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Since 2010, we’ve been creating access and driving equity in the outdoors by funding hundreds of organisations around two main themes: Enabling Exploration and Loving Wild Places.

ENABLING EXPLORATION

Exploration is within everyone, but some face more barriers than others. By removing obstacles and empowering people, we change the way we think about the outdoors, ourselves and our place on the planet. We open ourselves to the wide range of cultures and experiences that shape us.

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LOVING WILD PLACES

For over 50 years, we’ve worked to protect wild places and create connections to outdoor playgrounds, both on mountaintops and in city parks. There is incredible value in the physical and mental benefits of exploring the outdoors, and we want that opportunity to be open to all, now and in the future.

OUR WORK

EARTH WEEK

Protecting the wild,
one piece of litter at a time.

Every year, we support partners around the world to remove as much single-use pollution as possible from the outdoors. In 2023, we picked litter everywhere from local parks to wild places.

474 Km of trails cleaned

798 Participants engaged

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

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PRIDE

Out
in nature.

Everyone should feel at home in nature. And to make sure they do, we partner with organisations across Europe that are spreading inclusivity and connection in the outdoors during Pride month and throughout the rest of the year.

MEET
THE ORGANISATIONS

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EXPLORE FUND COUNCIL

Creatives.
Scholars.
Outdoor leaders.
Athletes.

The Explore Fund Council brings together from all walks of life to find creative solutions and celebrate all the ways we as humans explore.

LEARN MORE

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CLIMATE CRISIS

Taking Action
with Protect Our Winters.

The Explore Fund exists to drive access to outdoor spaces. But without change, the climate crisis puts those spaces at risk. That’s why we joined forces with Protect Our Winters and other committed partners from the outdoor industry to explore new ways of reducing our impact and push for bolder action at last year’s COP27 summit.

FIND OUT MORE
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ENABLING EXPLORATION

Opening Up The Outdoors.

Founded in 2021, Opening Up The Outdoors (OUTO) is a not-for-profit initiative that aims to make sure that everyone, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual identity of physical ability is welcomed and included when they step outside. The North Face is proud to be a founding member and enduring ally of OUTO.

DISCOVER OUTO

OUR PARTNERS

TRASH FREE TRAILS UNITED KINGDOM

Trash Free Trails is a non-profit organisation that runs trail cleans in open spaces and wild places throughout the UK. On a mission to reconnect people with nature through the simple yet meaningful act of removing single use pollution, the ‘TrashMob’ community is open and inclusive for all who want to leave a positive trace on their local trails and the wild places they take us.

PATRON PLASTICFREE PEAKS GERMANY

Patron Plasticfree Peaks is an inclusive community of climbers, riders, mountaineers and engineers who advocate for a more conscious relationship between adventurers and the outdoors. By organising clean up days across Europe, they seek to realise their vision of pristine nature undisturbed by pollution. And in 2022 alone, they have cleaned over 7,000km of trails.

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CLEANALP ITALY

CleanALP is a project run by the European Research Institute. Its aim is to safeguard high altitude alpine habitat, one of the last remaining pristine environments in southern Europe and home to many threatened species. The project will organise 40 events involving around 2,000 people and cleaning up 500km of trails, alpine lake shores, creeks, grassland and boulder fields.

MOUNTAIN RIDERS FRANCE

Set up by skiers and snowboarders to raise awareness of pollution in the mountains, Mountain Riders is a collective of over 3,500 volunteers spread across 55 ski resorts. Every year, they run clean-up events throughout the French Alps, removing countless tonnes of litter from high mountain environments and raising awareness in local communities.

SUMMIT FOUNDATION SWITZERLAND

Summit Foundation is an environmental, non-profit NGO based in Switzerland. For 20 years, it has organised information campaigns and waste collection events with the aim of reducing the amount of waste in natural environments, especially in the mountains. Since 2001, the group has removed more than 160 tonnes of waste from natural environments.

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MEET THE ORGANISATIONS

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UNITED KINGDOM

Operating throughout the UK, Outdoorlads runs a range of social outdoor activities for gay, bi and trans guys in the outdoors. Fun, friendly and accepting are the cornerstones of all their events and their members take pride in being a part of the OutdoorLads community.

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ITALY

Italy’s main LGBTQ+ non-profit organisation, Arci Gay has been fighting for equality since its creation in 1985. Their mission is to promote and protect equal rights and reaffirm the principles and relationships of solidarity.

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GERMANY

Founded in Munich in 1986, Gay Outdoor Club is the gay and lesbian section of the German Alpine Club. It runs a whole host of outdoor activities focused on experiencing and enjoying the outdoors together, regardless of sexual orientation, gender and identity.

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FRANCE

Chamonix-based Le Gloss is a meeting place for outdoor lovers from the LGBTQ+ community. It hosts both winter and summer activities designed to bring people together to experience nature and discover what they’re capable of.

2021 EXPLORE FUND COUNCIL