Message From The Director
As you can imagine, this has been a year full of trials and challenges. No one had a crystal ball and could foretell that a worldwide pandemic would cause us to cancel all of our spring school programs, delay the start of our sailing season until July and severely limit our ability to carry out our mission of educating the children, residents, and visitors to the Seacoast area about the maritime heritage and environment of this iconic watershed.
However, our staff and crew are a tough and resourceful lot, and even with the prospect of cancelling the entire sailing season hanging over our heads, we did what this organization has always done – we collectively hitched up our pants, tightened our belts and put on our thinking caps. In a matter of weeks this spring we leaned in and pivoted. We became proactive electing to focus on the opportunities that COVID was presenting to review and enhance our current programs and in that process develop new ones. The determination and resourcefulness of the staff and crew led the way allowing us to salvage a large portion of our sailing and camp seasons. We accomplished the following:
- We hosted a series of Zoom events throughout the spring on maritime heritage and environmental issues
- We created a new set of online learning resources for schools to support local teachers
- With the cancellation of almost all our school field-trip programs, we reconfigured our fall programs with small classes and outdoor learning opportunities to support local families and continue meeting our mission
- We created a new set of procedures for public sails and charters that allowed the public to get out on the PISCATAQUA in smaller groups
- We adjusted our summer camp program to shorter days and extended these programs to the end of August
- We retained all employees with the assistance of state and federal relief programs
All of these major accomplishments and many smaller ones were attained throughout the season allowing us to provide the public and our members and supporters with a fun and healthy opportunity to explore this beautiful watershed from a unique perspective. We feel very fortunate to have been able to provide those opportunities and I’m happy to report we made it through the entire sailing and camp season with zero cases of COVID-19 among passengers, campers, staff and crew!
On the financial side we applied for and received a Paycheck Protection Program loan which allowed us to keep our wonderful staff, crew, and camp counselors on the payroll. We applied for and received a grant from the NH Nonprofit Emergency Relief fund which continues to help us offset revenue losses resulting from cancelled school programs and the reduced number of passengers and campers. The most encouraging thing was the incredible amount of support we received from our members and donors throughout the year helping us to raise $13,000 in June during NH Gives Day and over $20,000 at our annual Party for Piscataqua last month! We continue to be humbled and grateful for our community’s support.
We have survived this sailing season through generosity, innovation, grit and determination, something this organization has in spades. However, as we look ahead to 2021 it’s clear we will have to continue operating in uncertainty. The pandemic is still very much present, and the financial effects do not look positive for non-profits like us. We stay committed to our mission of providing opportunities for students, residents, and visitors to the Seacoast area to experience our rivers and bays firsthand. We want to be in the best position we can when the time comes to resume full operations. To that end, we started our annual appeal in October, a month earlier than normal. We are setting our annual appeal goal at $60,000, a goal we feel we can achieve only with your help. Through the incredible generosity of several of our donors, we have established a series of challenge matches. These matches are designed to encourage more of our members and supporters to make a contribution by having matching dollars available, essentially doubling their donation. For October we received $5,000 in matching funds (and we met the match goal!), in November we have $10,000 in program sponsorship matching funds and we are anticipating more matching funds for December. If we are successful we will have positioned ourselves to safely make it through the first quarter of 2021 and possibly beyond.
All of the successes we’ve experienced in this topsy-turvy year are a direct result of careful planning, unrivaled generosity and unflagging determination. The Gundalow Company is a direct reflection of the character of its members, volunteers, and supporters and because of that we’ve risen to the occasion and met the challenge to remain a viable and successful organization even in the face of a world-wide pandemic. Thank you for believing in our mission and thank you for being there for us.
