We at The North Face love the outdoors. It’s in our DNA and it defines us as a company. It’s where we develop character, confidence, clear minds, healthy bodies, and respect for nature. We believe in sharing this passion by enabling all types of exploration- from your backyard to the Himalayan Peaks. This passion is the catalyst behind The North Face® Explore Fund™. Our goal is to inspire and enable the next generation of explorers by funding non-profit organizations that are working to re-connect children with nature.
The Explore Fund supports organizations that encourage youth outdoor participation, focusing primarily on:
- Creating more connections of children to nature.
- Increasing access to both front and backcountry recreation.
- Providing experiential education for both personal and environmental health.
To maximize the impact of The Explore Fund, we limit our grants to those applications that comply with the following guidelines:
- Organizations that have a 501c3 status.
- Proposals that include community demographics, estimated number of participants and anticipated outcomes.
- Proposals that encourage community involvement.
- Proposals that are quantifiable with specific goals, objectives, action plans and a clear measure for evaluating success.
- Programs that have measurable results and momentum over a fairly short time frame :: six to nine months or up to a year, dependent on level and timing of funding.
- All funding requests should be quantifiable with specific goals, objectives, and action plans, with a clear measure for evaluating success.
- Programs that focus on breaking down barriers to getting youth outdoors.
- Programs that speak to a specific audience and community or place of interest.
- Most importantly, programs that promote exploration.
