mission andprinciples
The Surfrider Foundation is a grassroots nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network.
You can think about that as three concepts. “Protection and enjoyment”, we don’t want to put a velvet rope around a beach and tell people to keep off. We are surfers, we are beach goers, we are watermen and women, but perhaps most of all we enjoy the coasts. We’re a user group. Next up is “oceans, waves and beaches.” Think coastlines, we are engaged with environmental issues that affect our coastlines. “Powerful activist network” speaks to how we go about this mission. We are a grassroots organization. We are local in many coastal regions throughout the world.
The organization was started in 1984, by a group of visionary surfers from Malibu, California. Today, the organization maintains over 60,000 members and 100 chapters worldwide. Surfrider Foundation chapters and international affiliates are now established throughout the United States, Australia, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico and Canada. Our global headquarters is now based in San Clemente, California.
Globally, Surfrider is involved in a variety of campaigns and programs aimed at protecting our coastal ecosystems, based on the parameters outlined in our mission statement. Our campaigns and programs are developed to support our strategic goals/initiatives: Clean Water, Beach Access, Beach Preservation, and Protecting Special Places. The Surfrider Foundation chapter network works on a diverse set of coastal problems ranging from water quality, to single-use plastics in our marine environment, to shoreline armoring and the protection of surfing areas. However, the common thread is that all of these efforts are direct action organizing campaigns, in other words volunteer driven.
The Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter is currently engaged in the following campaigns: Rise Above Plastics, Hold On To Your Butt, No Border Sewage and Beach Preservation. The chapter is also running several programs including Ocean Friendly Gardens, Know Your H20, Blue Water Task Force, Kids for Clean Water and monthly Beach Cleanups.
