We Just Launched Our New Fundraising Platform: Find Your Good
This article originally appeared on Outside
Think about your most profound outdoor experience. The one where it all began, your love of being outside, your connection to nature, and your discovery of a new passion. Think about your sense of awe during that moment at how you fit into the natural world and the unspeakable beauty of it all.
What if it never happened? How different would your life be if you never discovered hiking, cycling, running, climbing, skiing, or whatever it is that you love to do outdoors?
At Outside, our mission is to get everyone outside. We believe that the future of our planet depends on it. That's why our parent company, Outside Inc., created Find Your Good and partnered with 14 nonprofit organizations that share our mission. Put simply, our new philanthropic branch, Find Your Good, is a place where you can find and support causes that align with your passions.
There are hundreds of amazing nonprofits out there showing up for people and the planet. We spent months researching organizations that bring in under $5 million in funds per year (because we prefer to focus on grassroots efforts). We surveyed organizations about their audience and impacts. And we finally landed on 14 mission-aligned partners working in seven categories: Hiking and Camping, Cycling, Running, Climbing, Winter Sports, Healthy Living, and Sustainability.
Trust us, these organizations are worth your attention and support. No matter what your outdoor jam is, we've got you covered. So pick your passion, then Find Your Good.
Hiking and Camping
The Outdoorist Oath
What they do: Through free workshops and learning tools, the Outdoorist Oath teaches people how to take personal action for the planet, inclusion, and adventure and creates a community of allies for sharing and support.
A recent win: Since its launch in early 2022, almost 1,900 people have taken the Oath's free educational workshop and 3,000 people remain in the queue.
Big City Mountaineers
What they do: Big City Mountaineers (BCM) takes inner city kids on transformative outdoor adventures that strengthen life skills and build community.
A recent win: In 2022, BCM increased the number of program hours enjoyed by its youth participants by 82 percent.
Cycling
Bahati Foundation
What they do: Bahati Foundation provides inner-city youth access to bikes, gear, and training, along with resources and education to foster success on and off the bike.
A recent win: Bahati fully sponsored five young riders for their first ever 100-mile gravel race at Steamboat Springs' SBT GRVL in August 2022. Three of them made the podium!
Grow Cycling
What they do: Grow Cycling works to make the sport of cycling more diverse, equitable, and inclusive by providing education, access, and opportunities to ride to underserved communities.
A recent win: The city of Los Angeles approved Grow Cycling's proposal to build a 30,000-square-foot pumptrack in a public park which will provide cycling opportunities to thousands of local residents. The city will also be adding extra bike cars on metro trains and expanding bike racks on city buses leading to the pump track to ensure safe access to the new facility.
Climbing
Access Fund
What they do: Access Fund protects public lands, restores climbing areas impacted by use, buys threatened land, and educates climbers and land managers about responsible stewardship and risk mitigation.
A recent win: Access Fund (with the support of Backcountry) just announced $30,000 in climbing conservation grants that will bring ten local climbing projects around the country to life in 2023.
Paradox Sports
What they do: Paradox Sports provides rock and ice climbing experiences and training for adaptive athletes and works with climbing facilities to help build local adaptive climbing programs.
A recent win: Paradox held its first ever Adaptive Climbing Summit in July 2022 in Denver, Colorado, and has since taught four Adaptive Climbing Initiatives with three more scheduled for the fall.
Winter Sports
Protect Our Winters
What they do: Protect Our Winters (POW) unites outdoor enthusiasts, athletes, scientists, and Congress members in the fight to stop climate change, through lobbying in Washington DC, get-out-the-vote efforts, social media campaigns, and education.
A recent win: By encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to contact their Congress members, writing op-eds, and even taking senators skiing and climbing, POW played a critical role in the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act designed to fund solutions that will protect the places we live and lifestyles that we love.
Share Winter Foundation
What they do: Share Winter partners with and funds local community centers around the U.S. to eliminate barriers and get underrepresented kids out on skis and snowboards, providing all the gear, instruction, and transportation needed.
A recent win: Last winter, Share Winter launched partnerships with companies such as Motel 6, United Airlines, and Alterra Mountain Company that expanded ski and snowboard access for 1,318 youth.
Running
Wings of America
What they do: Through competitive and non-competitive programming, Wings of America (Wings) connects Native American youth to the spiritual and cultural legacy of running through the power of their own legs.
A recent win: Wings rebounded from the pandemic and successfully completed more than a dozen youth enrichment camps for nearly 500 kids in Tribal communities across the Southwest this past summer.
261 Fearless
What they do: 261 Fearless empowers and trains women around the globe to create safe, supportive running communities.
A recent win: 261 Fearless Inc. has educated over 350 women coaches from 12 countries on 5 continents. These coaches have launched 19 women'srunning groups and united over 5,000 women of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures around the joy of running.
Healthy Living
Prison Yoga Project
What they do: Prison Yoga Project (PYP) offers healing yoga programs and training to incarcerated people and correctional facility staff to address the trauma, addiction, and mental health issues that lead to and arise from incarceration.
A recent win: PYP is just wrapping up its third round of 200-hour yoga teacher training, which is rooted in social justice, teaching instructors to offer trauma-informed and accessible classes outside of a studio setting.
Jones Valley Teaching Farm
What they do: Jones Valley Teaching Farm (JVTF) offers food-based education to grammar-, middle-, and high-school-aged kids, using food, farming, and the culinary arts as a foundation for academic exploration, leadership, and pursuit of post-secondary pathways.
A recent win: JVTF's annual Twilight Supper this year (featuring Outside's director of food and nutrition, Mary-Frances Heck) has raised $337,000 to date that will be used to propel the org's growth and impact on youth.
Sustainability
Intersectional Environmentalist
What they do: Through story-telling and education, Intersectional Environmentalist (IE) connects people to climate justice movements in their local communities and amplifies the work and legacies of diverse people in the environmental space.
A recent win: During Climate Week NYC, IE hosted 120 attendees at its fifth Earth Sessions, which featured local orchestral group Gaia Music Collective performing hip hop songs, a panel discussion about identity and activism, and a screenprinting activation featuring climate-focused designs.
Earth Guardians
What they do: Earth Guardians (EG) trains and empowers youth (ages 15 to 21) across the globe to be leaders and take action for the environment and social justice.
A recent win: EG recently approved more than 30 microgrant applications, awarding $300 to $500 to youths executing community projects relating to reforestation programs, building waste management systems, and climate education in elementary schools.
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