2026 Impact: Measuring More Than Headcounts

HEADCOUNTS ARE NOT ENOUGH.

OTB is building a transparent impact system that measures not only how many people we reach, but how deeply and how often they participate. Beginning in 2026, we are separating unique people, repeat participation, participant-hours, operating hours, outreach contacts and stewardship results so every number means exactly what it says.

CURRENT 2026 SNAPSHOT

As of September 15, OTB records show 364 unduplicated youth served or enrolled in sustained 2026 programming, including 120 youth in the Fall 2026 program.

On September 19, 147 people registered for our youth-led North Padre shoreline cleanup. Ninety-eight were children. Volunteers removed 2,434 pounds of trash and debris.

PROGRAM INTENSITY

Our standard 10-week club and league format includes ten 2-hour weekday sessions plus three 8-hour weekend sessions. A participant who completes the full season has 44 scheduled hours of program opportunity. We are now reconciling actual attendance so scheduled opportunity and delivered participant-hours remain separate.

HOW OTB WILL REPORT IMPACT

Unique youth and families: each person is counted once for the reporting period, no matter how many times they return.

Participant-visits: every documented return to a program, event or stewardship activity.

Participant-hours: one participant engaged for one hour. Youth and participating adults are tracked separately before being combined into family participant-hours.

Operating hours: how long OTB is actively delivering a program or staffing an outreach event. Operating hours are not the same as participant-hours.

Outreach contacts: short interactions at community events are reported separately from sustained program participation.

Stewardship outputs: trash removed, repeat site visits, youth leadership roles and other measurable work on the places our families use.

Evidence level: every figure is labeled by its basis - roster, registration, attendance log, organizer estimate or reconciled record.

WHAT WE WILL NOT DO

We will not count a short booth interaction as though it were a 44-hour program. We will not call scheduled capacity delivered hours. We will not count a returning child as a new unique youth. And we will not publish a participant-hour total until the attendance and duration records behind it have been reconciled.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Fishing is the entry point, but OTB is built around repeated access, family connection, mentorship, youth leadership and responsibility for the coast. Participant-hours will let our families, partners and funders see the depth of that work - not just a crowd count.

This 2026 impact methodology will be updated as OTB completes the reconciliation of Spring, Summer, Fall, tournaments, camps, outreach, family fishing and stewardship records.