Support
The following is a list of organizations within the outdoor industry that we recommend investing in and supporting. Through monthly giving or one time donations, your contributions can make a difference.
Soul Trak
Soul Trak is a D.C. based non-profit with the mission of connecting people of color to the outdoors. Programs are designed for all ages and experience levels.
To learn more about Soul Trak, visit their website. Learn more about their advocacy and how to get involved here. To donate to Soul Trak, click here.
Charles Roundtree Bloom Project
The National Parks Conservation Association works to protect and enhance the National Parks in order to preserve them for present and future generations. The NPCA not only celebrates the parks but works tirelessly to defend them, whether on the ground, in the courtroom or on Capitol Hill.
To find out more about The Charles Roundtree Bloom Project, visit their website. Learn more about their advocacy and how to get involved here. Donate to the The Charles Roundtree Bloom Project here.
Youth Opportunities Program
The northeast based Youth Opportunities Program aims to train and support educators with resources so that access to outdoor experiences is equitable for their groups of young people, especially those whose racial identities are underrepresented in outdoor spaces.
To find out more about the Youth Opportunities Program, visit their website. Learn more about outdoor leadership training here. Donate to the Youth Opportunities Program here.
Black Kids Adventures, Inc.
Black Kids Adventures, Inc. is a non-profit organization based out of Huntsville, Alabama working towards improved outdoor diversity and inclusion. Their mission is to make sure all Black and Brown families and children have equal access to outdoor opportunities and adventures.
To find out more about the Black Kids Adventures, Inc., visit their website. Learn more about their mission and advocacy work here. Donate to the Black Kids Adventures, Inc. here.
Memorial Foundation
The Memorial Foundation, Inc. exists to promote awareness of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial located in Washington, DC and its tenets of democracy, justice, hope, and love as well as to support the general upkeep of the Memorial in future years.
To find out more about the Memorial Foundation, visit their website. Learn more about the memorial here and the programs and events they run here. Donate to the Memorial Foundation here.
SYATT (see you at the top)
SYATT was founded by a mother and two daughters—TeamHood: Marcia, Erika, and Ebony Hood—with a mission to increase access to outdoor spaces for Black and Brown youth, while simultaneously creating and inspiring joy in places that haven’t traditionally been safe or welcoming to people of color.
To accomplish this goal, SYATT organizes year round outdoor programming for youth and adults, U-Matter study abroad and leadership program, and Get Black Outside excursions.
To find out more about SYATT, visit their website. Donate to SYATT here.
Love is King
Love Is King started by recognizing the systemic racism and oppression people of color have faced generation after generation, including outdoor spaces. While recreating and spending time outdoors has incredible health benefits, both physically and mentally, history shows that people of color have not had equal opportunity and access to these spaces.
Love Is King views access to the outdoors as a human right, knowing that all people deserve to benefit from what nature has to offer. Their mission is to create a humanitarian movement, through love, empathy and respect, where all children, families and communities of color can have equitable and safe access to the outdoors.
To find out more about Love is King, visit their website. Donate to Love is King here.
Camp Founder Girls
Established by Mattie Landry in 1924 in San Antonio, Texas, Camp Founder Girls is America’s First Historically Black Summer Camp for Girls.
In the summer of 2019, Black Outside, Inc (@blackoutside_inc) proudly resurrected America's first summer overnight camp for black girls. Today Camp Founder Girls carries on the proud legacy of Founder Girls past by providing an immersive week-long overnight camp centered on bravery, confidence, creativity, and strength.
To find out more about Camp Founder Girls, visit their website. Donate to Camp Founder Girls here.
Get Out Stay Out/ Vamos Afuera
Get Out Stay Out/ Vamos Afuera is a grassroots, Central Coast nonprofit, that invites Indigenous Migrant youth to run, play, and discover themselves in the natural environment. Through equitable and culturally sensitive, outdoor programming GOSO believes the natural environment provides the perfect tools needed for youth to build self-confidence, develop leadership skills, and build community.
To find out more about Get Out Stay Out, visit their website. Donate to Get Out Stay Out here.
The Venture Out Project
Established in 2014 by Perry Cohen, The Venture Out Project was one of the first guiding companies run by and for queer and transgender people.
The mission of The Venture Out Project is to provide a safe and fun space for queer, trans, and LGBTQ+ people to experience the outdoors as well as providing education and support that helps schools and organizations affirm their LGBTQ+ members. This is further underscored by their commitment to environmental stewardship, social justice, diversity, and inclusion.
To find out more about The Venture Out Project, visit their website. Donate to The Venture Out Project here.
Wilderness Inquiry
Wilderness Inquiry’s mission is built upon the foundational concept of inclusion. Through their work, they believe in building a just outdoor community where everyone belongs. They are committing to acknowledging the systemic barriers and structures of oppression that limit access to outdoor spaces for many.
To find out more about Wilderness Inquiry, visit their website. Donate to Wilderness Inquiry here.
Melanin Base Camp
The goal of Melanin Base Camp is to increase the visibility of outdoorsy Black, Indigenous, People of Color, as well as LGBTQ+ people. This amazing organization aims to increase the representation of minorities in the media, in advertising and in the stories minorities tell themselves about the great outdoors.
Essentially, Melanin Base Camp is the home base of diversity in outdoor adventure sports, inspiring readers every week with new outdoor-related content from Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ adventurers. Their blog contains dozens of stories, trip reports, adventures, and personal experiences related to complicated topics like transphobia, racism and colorism in the outdoor industry.
These sensitive subjects, from race to gender, are faced head on, but in a way that provides a safe space for all kinds of minorities. Melanin Base Camp truly is a hub for all people with marginalized identities.
To find out more about Melanin Base Camp, visit their website. Donate to Melanin Base Camp here.
GirlTrek
Since its inception, GirlTrek has become the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the United States. With 1 million members, GirlTrek encourages women to use walking as a practical first step to inspire healthy living, families, and communities. As women organize walking teams, they mobilize community members to support monthly advocacy efforts and lead a civil rights-inspired health movement.
Beyond walking, GirlTrek’s active members support local and national policy to increase physical activity through walking, improve access to safe places to walk, protect and reclaim green spaces, and improve the walkability and built environments of 50 high-need communities across the United States.
To find out more about GirlTrek, visit their website. Donate to GirlTrek here.
Greening Youth Foundation
Greening Youth Foundation’s (GYF) mission is to engage under-represented youth and young adults, and facilitate potential jobs and careers related to the outdoors and conservation. From environmental education to internships, GYF exposes youth to healthy lifestyle choices in order to create an overall healthy community. Through partnerships with land management agencies, GYF provides service and internship opportunities for youth and young adults, with the goal of leading to conservation careers. Check out their website gyfoundation.org and social media channels to learn more about the stories and contributions of these amazing young people!
To find out more about Greening Youth Foundation, visit their website. Donate to Greening Youth Foundation here.
Native Women’s Wilderness
Native Women’s Wilderness’ mission is
To inspire and raise the voices of Native Women in the Outdoor Realm.
To encourage a healthy lifestyle within the Wilderness.
To provide education of the Ancestral Lands and its People.
Outdoor enthusiast Jaylyn Gough founded Native Women's Wilderness in 2017 as an Instagram group
She was frustrated by the lack of representation for both women and Native Americans in outdoor spaces. She also sought recognition for the Native roots of public lands.
To find out more about Native Women’s Wilderness, visit their website. Donate to Native Women’s Wilderness here.
Big City Mountaineers
In the past 30+ years, this Colorado-based organization has given more than 10,000 young people from underrepresented urban communities the opportunity to “connect with nature and develop their strengths, skills and resilience.”
Big City Mountaineers offers professionally led, fully outfitted and free backcountry trips to kids aged 8 to 18.
On these immersive trips into nature, whether they’re overnight camping experiences or week-long expeditions, these young participants uncover their own sources of physical, emotional and psychological strength and resilience, finding confidence, serenity and joy in the process. They push themselves in ways they never could in cities, while the social, physical and mental barriers they face are also thoughtfully addressed.
To find out more about Big City Mountaineers, visit their website. Donate to Big City Mountaineers here.
Latino Outdoors
Latino Outdoors strives to make the outdoors a safe and welcoming place for all people, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, ability, language, and nationality. This extends beyond their outdoor programming to their core values as an organization, especially one that understands the history and power of public policy and legislation in protecting public lands and landscapes that we enjoy today, but that many times came at the expense of communities that were marginalized and displaced. Latino Outdoors welcomes the full spectrum of people and stands in solidarity with all individuals, organizations, and societies that uphold this value.
To find out more about Latino Outdoors, visit their website. Donate to Latino Outdoors here.
Outdoor Afro
Outdoor Afro has more than 100 leaders in 56 cities and connects 40,000+ people to nature annually. Each volunteer leader creates and guides monthly trips and fosters collaborations to strengthen connections with the outdoors. Their organization reconnects Black people with nature through recreational activities including hiking, birding, fishing, kayaking, gardening, and more – in a similar style, you would do if you were taking family members out. They work to harness the value of connecting people and connecting people to nature, in the same conversation.
Outdoor Afro also works to disrupt the false perception that Black People do not have a relationship with nature.
To find out more about Outdoor Afro, visit their website. Donate to Outdoor Afro here.
Hike Clerb
Hike Clerb is an intersectional women's hiking club, working at the intersection of social justice and environmental activism. Evelynn Escobar founded the group in 2017 to help Black, Indigenous, and other women of color access the healing power of nature.
Hike Clerb creates a safe space for BIPOC women in the outdoors by venturing out in numbers on monthly hikes. The non-profit organization also gives away National Parks Passes and provides free gear by partnering with clothing brands.
To find out more about Hike Clerb, visit their website. Donate to Hike Clerb here.
Indigenous Environmental Network
Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN’s activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
IEN convenes local, regional and national meetings on environmental and economic justice issues, and provides support, resources and referral to Indigenous communities and youth throughout primarily North America – and in recent years – globally.
To find out more about Indigenous Environmental Network, visit their website. Donate to Indigenous Environmental Network here.
Soul River Inc.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Soul River Inc. focuses on “bringing veterans as mentors and inner city youth together into the wild rivers of nature.”
The organization’s hope is to educate, inspire and encourage urban kids to become environmental advocates. These youth learn about, experience and connect with Mother Nature through immersive activities in the outdoors, guided and inspired by veteran mentors.
Uniting U.S. military veterans and urban youth in nature offers incredible benefits to both groups, who might not connect with one another otherwise.
To find out more about Soul River Inc, visit their website. Donate to Soul River Inc here.
Cultural Survival
Cultural Survival works toward a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance.
With your support, Cultural Survival empowers and supports Indigenous Peoples to advocate for their rights — human rights, the right to participate and have a voice, the right to practice their cultures and speak their languages, the right to access the same opportunities as others, and the right to control and sustainably manage their assets and resources — so that they may determine for themselves the future they will lead.
To find out more about Cultural Survival visit their website. Donate to Cultural Survival here.
Climate Justice Alliance
Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force utilizing Just Transition as a path forward.
Just Transition is a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative one. This means approaching production and consumption cycles holistically and waste free. The transition itself must be just and equitable; redressing past harms and creating new relationships of power for the future through reparations.
To find out more about Climate Justice Alliance visit their website. Donate to Climate Justice Alliance here.
Native Conservancy
The Native Conservancy was established in 2003 to empower Alaska Native peoples to permanently protect and preserve endangered habitats on their ancestral homelands. They strive to maintain and secure titles to Native lands in conservation trusts to strengthen their inherentrights of sovereignty, subsistence and spirituality.
Native Conservancy’s reason for being is to protect and restore Alaska Native ecosystems for coastal communities. Native Conservancy is the very first Native-led, Native-owned land conservancy in the United States.
To learn more about Native Conservancy visit their website. Donate to Native Conservancy here.
Wild Diversity
Wild Diversity is a nonprofit organization that aims to help create a personal connection to the outdoors for Black, Indigenous, all People of Color (BIPOC) & the LGBTQ2S+ communities, through outdoor adventures and education.
Wild Diversity’s goal is to welcome and create a sense of belonging in the outdoors for the BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities. Through outdoor adventures and guiding they work to build community, through workshops and their gear library they provide resources, all to better equip the next generation by creating equitable access and education to the outdoors for youth of color, and queer, trans and low-income youth.
To learn more about Wild Diversity visit their website. Donate to Wild Diversity here.
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. (NIWRC) is a Native-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending violence against Native women and children. The NIWRC provides national leadership in ending gender-based violence in tribal communities by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty.
Safety for Native women and their children relies on the ability of Indigenous nations to reclaim their pre-colonization belief systems and lifeways by which they governed themselves long before the United States was established as a nation. Unlike non-Indian communities – where county or city governments have authority to investigate and prosecute both misdemeanor and felony crimes against women – federal legislation, case law, and policies have left tribes with far less legal authority and resources to protect their citizens. This reality effectively denies Native women access to justice and culturally appropriate services and subsequently prevents them from living free from violence.
To learn more about NIWRC visit their website. Donate to NIWRC here.
Out There Adventures
Out There Adventures is a 501(C)(3) adventure Education Organization committed to fostering positive identity development, individual empowerment, and improved quality of life for queer young people through professionally facilitated experiential education activities.
With programs like the Yosemite Backpacking to San Francisco Urban Service for LGBTQ+ Young Adults, Oregon Rafting & Service for LGBTQ+ Young Adults, and The LGBTQ Inclusion Crew, they are making a difference in the lives of Queer Young People.
To learn more about Out There Adventures visit their website. Donate to Out There Adventures here.
Justice Outside
Known as Youth Outside, prior to June 2021, Justice Outside advocates for racial justice and equity in the outdoor and environmental movement. Justice Outside envisions a just world where Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color experience safety, health and abundant joy through meaningful relationships with one another and the outdoors.
Working to remove barriers that have historically prevented Communities of Color from accessing meaningful experiences and professional opportunities in the outdoors, the organization has been cultivating outdoor programming for those most impacted by racial injustice.
As an organization, Justice Outside seeks to empower voices, create leadership, and to help facilitate healing and growth around the outdoors and outdoor related experiences for Communities of Color.
To learn more about Justice Outside visit their website. Donate to Justice Outside here.
The Outdoorist Oath
Founded by Teresa Baker, José González, and Pattie Gonia, the Outdoorist Oath is here to support a different and healthier outdoors.
This Oath itself is a commitment to action any outdoorist can take to support our planet, inclusion, and adventure.
The Outdoorist Oath (The Oath), is a new organization dedicated to sharing a FREE education model for all outdoorists to unlearn, learn, and be in community with others advocating for people and the planet. The Oath and its founders believe individual outdoorists (you+me!) hold the power, privilege, and opportunity to collectively shape the future of the outdoors.
The Oath encourages individuals to ask; how can I be a better steward of the landscapes I recreate in? How can I play a part in making the outdoors feel more inclusive to all individuals? In what ways does my everyday life support the protection of outdoor spaces for years to come?e way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
To learn more about The Oath visit their website. Donate to The Oath here.
Children & Nature Network
In 2005, author and Children & Nature Network co-founder Richard Louv published his groundbreaking book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
While Nature-Deficit Disorder is not a medical diagnosis, professionals who work with children from teachers, to coaches, to doctors recognize its profound impact on children. The phrase caught on and serves as a rallying cry for an international movement of cross-sector leaders working to make sure that children have equitable access to nature, highlighting nature’s critical role in children’s healthy development — and the belief that all children deserve to benefit from regular time spent playing and learning outdoors.
The main mission of Children and Nature network is to increase equitable access to nature so that children–and the natural world–can thrive. Driven by practices of equity, inclusion, and diversity, this incredible organization is helping children to have access to the benefits of nature everywhere they live, learn and play.
To learn more about Children & Nature Network visit their website. Donate to Children & Nature Network here.
Brave Trails
Brave Trails is a national non-profit organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth leadership. They offer accredited summer camps, backpacking trips, family camps, mental health services, meet-up groups, and year-round leadership programming.
All of their programs focus on helping LGBTQ+ youth find what they need most to thrive: their people, their place, and their passion. Nothing makes the folks at Brave Trails more proud than seeing our youth take the skills they gain in our programs and use them to create meaningful change in their communities.
Join us in supporting this amazing organization that is changing lives, supporting queer youth, and helping to make an impact through their outreach.
To learn more about Brave Trails visit their website. Donate to Brave Trails here.
Disabled Hikers
Founded in March 2018 by Syren Nagakyrie, Disabled Hikers aims to build disability community and justice in the outdoors in hopes of a future outdoor culture transformed by representation, access, and justice for Disabled and all other marginalized people.
Disabled Hikers believes that the outdoors is for everyone, and values community, justice, and access above all. Their work includes: writing trail guides, leading group hikes, consulting with parks and organizations, presenting at workshops, featuring articles and podcasts, maintaining a website and social media presence, and advocating for social change.
To learn more about Disabled Hikers visit their website. Donate to Disabled Hikers here.
SheJumps
Founded in 2007, SheJumps coalesced around the idea of, "If she can do it, so can I." SheJumps hosts events across the U.S. that offer a wide variety of outdoor activities ranging from wilderness survival and mountaineering to technical maintenance and skill-building clinics in a variety of disciplines. These events are educational and help women and girls to become self-sufficient in the outdoors.
Along with core values including courage, growth, connection, and leadership, SheJumps is committed to establishing specific goals and objectives related to justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (JEDI) and expressing that commitment in all interactions across the organization.
To learn more about SheJumps visit their website. Donate to SheJumps here.
Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E.
Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E seeks to build momentum for the creation of a national equity fund that will ensure long term investments in programs to serve all youth with opportunities to explore the great outdoors. With a diverse team of partners that head other major outdoor nonprofits, the team of Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. is led by people with lived experiences in different communities across the country.
The commitment to diversity in leadership and through its outreach as well as working together to coalition build for a brighter and more inclusive future for the outdoors for all makes Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E an organization well worth time and support.
To learn more about Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. visit their website. Donate to Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. here.
Edge Outdoors
EDGE Outdoors is a powerful initiative created to address the invisibility of Black, Indigenous, Women of Color in snow sports. Their dynamic initiative tackles the underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (cis, trans, queer) in snow sports and helps to elevate them to new heights.
Along with introducing people to snow sports they seek to revolutionize the landscape and help to create opportunities for women of color to not only recreate but to become leaders in the outdoors, specifically on the slopes. Their work helps to undo past discriminatory practices that were designed to exclude people of color, specifically women, from mountain spaces. er it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
To learn more about Edge Outdoors visit their website. Donate to Edge Outdoors here.
Rios to Rivers
Ríos to Rivers inspires the protection of rivers worldwide by investing in underserved and indigenous youth who are intimately connected to their local waters and support them in the development as the next generation of environmental stewards
Founded in 2012, Ríos to Rivers programs have connected 234 underserved and indigenous students from 20 endangered river basins in seven countries. The programs have included students and community leaders from 21 indigenous nations.
Rios to Rivers envisions a world in which youth who are intimately connected to their local waters and tribal communities are equipped to become the next generation of passionate leaders for healthy rivers and communities.
To learn more about Rios to Rivers visit their website. Donate to Rios to Rivers here.