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Programs in 10 states have been awarded grant funds through the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation’s (RBFF) State R3 Program Grants, now in its sixth year. With the goal of helping achieve 60 in 60, the program provides funds to sustainable and replicable angler and boater recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) initiatives and plans that focus on increasing fishing license sales and boat registrations.

RBFF is providing approximately $208,000 in R3 grants this year. The 10 state agencies are contributing more than $520,000 in project funds and in-kind support, bringing the total amount of funding support to more than $728,000 for these R3 programs.

We are pleased to announce the grantees for the 2020 State R3 Program Grants:

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

• CRM System

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

• Digital Advertising Campaign for Urban, Hispanic, Women to Go Fishing

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

• Digital Advertising Campaign to Retain and Reactivate Anglers

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

• Digital Marketing with Geofencing in Minnesota

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

• Digital Marketing Campaign

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

• Predictive and Preventative Measures to Counteract Lapsing Anglers

Ohio Division of Wildlife

• Implementation and Evaluation of a Licensing Mobile App

South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks

• Events and Volunteer Management System for Participant Tracking and Marketing

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

• Community Fishing Program, Geofenced and Measurable

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

• Angler R3 Focus Groups

The 2020 State R3 Program Grants support state agency R3 programs in three focus areas: communicating the relevance of fishing and/or boating to urban, multicultural audiences to help increase participation; enhancing the capability of agencies to develop and implement effective angler and/or boater R3 efforts; and implementing angler and/or boater retention or reactivation strategies to help increase participation to 60 million anglers in 60 months. Proposals were reviewed and selected by RBFF staff and a Proposal Review Working Group made up of industry and NGO representatives.

RBFF looks forward to working with these agencies to implement effective methods for recruiting, retaining and reactivating anglers and boaters, and sharing the learnings in the future.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Hussey, State R3 Program Director.