Case Study: VolunteerCleanup.org mobilizes thousands of volunteers to remove 205K lbs of marine debris with NationBuilder

VolunteerCleanup.org connects South Florida citizens to protect beaches and waterways

VolunteerCleanup.org, founded by Dara Schoenwald and David Doebler, turned informal shoreline cleanups into a countywide hub for connecting volunteers with beach and waterway projects. Faced with no single place to list events or manage signups—previous organizers relied on spreadsheets—the group built VolunteerCleanup.org using NationBuilder’s tools, including built-in event pages, calendars, and field/mapping features to centralize listings and outreach.

Using NationBuilder to create event pages, track registrations, and append email opt‑ins to confirmations, VolunteerCleanup.org quickly scaled its reach (adding at least 1,000 volunteers overnight when it took over Miami’s International Coastal Cleanup page). The platform helped drive the biggest turnout yet for ICC 2018 (2,979 volunteers) and supports their ongoing impact: 1,026 facilitated cleanups, 8,697 registered volunteers, 76,576 volunteer hours, and an estimated 205,200 pounds of debris removed—outcomes made possible by NationBuilder’s event and constituent-management capabilities.

VolunteerCleanup.org

Dara Schoenwald