WE BELIEVE IN SHARING OUR PASSION FOR THE OUTDOORS BY ENABLING ALL TYPES OF EXPLORATION - FROM YOUR BACKYARD TO THE HIMALAYAN PEAKS
We depend on a vast web of people, places and institutions to support our business and to extend our mission. Our corporate philanthropy provides a tangible means for us to give back to the communities we touch and to support the organizations that share our vision. Our giving priorities are an extension of our brand identity; we focus on giving to programs that enable people to participate in outdoor activities and that protect the natural world. We also encourage our athletes to give back to the people in the areas where their expeditions are based.
The North Face has established specific funding vehicles such as The Explore Fund and Explore Your Parks that extend our outdoor participation missions. We also provide important support to outdoor and conservation organizations through membership fees and through donations.
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA)
Established in 2006 with the vision of helping conserve wild places and ecosystems for future generations, The North Face is one of over 100 organisations that supports conservation projects worldwide through the EOCA. Every Association member can nominate up to three projects every year for grants of up to €30,000. The EOCA employs a rigorous screening process to ensure that grants support the most effective conservation organizations.
To date, the EOCA has awarded more than €1.75m of vital funding to over 70 projects in 36 countries across the globe. The diverse array of projects have included the establishment of an environmental trail in Nepal, clean-up operations on a mountain peak in Kyrgyzstan, the protection of brown bears in northern Spain, replanting of native 'virgin' forest in the Czech Republic, and the creation of a trans-boundary hiking trail in Macedonia and Albania.
Product Donations
We work with charities such as In Kind Direct in the UK and Clothes4Souls in the United States that disperse goods to people in need. In partnership with In Kind Direct, since 2010 The North Face has donated over £500,000 of clothing to over 350 voluntary and community organisations. Among those who have benefitted are youth charities, local community groups, disabled people’s groups, and homeless shelters.
We also provide product donations in response to disasters. For example, our Asian office helped earthquake-ravaged areas in western China and the United States office provided tents and other products after the earthquake in Haiti.
The Conservation Alliance
Funded by the outdoor industry, The Conservation Alliance raises annual contributions from outdoor companies and directs those funds to grassroots, conservation organizations to support their efforts to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values. The North Face helped to found the Conservation Alliance in 1989 and donates annually. In 2008, we helped to develop and have contributed one million dollars over four years to the Legacy Fund, a campaign to raise an endowment to provide a permanent source of operational funding for the organization.