ENGLISH [🇺🇸]
Aloha again, guys! Another year has ended, and as always, we have completed a critical cycle here at Surfguru: this is our fourth Annual Impact Report. Since 2020, we have been donating 10% of PRO subscription revenues to actions to care for the oceans and to support projects that use surfing as a tool for social inclusion, among several other initiatives. All of this is done with your help, always for the benefit of our greatest temple, the sea, and future generations.
As a reminder, we started slowly in 2020 (see the 2020 impact report here, made significant progress in 2021 (see the 2021 impact report here), and made significant progress in 2022 (see the 2022 impact report here), and slowed down slightly in 2023 without losing our spirit and constancy.
Let's check with us what we did last year. Remember that we always try to be as transparent as possible with our community and partners in this report. If you were a PRO subscriber, exchange partner, or advertiser on our website, know that all of this wouldn't be possible without you. That's why we share these victories together!
Explaining our impact fund
As mentioned, 10% of subscription revenues are directed to our impact fund. Quite simply, we have a bank account dedicated just for this: every month, 10% of all money from PRO subscriptions goes to this account. Then, we on the Surfguru team meet at least once a month to decide what we're going to do with this money. That's when we decided to choose Surfguru's "embassies."
Surfguru Embassies
Our embassies are very special places for our team, and they were and/or are part of Surfguru's history in some way. In each embassy, we decide to "sponsor" projects that have as an initiative the care of the oceans and/or that use surfing as an inclusion tool. Discover our embassies and the projects we support in 2023:
In the state of Rio de Janeiro: - VUSS Project - Vivendo um Sonho Surf ("Living a Surf Dream") (Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro) - Onda Viva School (Leblon, Rio de Janeiro)
In the state of Espírito Santo: - ESpecial Surf Project (Vila Velha)
In the state of Pernambuco: - NGO TPM - Todas para o mar ("All for the Sea") (Maracaípe) - NGO Onda Limpa ("Clean Wave") (Cabo de Santo Agostinho)
Among the various activities we support are beach cleanups, cultural and environmental education events, surfboard donations, campaigns, etc. We support some of these events/projects with direct funding, and for others, we support with publicity and in various other ways. Let's check it out in more detail!
Allocation of funds from the Surfguru Impact Fund to campaigns, causes, and projects
How do we apply funds from the Surfguru Impact Fund?
We follow the same reasoning every year: we allocate funds from the impact fund and try to distribute them according to the needs of each project or cause. We seek to understand each project's pain and contribute to these points so that everyone benefits more profitably.
- Monthly contributions with Route 1%
ROUTE Brasil has been operating since 2011 as an engagement route for the preservation of the oceans and for solving systemic problems relating to human consumption. In the wake of 2022, we repeated the dose, allocating 1% of our entire monthly revenue (between January and July) to Route Brasil. This investment is applied by Route strategically in beach cleaning actions, promotion of environmental education in several Brazilian communities, and in the generation of initiatives that work with the well-being of nature and society, in addition to receiving bags and gloves for We can carry out cleaning actions as we prefer.
💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 826.33
- Support/sponsorship of child athlete - José Alvimar
Alvimar in the Noronha tubes. Photo: Renato Tinoco
During an immersion between Luiz Hadad and Beto Chalaça, partners at Surfguru, we met young Alvimar. We were impressed by the skill this boy had on the tubes at such a young age. He was putting on a show in the waves of Cacimba do Padre, and we realized that he would be an athlete from the island with the potential to represent Noronha and that he would benefit greatly from joining the Surfguru community.
In return for the sponsorship, we ask Alvimar to continue doing well at school, treat everyone politely in and out of the water, and be an example of the new generation of surfers in Noronha. We are delighted with Alvi's results in 2023 and will continue supporting his dream in 2024.
Alvimar results in 2023:
- 3rd place in the first stage of the Pernambucano championship in the under-14 category (Porto de Galinhas)
- 1st place in the second stage of the Pernambucano championship in the under-14 category. (Porto de Galinhas)
- 4th place in the first stage of the Pernambucano championship under 16 category (Porto de Galinhas)
- 2nd place in the third stage of the Pernambucano championship in the under-14 category (Porto de Galinhas)
In 2023, he was the leader in the under-14 category and came in 5th place in the under-16 category of the Pernambucano Championship. In 2024, he will race Pernambucano again and represent Pernambuco in the Brazilian under-14 championships.
In Noronha, he ran the local championships:
- 3rd place in the Dolphin Rotador circuit stage
- 1st in the second stage of surfing Goro
- 4th place in the third stage of the Genial championship
The value of Surfguru's sponsorship was used for food during training and travel and also for the purchase of two boards (the value of the two boards was R$ 1600)
💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 2400.00
- Donation of a StandUP softboard to the ESpecial Surf project, Vila Velha - ES
The ESpecial Surf Project is a surfing project adapted for special children and teenagers or those with some type of disability. To serve a wider variety of children and teenagers, the project needed a large softboard, and that's where we came in with the donation. The project has been operating in Vila Velha since 2019, promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities through sport and leisure with practical experience in surfing. Cool, right? Follow the project here.
Number of children and teenagers in the project: ~30 💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 3062.28
- Financial support for a boat trip celebrating the Easter holiday for children and teenagers from VUSS and Escolinha Onda Viva - RJ
This boat trip has already become a tradition for children and teenagers at VUSS and Onda Viva! The tour took place in April 2023 on a schooner in Guanabara Bay, passing through the main tourist attractions, including sea bathing, a jet sky ride, and a Hawaiian canoe. Debora Futscher, a long-time partner of Surfguru, organized the event, which always brings opportunities and entertainment to these projects.
Number of children and adolescents served: 80 💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 400.00
- Financial support for the beach cleaning and ecological walk during Environment Week organized by the NGO Onda Limpa - PE
In May 2023, during Environment Week, the NGO Onda Limpa para as Gerações Futuras organized and promoted a two-day event with artistic, cultural, and environmental programming, including a beach cleanup at Praia de Itapuama in Cabo de Saint Augustine. On occasion, we contributed a small amount to help with the event's costs.
Amount of garbage collected: 41 kg 💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 150.00
- Financial support for the cleaning action for the Limpeza de Praias and Nas Marés projects in Canto do Recreio - RJ
In September 2023, on World Beach Cleaning Day, which always takes place on the third Saturday of September, we supported an amount to cover the costs of a cleaning action in Canto do Recreio, promoted by the Limpeza de Praias and Nas Marés projects. The event featured a breakfast table, conversation circles, and, of course, trash collection from the beach.
The Limpeza de Praias project is an initiative created by surfer Bruno Campos (also a member of Surfguru!) in Rio de Janeiro. It is dedicated to the preservation and cleaning of Brazilian beaches. Tired of seeing magical corners full of trash, he created this project to clean up these places. If you don't have the time/intention or even the physical means to clean the beaches and these places, you can contribute a few minutes of beach cleaning per month with a small monthly contribution. In other words, Bruno does it for you! Support his project here.
The Nas Marés project, created by Juliana Poncioni, who has been our impact partner in other projects in recent years, is characterized as an ecosystem dedicated to ocean conservation. In it, a boat is used as an educational platform, and the ocean is a great teacher! See more information about the project here.
Number of volunteers involved: 30+ Amount of garbage collected: 62 kg 💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: BRL 250.00
- Financial support for the celebration of Children's Day by the NGO TPM - Todas para o Mar - PE and Projeto VUSS - Vivendo um Sonho Surf - RJ
We never let Children's Day pass for the children and teenagers at VUSS and TPM. With the amount we donated, we contributed to a day full of gifts, good food, and activities for people to have fun on the beach!
💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: R$ 600.00 (R$ 300.00 for each institution)
- Financial support for the Christmas party of the NGO TPM - Todas para o Mar - PE and Projeto VUSS - Vivendo um Sonho Surf - RJ
To resume the year with a flourish, we also supported the Christmas party for children and teenagers from VUSS and TPM. The kids enjoyed the day at the beach, with breakfast, surfing, and other activities!
💲Total amount allocated by Surfguru: R$ 700.00 (R$ 350.00 for each institution)
Supported actions - support for other projects and causes
How else do we support projects and causes during 2023?
When we don't have financial resources to support or finance an action, we look for other ways to help or make it happen.
- Beach Cleaning action during immersion of the Surfguru Team in Regência - ES
In November 2023, the Surfguru team met in person in Regência, the land of tubes in Espírito Santo, for an immersion with lots of surfing and a more relaxed work vibe. We try to do this every year in unique places for us, in our embassies.
This year, we took the opportunity to carry out a small beach cleaning activity in Boca do Rio Doce, Regência. To do this, we use the bags and gloves donated by Route Brasil, the same ones we receive in exchange for what we allocate to the institution every month (1% for the oceans—as we said at the beginning of the report).
Team involved in the action: 8 people
- Actions on Web3: updates on the SurfHive Community
In 2022, we created the Surflimpo community and the social currency DROP. This currency pays you for cleaning beaches and carrying out various other activities favoring the environment and the oceans (Learn more about this in this article). In the search for more options and alternatives to increase our impact fund, we also created the SurfHive community, which aims to integrate surfers into Web3 and help people from Web3 enter the water and learn to surf through content production.
Hive is basically a blockchain that has a social network. Over the last year, we onboarded and integrated several surfers and sea enthusiasts into this social network through weekly meetings that took place practically throughout the year.
On this social network, we encourage people to produce content about surfing (or any sport at sea), the sea, and the protection of the oceans. If you're from the sea, it's worth it! In return, this content is compensated with a cryptocurrency called Hive, and part of the rewards earned in the production of this content are also allocated to a differentiated impact fund at Hive itself, stored in @surflimpo's account at Hive.
The summaries of SurfHive's weekly meetings also became content within Hive, bringing rewards stored directly in the Surflimpo account. We created a blog within Hive where we post all the summaries of these meetings, and you can check them all here.
Currently, the total received from Hive rewards accumulated during 2022 and 2023, which went to the Surflimpo account, totals approximately 160 dollars. This amount has yet to be used in any action, so it is available to us!
If you want to join the community, you can join our Whatsapp group or Discord community using this link. The WhatsApp group and Discord are open to anyone who wants to participate. There, we discussed projects to conserve our beaches and oceans, we looked for ways to finance on web3 both for those who want to protect the oceans and for sea sports athletes, and we helped onboard people in the SurHive community. Let's go? More information about the tools we use can be found here, and you can find some useful links on our linktree.
General balance and expectations for the future
Aloha!
Although our investment plan for our impact budget in 2023 was a bit less ambitious, we are happy to share that we have successfully achieved our primary objective of supporting projects we believe in and contributing to the good of our sea and surf communities.
Obviously, our goal is to always try to help more and in the best way possible, and it will continue like this. Our journey as an impact business has been one of constant maturity, and we are committed to continuing to evolve without giving up in the face of challenges that may arise.
Our mission remains the same: connecting people with the sea, living the aloha spirit, and caring for the oceans. Along this path, we notice a transformation in our identity. We are no longer just the leading Brazilian portal for forecasting waves, winds, and tides; we have become a solid impact business and are ready to take on a bigger series! hehe
Here, we continue to allocate 10% of the revenue from our PRO subscriptions to initiatives aimed at preserving the planet and the oceans, in partnership with local surfing associations and related projects. If you would like to collaborate with us, feel free to email us at surflimpo@surfguru.com.br.
We hope this report reflects our commitment and confidence that we are playing our role in protecting future surfing generations and preserving our beaches and oceans.
Mahalo! See you at the lineup!
Keep up with Surfguru's social media, or get in touch with us!
Find us here: - Visit our website: https://www.surfguru.com.br - Twitter: https://twitter.com/SurfguruPro - Discord: https://discord.gg/3dP3A8FS - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/surfgurupro/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SurfguruPro - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@surfgurupro - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@surfgurupro
Do you want to partner with or get in touch with us? Please send an email to aloha@surfguru.com.br, and let's talk.
We are surfers; that's why we talk like surfers. Before sending us a message or writing an article, stop and reflect: would I talk like that to a friend of mine? If it's too formal, relax.
See you at the lineup! Mahalo!
Note: At least 10% of the rewards received in most of our publications will go directly to the @surflimpo project to continue our mission to care for the oceans. Most of the rewards will go directly to the author of the post and the rest to the people responsible for managing the account. Plus, we'll keep a certain amount in the Surfguru account for account maintenance.
PORTGUÊS - BR [🇧🇷]
Aloha de novo galera! Mais um ano terminou e como sempre, fechamos um ciclo muito importante aqui no Surfguru: esse já é o nosso quarto Relatório Anual de Impacto. Desde 2020 estamos doando 10% das receitas de assinaturas PRO para ações de cuidado com os oceanos e para apoio a projetos que usam o surf como ferramenta de inclusão social, entre várias outras iniciativas. Tudo isso é feito com a ajuda de vocês, sempre em prol do nosso maior templo, o mar, e das futuras gerações.
Para relembrar, começamos devagar em 2020 (veja o relatório de impacto de 2020 aqui), avançamos bastante em 2021 (veja o relatório de impacto de 2021 aqui) e em 2022 (veja o relatório de impacto de 2022 aqui), e agora em 2023, demos uma leve desacelerada, mas sem perder o es