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Outside Magazine February 2005

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Destinations: Adventure Altruism
Giving Large (cont.)


	i-to-i in Costa Rica (courtesy, i to i)

Horny Toad
805-957-1474 | www.hornytoad.com
Horny Toad's outdoor clothing and accessories are shipped by folks who otherwise might have trouble finding sustainable employment. Through the Planet Access program, developed in partnership with Chicago's Search Development Center in 1998, Horny Toad's main distribution warehouse, in Waukegan, Illinois, is staffed entirely by developmentally disabled employees.

i-to-i
800-985-4864 | www.i-to-i.com
The latest additions to i-to-i's long list of volunteer vacations: coaching basketball, tennis, and soccer at schools and orphanages in Ghana, India, Tanzania, and Thailand. This decade-old company also offers three-week to six-month community development projects where travelers can earn Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification while working with hearing-impaired children in Bolivia or helping out at a hospital in Mongolia.

Lindblad Expeditions
800-397-3348 | www.expeditions.com
Known for its eco-conscious, naturalist-led island expeditions, this small-ship cruise operator raises more than $450,000 in traveler donations yearly. Its incentive: Travelers who give $250 or more to causes like the Galápagos Conservation Fund or the Opening Hearts Project, which supports a village of Tarahumara Indians in Mexico's Copper Canyon, get a matching discount on their next voyage.

L.L. Bean
800-441-5731 | www.llbean.com
Freeport, Maine–based L.L. Bean works to keep the Pine Tree State pristine. Since 1999, the company has distributed $3 million to local conservation and recreation groups, including the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and the Appalachian Trail Conference. Employees do their part, too—they've volunteered 31,000 hours over the past 25 years to maintain a remote section of the grand old footpath.

Altruistic Alliances
Outdoor-industry leaders—many of which are mentioned in these pages—have a tradition of banding together to protect our country's most pristine playgrounds. The CONSERVATION ALLIANCE (303-262-3322, www.conservationalliance.com)—with 75 current members, from gear makers to vacation lodges—supports grassroots environmental groups that fight development in North America's wildlands. Since 1989, the alliance has awarded more than $4 million to nonprofits like West Virginia's Friends of the Blackwater. Founded in 1990, the ACCESS FUND (303-545-6772, www.accessfund.org) works with land-management agencies and environmental organizations to protect climbing areas and develop environment-friendly climbing policies in places like Joshua Tree National Park and Idaho's Castle Rock State Park. The fund's 200 corporate partners include equipment manufacturers, retailers, and climbing gyms.

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