Orange County Register

For years, the Surfrider Foundation said the Foothill South toll road would be bad for San Onofre State Beach.

But it appears like the proposed toll road was good for Surfrider. Very good.

According to documents filed with the IRS, in the decade or so that Surfrider led opposition to the toll road, the nonprofit has roughly quintupled in size.

• In 1997, before the Foothill South controversy, Surfrider reported revenues of about $1 million. In 2007, the most recently available year on the nonprofit disclosure site Guidestar, Surfrider reported $5 million in revenues.
• Staff salaries increased by more than 500 percent during that time. Expenses, nearly 400 percent.
• Surfrider reported $337,000 in public donations in 1997. Ten years later, it reported $3 million.

Not bad, huh?

Surfrider was founded in Malibu in 1984 to protect our oceans and beaches, back when environmentalism wasn’t a red-carpet issue. Today it trades on its a label as a grassroots organization, hearkening to the days when members plotted strategy from a surfer’s bedroom in his parents’ house.

But Surfrider today boasts more than 50,000 world-wide members, organized into more than 60 chapters, all led by an executive director who made $170,000 in 2007. That same year, the San Clemente-headquarted organization spent more than $400,000 on fundraising consultants. (Not on throwing fundraisers, mind you. Just on consultants who advise you on fundraising.)

“Definitely  sophisticated,” said Pat Henning when I asked him about  Surfrider.

Henning is a lobbyist for the California State Council of Laborers, toll road supporters who tangled with Surfrider over the Foothill South.  (In case you forgot, in December the U.S. Department of  Commerce agreed with the California Coastal Commission’s rejection of the toll road, killing the project for now.) Henning compared Surfrider’s tactics and level of organization to ACORN — a gigantic political action group.

Matt McClain, the director of marketing and communications for Surfrider, said he’s flattered by comparisons to larger organizations — and he proudly says that Surfrider’s accomplishments are on par with the other big environmental groups, like Oceana and the Sierra Club.

But he said Surfrider remains at its core a “lean and mean” operation, with less than 40 people on staff.  “We’re just about the size of your average Starbucks,” he said.

McClain said some of Surfrider’s growth over the past decade or so certainly can be attributed to the Foothill South battle, but he said a bigger influence was an internal decision by Surfrider leaders 10 years ago to move from a reactionary, campaign-driven group to one that is more proactive.

McClain said Surfrider used to focus exclusively on campaigns — a developer would propose to build something that affects the oceans, Surfrider would organize a campaign to stop it. But 10 years ago,  Surfrider leaders decided that the organization could do more if it initiated programs to prevent environmental harm.

Hence, Surfrider now organizes campaigns, like the one against Foothill South, but it also produces educational materials that explain how plastics impact ocean wildlife.

But despite the change, McClain said most of Surfrider’s work is done by its volunteers. And pair that with its growing financial resources and Surfrider has positioned itself for more fights like Foothill South.

“I think we’re at the point now where we’re ready to flex our muscles,” McClain said.

For details on the organization’s finances, click on the chart below to enlarge it and view it in a new window.

More Watchdog:

• Transportation czars enjoy $300-a-night hotels while traveling

• White tabs just won’t do! Tustin pays $400 for color-coded tabs at councilwoman’s request

• Surfrider appears to benefit from its toll road fight
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