Together Outdoors announced two recipients for its Inclusive Micro-Grant Program, Color My Outdoors and Rising Routes.
A program of Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, Together Outdoors’ Inclusive Micro-Grant Program grows capacity for small and rural grassroots organizations that are key to creating a more inclusive and welcoming outdoor recreation environment for all. Through the administration of this program, Together Outdoors has gained firsthand knowledge of how substantial the need is for capacity-building support among small-scale grassroots organizations that are instrumental in bridging the outdoor “adventure gap” but often cannot compete for conventional funding due to resource-intensive application and reporting requirements.
In a recent webinar, and as will be shared in the upcoming business learning guide on trust-based grantmaking, Together Outdoors outlines the disparities in outdoor recreation grant-giving and shares innovative approaches through trust-based philanthropic practices to help reach and support more community-based organizations in outdoor recreation.
“Philanthropy is a powerful mechanism to help more people access the outdoors, but there is more we must do to ensure smaller organizations that serve diverse and underrepresented communities aren’t being left behind because of onerous granting requirements. That’s why we set up our program using trust-based granting principles that are aimed at disrupting biases embedded in traditional grantmaking,” said Ambreen Tariq, senior program director at Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and Together Outdoors Coalition Lead.
“I know firsthand how transformative it can be when organizations are empowered to break down barriers to help people enjoy the outdoors. Together Outdoors’ Inclusive Micro-Grant Program does just that—giving grassroots organizations the resources they need to bring more people, especially those who’ve felt excluded, into nature. This funding helps create not just moments of joy, but lasting connections between communities and the outdoors, fostering a love for nature that transcends generations,” said Jil Littlejohn Bostick, vice president, corporate responsibility and inclusion for Winnebago Industries, which supplied funding to support the grants.
Color My Outdoors plans to dedicate the funding received through the grant to its emergency relief efforts in the Southeast. “Color My Outdoors’ Resilience Relief Fund recognizes the incredible resilience marginalized communities face, especially during economic and natural disasters like the recent devastation from Hurricane Helene. Because of programs like the Together Outdoors, Color My Outdoors can continue its work to provide Black and Brown people access to nature spaces throughout the South,” said Simone Adams, founder and executive director of Color My Outdoors.
“To expand access to nature’s benefits—especially for underserved communities—we must better understand the technical and financial needs of outdoor education and recreation organizations who are leading this work,” said Jason Swann, founder of Rising Routes. “Funding from Together Outdoors will help us do this research in Colorado, fostering collaboration among government, nonprofits and businesses to increase resources statewide. This work will also help develop a replicable template for other states, using research to drive equity-focused public policies, planning and programs that ensures the needs of communities are being heard and met.”
Color My Outdoors and Rising Routes join the 2024 cohort of Together Outdoors’ Inclusive Micro-Grant Program awardees, who include nine organizations selected earlier this year, to receive a total of $80,000 in grant funding.
For more information, please visit the Together Outdoors website.