Thor Industries and Winnebago Industries have made foundational and multi-year contributions to Together Outdoors (TO), an initiative founded to foster diversity and inclusion in outdoor recreation. TO recently began a new grant program to support accessibility organizations.
“Funding from the initial pilot round of our grant program will go directly to frontline, grassroots leaders and organizations working to make the outdoors more accessible and welcoming,” said Gerry Seavo James, TO coalition lead. “This grant program epitomizes exactly what Together Outdoors was founded on doing – to help with incubating an environment where all people have access to welcoming outdoor recreation experiences, and we look forward to expanding this effort in the future.”
The grant will focus on two areas:
- Research and resources: Monetary support for effective outdoor inclusion research and resource tool development (i.e., toolkits, educational resources, audio and video resources, linguistic translations, etc.).
- Activating change outdoors: Outdoor recreation-related programming, events and leadership development initiatives that benefit communities of color and intersecting minority groups.
“At Thor, our purpose is to inspire and empower everyone to go everywhere and stay anywhere,” said Bob Martin, Thor president and CEO. “Our family of companies offer a comprehensive range of RVs and travel tools to help connect people with nature and with one another. In support of Together Outdoors’ mission to alleviate barriers to inclusion in the outdoors, Thor is honored to empower front-line organizations driven to cultivate the necessary change that will allow everyone to Go Everywhere and Stay Anywhere.”
This is TO’s inaugural grant program. The initial pilot round will offer $25,000 in funding focused on organizations with revenue under $100,000 that are led by or serve communities of color and/or intersecting minority groups. Applications will be reviewed by TO’s Advisory and Governance Council members and are due by Sept. 5 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Awards will be disbursed by Sept. 30.
In the first program year, projects must take place in one of the 27 states or territories to be eligible for the grant. Future grant program rounds will be open to applicants nationwide.
“At Winnebago Industries we help our customers explore the outdoor lifestyle, enabling extraordinary mobile experiences as they travel, live, work and play,” said Jil Littlejohn Bostick, Winnebago Industries head of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “We are excited to extend our support to grassroots organizations committed to removing barriers and creating inclusive outdoor spaces.”
Written or video submissions will be accepted. Information about the timeline, eligibility and where to submit applications can be found here or contact [email protected].
