverkeeper, Kate McPherson, led a wetland assessment at Millbrook Bog—formerly a commercial cranberry bog—in Freetown, Mass. for the Mass. Department of Ecological Restoration. The assessment will help measure the success of a restoration effort at the site. • We helped 11 coastal communities design coastal adaptation projects, and helped secure funding for projects at Middlebridge in Narragansett; Allins Cove and Walker Farm in Barrington; and along Brushneck Cove in Warwick through the Rhode Island Climate Resilience Fund. • Baykeeper, Mike Jarbeau, partnered with the University of Rhode Island to continue investigations into the scope and distribution of microplastic pollution present in Narragansett Bay. This work aims to develop baseline data that will inform microplastics research in Rhode Island and around the country. • We worked to increase and improve buffers along the Maidford River in Middletown to support improved water quality and reduce flooding by communicating with property owners about how they can help restore the river’s health through buffer plantings. Save The Bay purchased enough seeds for Maidford neighbors to replant 8 acres of river buffer. • Changes to Rhode Island’s Wetlands Regulations were officially announced for public comment in late 2020. Staff rallied watershed groups, spoke with town planners, and created a comment letter calling for the maximum protection of rivers and wetlands allowed by law. Teamwork! Riverkeeper Kate McPherson is joined Caption.by Volunteer & Internship Manager July Lewis for a day assessing plant and wildlife in Millbrook Bog. 4 5 With your help... Future Bay stewards are inspired. In 2020... • Save The Bay educators took to the screen quickly, connecting with students of all ages through the Breakfast by The Bay livestream series. Educators presented 63 live lessons about Narragansett Bay on Facebook and YouTube between March 2020 and the end of the year. • To encourage the continued exploration of Narragansett Bay from home, educators developed the Narragansett Bay Naturalist Guide. This 60-page activity book is chockful of activities, lessons, coloring pages and more. • Following the success of Breakfast by The Bay, Save The Bay partnered with PBS to produce two episodes of the station’s national Camp TV series. Our educators starred in two episodes that aired nationally and locally in August and September. • Save The Bay educators developed a course offering of 38 virtual school programs for our school partners, allowing us to maintain our relationships even when schools were remote or not allowing visitors. By the end of 2020, schools throughout the watershed had booked nearly 200 of these virtual programs. 1,220 4,582 guests boarded a Save 130,747 in-person education The Bay Seal Tour program participants Diving below the waves! Students from the Greene audience members School in West Greenwich, R.I. enjoy a day seining tuned in to a Breakfast and observing the creatures of Narragansett Bay. by The Bay episode 6 7 With your help... Our community 4,000+ is engaged. pounds of trash removed by volunteers In 2020... • Save The Bay volunteers remained committed and engaged throughout the pandemic, taking advantage of opportunities to contribute to our efforts as 900 restrictions and guidelines allowed. Fifty-three volunteers helped us raise switchgrass plants awareness of both litter and stormwater pollution by marking 3,217 storm drains planted by volunteers in eight communities around the watershed. at Fields Point • 587 volunteers supported our International Coastal Cleanup effort, attending small in-person cleanups or holding their own with their households. Their efforts resulted in the collection of 4,038 pounds of trash! $124,000 • We converted our Taste of The Bay event—an annual celebration of the flavors, sights and sounds of Narragansett Bay—into a fundraiser for our event partners. raised by Virtual Swim and Swim Open These friends in the food and beverage industries have donated their goods to participants the event for years, but, in 2020, found themselves hit hard by the pandemic. In a few short weeks, we raised $4,200 for our partners! • Nearly 200 participants joined our virtual Swim and Swim Open, raising $124,000 for Save The Bay by completing challenges in biking, running, swimming, and more. Using #SaveTheBaySwim, our participants shared their accomplishments on social media, and stayed connected to both Save The Bay and the Swim community they know and love. A pandemic does not stop litter! This cleanup volunteer shares her finds during a cleanup at Fields Point in Providence. 8 9 Financial Report From our Treasurer FY20 STATEMENT OF FY20 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES FINANCIAL POSITION Campaign Revenues Segregated ASSETS SUPPORT AND REVENUE Cash and cash equivalents $573,839 Dear Friends of Save The Bay, Receivables (pledges and grants) 997,092 Contributions, gifts and grants $2,320,804 In my 2019 letter, I made two statements that clearly stand out as I write this year’s. The first Prepaid expenses and other 90,237 Government contracts 437,912 was that fiscal year 2020 promised to provide ongoing challenges. The second was that Property and equipment, net 6,238,385 Program revenue 402,690 Save The Bay has the right team to overcome whatever obstacles are presented. Cash held for long-term purposes 1,261,776 Other income 434,140 Investments 2,077,120 Never in my wildest dreams did I envision COVID-19 and the breadth and depth of chal- Total support and revenue $3,595,546 lenges it would present, but I’m pleased to report that Save The Bay’s staff rose to those Total assets $11,238,449 challenges, allowing us to end the year with solid financial results and a strong balance EXPENSES sheet that should help us overcome any and all challenges in the next fiscal year. LIABILITIES Advocacy $1,021,319 Total Revenue of $3,595,546 was down $270,470 (7%) from 2019 due to the impact of the Accounts payable and accrued