Conservation Alliance
“Engage the outdoor industry to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values.”
The origin
How they started
The Conservation Alliance is the outdoor industry’s pooled checkbook for protecting public land: member companies pay dues, and the money goes out as grants to grassroots groups running campaigns to protect wild places and rivers. Kelty, Patagonia, REI, and The North Face founded it in 1989, and it has since grown to hundreds of member companies that have directed more than $20 million to conservation groups across North America. It backs the local fights that actually move land protections. It’s based in Bend, Oregon.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “THE MISSION OF THE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE IS TO HARNESS THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF BUSINESS AND OUTDOOR COMMUNITIES TO FUND AND ADVOCATE FOR THE PROTECTION OF NORTH AMERICA'S WILD PLACES.”
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
The work as filed
$2.2MTO SUPPORT NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROMOTE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT WITH AN EMPHASIS FOR NORTH AMERICA’S WILD PLACES.
Including $1,354,930 granted onward.
Read it as they filed it
TO SUPPORT NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROMOTE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT WITH AN EMPHASIS FOR NORTH AMERICA'S WILD PLACES.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
71 cents of every dollar goes to the work
Read it as a snapshot, not a scorecard. Splits move year to year with grants and campaigns, and healthy shops live all across this range.
Backed on the record by Resources Legacy Fund and Wilderness Society, latest filing FY23.
$2,151,562 programs, $698,469 management, $170,518 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at Conservation Alliance? Claim this page.
Those 16 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If Conservation Alliance is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Make it 17The record
The court record
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $1,759,395 |
| 2012 | $2,483,005 |
| 2013 | $2,643,870 |
| 2014 | $2,368,295 |
| 2015 | $1,786,436 |
| 2016 | $2,319,060 |
| 2017 | $3,034,049 |
| 2018 | $2,395,797 |
| 2019 | $3,375,082 |
| 2020 | $3,239,140 |
| 2021 | $3,428,997 |
| 2022 | $2,865,320 |
| 2023 | $1,952,342 |
| 2024 | $2,956,056 |
From $1.8M in 2011 to $3.0M in FY24, with no missed filing in 14 years.
Fights alongside Cottonwood Environmental Law Center (1 shared case). Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
Their ground
The places they defend
See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
Ways in
How to help
71 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with Conservation Alliance
37 years on the ground, 16 volunteers, 1 live lawsuit, 71 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.