FAIRHOPE, Ala. — From its storefront office on Summit Street, the Alabama Coastal Foundation gets a lot of work done but with little fanfare.

Through projects that restore natural habitat, teach environmental studies in elementary schools and lead technical workshops for community leaders, this 15-year-old nonprofit organization has earned a reputation for achieving results but without the theatrics of some public interest groups.

“We encourage people with different interests and diverse opinions to work together to build a consensus in developing solutions to our environmental problems,” said Catherine Hall-Pate, the group’s president and a local architect. “Being involved with ACF gives me the opportunity to work with and meet others who share a passion for protecting and improving the quality of our environment.”

Founded in 1993, the nonprofit organization has coordinated close to a dozen public education and outreach programs in Baldwin and Mobile counties over the past few years. It now has 667 members and an annual budget of approximately $165,000, according to the group, and recently received a $25,000 grant from RBC Bank.

The organization plans to add several projects for an ambitious program agenda in 2009, including a shoreline assessment of Fish River that will provide an opportunity for local residents to participate in the program on kayaks and canoes to determine the environmental health of that river, which eventually empties into Mobile Bay.

It’s a heavy workload for the group’s small staff, but its executive director is not complaining.

“I’m incredibly lucky to do a job I love,” said Bethany Kraft, who took over the helm of ACF in January. “I love every minute. There’s no such thing as a typical day. You’re an accountant, graphic designer and fundraiser all rolled into one. But the best part of the job is being out in the community, working with folks to come up with solutions to our environmental problems. It’s the kind of job where you work late at night but show up the next day ready for more.”

In the nonprofit world, many organizations fold in the first few years under the pressures of delivering on their missions while developing a core constituency and raising enough funds to survive. ACF has not only met those organizational challenges but has also helped other successful groups get started.

“They’ve worked with us since our inception,” said Stan Mahoney, executive director of Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, whose group celebrated its 10th anniversary this year working on environmental issues in Baldwin County. “They gave us a lot of advice while we were getting started. We now work with them on their Bay Buddy and Coastal Kids Quiz and rain garden programs. They’re an invaluable organization, and I can’t say enough about Bethany. She’s a real go-getter, a very upbeat leader who gets things done.”

Kraft came to ACF after working as district administrator for constituent relations and outreach for Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine, and prior to that, for the Mobile Baykeeper environmental group. She moved with her husband, Alex, from Texas, where she received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2001 from Texas A&M University with a concentration in natural resources management.

On Monday night, the Fairhope City Council appointed Kraft to the Growth and Sustainability Issues Study Group.

After Kraft became ACF executive director, Anna Keene was hired as the group’s programs director in March. She came from a job with Camp McDowell Environmental Center in Nauvoo, Ala.

“Anna manages our membership relations and recruits and trains volunteers for our Bay Buddy program,” Kraft said. “It teaches young children basic conservation principles. The hope is they will grow up to be stewards of the environment.”

ACF involves children through several ongoing programs, and that work is some of the group’s most important, Hall-Pate said.

“It is rewarding to see kids get excited about water quality and protecting habitat,” said Hall-Pate, who joined ACF in 2001. “I grew up sailing on Little Lagoon, and I want to know that the life I enjoyed as a child will be possible for my daughter and others. I joined ACF because I strongly believe that no work we do now is as important as the education of our children.”

Kraft said much of that educational work is done by volunteers, and that the group’s overall success is a tribute to the work of volunteers. She said the key to ACF’s success is its connection to the local communities with which it works.

“What attracted me to ACF and where our strength really lies is our volunteers and community outreach,” Kraft said. “It’s their efforts that really make ACF a success. We have a solid group of about 35 to 40 volunteers who turn out for tree plantings and other projects. We also have a very active board, many of whom have been involved since the beginning.”

More evidence of the group’s connection to the community is visible at ACF’s office, where visitors can purchase T-shirts with colorful silk screen prints by Ricky Trione, a well-known local artist, and thumb through a copy of In the Realm of Rivers: Alabama’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta, the coffee table book authored by Sue Walker, Alabama’s poet laureate, and published as an ACF project.

One program that Kraft said is popular during the holiday season are the “gifts of conservation.” For $25, a person can have a tree planted in honor of someone else and become a member of ACF. The member and honoree can also participate in the tree plantings that are scheduled for early next year.

Some of the best perspective on ACF’s work comes from the students and teachers it has worked with over the years.

Samantha Parring, a fifth grade student at St. Patrick Elementary School in Robertsdale, wrote ACF that she has become an “environmental geek” because of the Coastal Kids Quiz and thinks the program should continue for other students. “I love it,” she said.

Kelly Cote, a teacher at that school, praises ACF and its educational programs.

“I know this program has a great impact on my students,” Cote wrote to ACF. “Years later, when students come back to visit us, they always comment on what great fun they had studying and learning about the environment. I even have one student wanting to study marine biology because of her participation in the program. We never know how much we impact a student until years later.”

For more information about the Alabama Coastal Foundation, visit its Web site at www.joinacf.org or contact the group at 990-6002 or info@joinacf.org.