How Save The Bay Grew Their Volunteer Program by 700% Using Tech

In this case study, we'll take a look at Save The Bay, a Rhode Island nonprofit who seeks to "protect and improve Narragansett Bay" through advocacy, education, and habitat restoration. 

Save the Bay uses Get Connected to manage 4,000 volunteers annually, including 2,500 participants in their International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) initiative—one of the world's largest coastal cleanups—across 150 sites along 400 miles of coastline.

Let’s dive in!

July Lewis is the Volunteer and Internships Manager at Save the Bay in Rhode Island.

The Challenge: Managing Volunteers Efficiently

Save The Bay needed to manage thousands of volunteers effectively, particularly during its largest initiative—the International Coastal Cleanup.

Their previous tools (Google Forms and 123FormBuilder) couldn't handle:

• Managing 2,500+ volunteers across 150 cleanup sites
• Processing individual and team registrations efficiently
• Providing an intuitive sign-up process for volunteers
• Reducing administrative workload for staff
• Supporting continued growth of their volunteer program

The Solution: Get Connected Volunteer Technology

To streamline their volunteer management process, Save The Bay implemented Get Connected—and the results were more impactful than they could have imagined.

The Results: Save the Bay Grew Their Volunteer Base by 700% With Get Connected

With Get Connected, Save The Bay:

Enhanced The Volunteer Experience

With Get Connected, Save the Bay was able to make the volunteer experience more seamless and enjoyable than ever before with:

• Simplified discovery: Volunteers can easily filter opportunities by interest or program area (Aquarium & Education, Event Support, Habitat Restoration, Internships, Shoreline Cleanups, and Unique Opportunities).
  
  
• Group and team registration: Corporate groups and teams can register together—a critical feature for shoreline cleanup initiatives.
  
  
• Automated notifications: Volunteers receive reminders without manual staff intervention. 

• Streamlined volunteer scheduling: One-click registration and shift sign-up replaced multiple back-and-forth emails and inefficient shift-tracking.

           Learn more about Get Connected's Volunteer Scheduling Features

Reduced Their Administrative Workload

Before using an all-in-one volunteer management program, Save the Bay was conducting a lot of its work manually. With Get Connected they were able to:

• Exportable reports: No more exporting responses, sorting volunteers by location, or copying data between spreadsheets.
  
  
• Centralize volunteer data: Responses are automatically stored with their corresponding opportunities.
  
  
• Simplify opportunity sharing: “The International Coastal Cleanup is a very complicated event and Get Connected was very effective. It was also great that we could send specific links to specific cleanups," said Volunteer & Internship Manager July Lewis.
  
  
• Customize pages: Dedicated pages for the ICC initiative make it easy for volunteers to find relevant information.

Increased Volunteer Recruitment

One of the most impressive outcomes from using Get Connected?

Since switching to the platform, Save the Bay was able to double its volunteer participation for their event.

And since using Get Connected, their entire volunteer base has grown by 700%—from a network of 2,500 to 20,000 volunteers.

International Coastal Cleanup and Beyond

Looking ahead, Save The Bay plans to leverage Get Connected to expand their volunteer recruitment efforts at the Newport Exploration Center & Aquarium. 

The organization aims to convert episodic volunteers, such as corporate groups and student interns, into long-term supporters while attracting more community members, particularly retirees, by making it easier for them to find opportunities that match their schedules and interests.

As July puts it, "[Get Connected] is just so great for them, and it's great for me too." 

July Lewis is the Volunteer and Internships Manager at Save the Bay in Rhode Island.

With a BS from UC Berkeley, July has held various roles in community engagement and conservation, including positions as a volunteer coordinator, policy assistant, and researcher.

Save the Bay has used Get Connected volunteer technology since 2016.

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