Giving Guide: Outdoor Orgs, Mutual-Aid, Educators & Essential Workers

Our 2020 Giving Guide

Generosity and compassion might feel a little far away in a year that’s been so fraught with divisiveness and physical separation—but we can’t overlook that it’s also been a landmark year for social action, learning, and figuring out creative ways to make and maintain connections. 

So to thank the people who’ve helped us learn, who’ve helped our communities continue to operate, and who’ve continued to show up, we have some creative ideas for #GivingTuesday this year:

Support organizations doing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work in the outdoors

This is important every year—but after all the anti-racism activism of 2020, it feels even more pressing to offer support for organizations who’ve specifically been investing in people of color, affinity groups, and working to increase accessibility to the outdoors for all. 

Some organizations to support:

• Latino Outdoors
• Outdoor Afro
• Native Women’s Wilderness
• OUT There Adventures
• The Venture Out Project
• Vamos Afuera / Get Out, Stay Out
• Outdoor Outreach
• Brooklyn Boulders Foundation
• Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps
• The Cairn Project
• Charles Roundtree Bloom Project
• Brown Girl Surf

Remember that support isn’t just about monetary donations. Donating outdoor gear and other items that they need can be incredibly helpful, too. Figure out what organizations need apart from funds (whether that be sport-specific gear or volunteers) and offer what you can. 

Pay people you’re learning from online

Have you learned a lot from social media this year? Us too. The people behind those accounts have done a lot of work for us, so if we’re able, saying ‘thank you’ by sending funds their way is an amazing way to support the work they’ve done that we are benefiting from—and hopefully will also help them continue to do it. 

We’ve learned a lot from:

• @she_colorsnature
• @irietoaurora 
• @wildginaa
• @nativein_la
• @caliwolf
• @laura.edmondson
• @bleavitt88
• @aroundtheworldinkatydays

Get involved with mutual-aid

Mutual-aid is a form of solidarity-based support, in which communities unite against a common struggle—so this can mean a lot of different things. This year during the pandemic, it’s meant a lot of people rallying together to distribute food and prescription medication to vulnerable strangers, among other things. 

The philosophy is that everyone has something to contribute, and everyone has something they need. It feels radical in its simplicity. To find local mutual-aid projects and get involved, you might need to dig through Google to find out what exists near you—or you can reference AOC’s Toolkit for Mutual Aid 101 and start your own network.

Thank your essential workers

It’s more important than ever to thank the people like your postal workers, medical staff, children’s teachers, etc. who’ve been on the front lines of keeping society in operation this year. It has not been business as usual, but they’ve still showed up. A generous tip or gift card might pair well with a heartfelt thank you. 

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Banner image by Hailey Hirst