Nonprofit Spotlight: The Conservation Alliance

Outdoor Prolink partners with nonprofits every year to give back to organizations we align with. To honor these amazing nonprofits, we’re spotlighting each one and sharing why you should care about their missions too.

The Conservation Alliance is on a mission to engage businesses to fund and partner with organizations to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values. We had a chance to get the full scoop on the organization and we’re spilling the beans on what makes The Conservation Alliance so amazing:

What’s the story behind The Conservation Alliance?

The Conservation Alliance is a coalition of over 270 like-minded member companies who pool resources to fund and advocate for the protection of North America’s cherished wild places and outdoor spaces. Through the collective power of their membership – companies from a range of industries – from the outdoor industry to brewers, bankers, sportsmen, and renewable energy – take bold steps to conserve wild public lands and waters. Since 1989, they’ve awarded over $33.1 million in grants and helped protect over 124 million acres and 4,964 river miles, remove or halt 41 dams, purchase 22 climbing areas & designate five marine reserves.

We were created in 1989 by Patagonia, The North Face, REI, and Kelty who came together with the shared recognition that the business community needed to do more to support the protection of wild places. As a group of outdoor brands, they recognized that they not only had a responsibility to make sure that these outdoor landscapes were protected, but that their businesses were built around their customers having places to explore and use their products.

The Conservation Alliance now has a two-pronged approach to our model:

Grant-making 

Conservation only works when it’s a key ingredient of the local economy, culture, and community. Every year, The Conservation Alliance awards millions in funding for conservation projects. From California to Alaska, Montreal to Texas, our alliance of businesses is investing in community-led organizations who are committed to protecting clean air, clean water, wild places, and watersheds across North America.

Advocacy

It was a little over a decade ago when we realized that what made the Alliance truly unique within the conservation landscape was that we were (and still are) the largest coalition of businesses solely focused on land and water conservation throughout North America. With that, we recognized that we had a massive opportunity to leverage the voices of business leaders that could speak to the fact that their business, and therefore the jobs they create and their contributions to the economy, depend on intact landscapes where people recreate.

What sets The Conservation Alliance apart?

The Alliance represents the largest coalition of businesses working to both fund and advocate for the protection of wild places throughout North America. We have maintained our laser focus on our support coming from the business community with the emphasis on using our funding to support the grassroots conservation community. 

What are some upcoming initiatives The Conservation Alliance is working on?

Each year, The Conservation Alliance and its members select priority campaigns. These conservation opportunities are urgent, vital, and require national attention. Our priority campaigns may address competing demands for natural resources, focus on adapting to climate change, or recognize the right of indigenous communities to name a few. Priority campaigns and grantees on-the-ground receive additional resources from TCA and member companies in the form of special projects, meetings with decision makers or lobbying trips to DC, funding for in-person events or paid marketing, and more.

We’re proud to say that a number of our 2024 priority campaigns have already been completed, while we’re still working hard to get some, including the designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument and the protection of the Dolores River Canyon Country, across the finish line by the end of the year.We’re also looking ahead to 2025 and beyond and to consider what landscapes we will prioritize protecting in the future and what projects we might need to defend from incoming threats. We recently launched the Land and Water Defense Fund, which is a program that awards discretionary grants and funds TCA’s advocacy efforts to defend our conservation priorities when wild places and outdoor spaces are threatened.

How can the people of the outdoor industry support the work The Conservation Alliance is doing?

Our members are our strength and businesses are a powerful voice for conservation. The larger our collective, the greater our impact. The Conservation Alliance elevates and amplifies our member’s voices on critical conservation issues of regional and national importance. First and foremost, we encourage businesses that rely on the outdoors to join our movement and become members of The Conservation Alliance. Once members, companies and their employees will have the power to help decide what projects we fund through our member-directed grants. We also encourage employees to participate in our corporate advocacy work by taking action on critical campaigns, joining us at on-the-ground events in the landscapes that we’re working to protect, or amplifying our work through marketing and communications.

If The Conservation Alliance was an ice cream flavor, which flavor would it be and why?

Rocky Road – Our road to success can be bumpy and difficult to navigate at times, yet when it all comes together it can yield some incredible results.