Patagonia Community Raises $10 Million for the Planet in 17 Days, Company Will Match

Patagonia Community Raises $10 Million for the Planet in 17 Days, Company Will Match 

Local communities across the US and Europe contribute to grassroots groups on the front lines of the environmental crisis 

VENTURA, Calif. — Patagonia announced today that its community raised $10 million in donations to 1,043 grassroots environmental organizations in 17 days. On Black Friday, Patagonia committed to match individual donations made between November 29 and December 31, 2019, to a $10 million limit. “We’re energized by our community’s response,” said Lisa Pike Sheehy, who leads Patagonia’s environmental activism team. “Together we made history—in 17 days, our community raised $10 million for environmental nonprofits. This is extraordinary generosity to some of the most deserving and underappreciated efforts to save the planet.”

Donations were made through Patagonia Action Works, a platform that connects individuals with local grassroots organizations to take action on the most pressing issues facing the world today.  In the US, environmental nonprofits receive only three percent of philanthropic giving, yet climate change is our biggest existential threat. 

"Thanks to Patagonia's donation matching, we can launch environmental campaigns in up to five more countries next year, resulting in new laws that protect rivers, oceans and forests," said Earth Law Center's executive director and directing attorney, Grant Wilson. "We will also be able to train thousands more lawyers and judges on ecological-based legal movements that can save the planet. Patagonia's impact is momentous."

Executive director of the Conservation Lands Foundation, Brian Sybert, said, “Patagonia's donation match is a phenomenal end-of-year boost for Conservation Lands Foundation. It has brought us new donors and doubled major gifts. All of which will help make sure our Friends Grassroots Network—70 community-based groups throughout the West and in Alaska—has the capacity and resources to hold the line against the Trump administration's aggressive campaign to weaken protections and reduce public input on dozens of iconic public lands that they want to hand over to oil and gas development." 

Betsy Weber, assistant director at the Environmental Defense Center, said, “With this incredible support from Patagonia, the Environmental Defense Center will remain strong in our fight to prevent a tripling of onshore oil production in Santa Barbara County, to stop the Trump administration from expanding oil drilling and fracking off our coast, and to move forward with offshore renewable energy. These matching funds are providing EDC a huge boost to ensure we have the resources to continue to fight and win in the year ahead.” 

“The Patagonia match was a game changer for Native Fish Society. This was our largest year-end fundraiser—even before the match! Ending strong means we can start even stronger in our work in 2020 to revive abundant wild fish across the Pacific Northwest. Your support matters and wild fish matter, “said Mark Sherwood, executive director of Native Fish Society. 

Eloise Russo, the executive director of City Kids Wilderness Project, said, “The Patagonia Action Works match opportunity has been truly extraordinary for City Kids and has inspired our community to support our work in unprecedented ways. As a small organization, this additional support is truly transformational and will allow us to focus on what we do best: providing high-impact outdoor adventure and leadership development programming for DC youth.”    

Tens of thousands of individual donors contributed to the $20 million donation, which will go to over one thousand organizations in the US and Europe. The majority of these groups have limited staff and modest annual budgets. 

In addition to its $10 million donation match, Patagonia will donate, as it has for more than 30 years, one percent of its 2019 sales to nearly 1,200 grantees. To date, the company has donated more than $110 million to nonprofits working on environmental problems facing communities and the planet.

Patagonia President and CEO Rose Marcario’s relevant post on LinkedIn: HERE

About Patagonia We’re in business to save our home planet.
Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, California. A Certified B-Corporation, the company is recognized internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism—and its contributions of more than $110 million in grants and in-kind donations to date.

Contacts

PatagoniaPress@patagonia.com

This holiday season, give the gift of giving: Donate to environmental protectors

From Black Friday through the end of the year, Patagonia is matching all donations made through Patagonia Action Works

Nov. 26, 2019

VENTURA, Calif. — Patagonia is making it easy for you to give to your favorite environmental group in the name of a loved one (including your holdout uncle who refuses to believe in climate science). And, even better, Patagonia will match your donation.  

Environmental nonprofits make up only three percent of philanthropic giving, yet climate change is our biggest existential threat. Communities are being disrupted and even displaced while solutions to the crisis are known and available. So this holiday season, please donate to environmental protectors in the name of your disbelieving uncle—or anyone else of your choice.

Patagonia is matching all donations made through Patagonia Action Works starting Nov. 29 (Black Friday) through Dec. 31, 2019. Donors can choose to send a digital eCard, print a card from home, or pick up a physical card in any Patagonia store in the United States or Europe. No purchase of Patagonia product is required for donations to be eligible for matching. 

“Black Friday is often a day when we go out and buy things we don’t really need and give them to people who don’t really want them,” Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario wrote on LinkedIn this week. “This year, consider giving to our home planet in the name of someone you love. Give to the tireless, community-based groups who work to save clean water and air in your neighborhoods, our public land treasures, our wild animals and birds, and our wide oceans.”

Details

Patagonia will match all donations made on Patagonia Action Works between Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, up to $10,000 USD per donation until we’ve reached a maximum match of $10,000,000 USD. Donations are tax deductible.  

About Patagonia
We’re in business to save our home planet.
Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, California. A certified B-Corporation, the company is recognized internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism—and its contributions of more than $100 million in grants and in-kind donations to date.

Contacts

Corley Kenna: Corley.Kenna@patagonia.com

Corey Simpson: Corey.Simpson@patagonia.com

J.J. Huggins: John.Huggins@patagonia.com

Patagonia Response to the BLM's Bears Ears Monument Management Plan

“The Executive Order abolishing Bears Ears was illegal and no management plan for these lands should proceed until resolution of the lawsuits. The President’s effort to reduce Bears Ears’ boundaries was done at the behest of mining and oil and gas industries. And this plan is another demonstration of this administration’s preference for extractive industry profit at the expense of the American people. Bears Ears contains iconic landscapes, sacred places, and priceless artifacts and this plan puts all of them under threat. Not to mention this is a colossal waste of time because BLM will have to create a plan for the full Bears Ears as originally designated after we win the lawsuit.” - Rose Marcario, CEO and President, Patagonia

Patagonia response to rollbacks of EPA’s Clean Power Plan

“Our climate crisis is here and now, and we need global, urgent and transformative actions to address what is increasingly destructive and deadly.  Today, the Trump Administration continues its assault on the health of our communities by repealing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. This unlawful action must not stand, and Patagonia will continue to fight alongside those who defend our planet, and who demand just and equitable solutions to the climate crisis.  We will confront climate deniers – they have no place in our government – and we will continue to advocate for immediate and dramatic increases in clean renewable energy, the conservation of our public lands and waters, and the unlocking of the organic agricultural sector’s potential to help solve our climate crisis. The reckless efforts to rollback climate protections through regulatory giveaways to fossil fuel companies must end – our community, business and planet depend on it.” – Rose Marcario, President and CEO, Patagonia

Patagonia's statement on today's Green New Deal vote

“Today, Patagonia joins Members of Congress, businesses, nonprofits and especially the young activists across the country in support of the Green New Deal. We support the scientists that tell us we can slow and even reverse the climate crisis if we double down on investments in wind and solar energy, promote sustainable and responsible agriculture practices and protect our public lands and waters by instituting a temporary moratorium on new leases for oil and gas drilling. These are solutions supported by Americans in rural and urban areas and will improve our way of life, offer important economic opportunities, and protect the planet for future generations.”

– Rose Marcario, President and CEO, Patagonia

Statement on the signing of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act

“The signing of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act is an important moment in the conservation movement. The debate over the protection of public lands has shifted from discussion about the pros and cons, to members of Congress from both parties uniting to protect wild places. This legislation supports outdoor recreation in every county in the country through the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, protects millions of acres and creates four new national monuments. The preservation of America’s public lands and waters is not only one of the greatest gifts we can leave for future generations, it is also a critical step toward tackling the climate crisis head-on before it’s too late.” 

Rose Marcario, CEO, Patagonia

Statement on genetically engineered salmon

“Today’s FDA decision allowing genetically engineered salmon to end up on dinner plates throughout the U.S. demonstrates a continued arrogance that humans can dominate nature. For over 40 years, Patagonia has fought for wild places and the natural biodiversity they support. Scientists and watchdog groups indicate that genetically modified salmon pose serious risks to health, wild fish populations, local fishing economies and the environment — and labeling laws won’t go into effect until 2022, leaving citizens in the dark. Instead of opening the market to high-cost, risky technology like GMO salmon — particularly in this time of weakened government oversight — we need to reinvest in protecting our wild rivers and wild fish.”

Rose Marcario, CEO, Patagonia

Statement on House passage of public lands bill

“This is an important moment in the conservation movement. The debate over the protection of public lands has shifted from discussion about the pros and cons, to members of Congress from both parties uniting to protect wild places. This legislation supports outdoor recreation in every county in the country through the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, protects millions of acres and creates four new national monuments. The preservation of America’s public lands and waters is not only one of the greatest gifts we can leave for future generations, it is also a critical step toward tackling the climate crisis head-on before it’s too late.” 

Rose Marcario, CEO, Patagonia