Proceeds from the Alpkit Big Shakeout in September will go to the new charity
Outdoor brand Alpkit has set up a charity aimed at helping people get outdoors.
The Nottinghamshire based company said its new Alpkit Foundation will help individuals, schools and expedition leaders organise trips which would not otherwise be possible.
The brand will donate one per cent of its monthly sales to the independent charity, with a pledge that a minimum of Alpkit’s annual profit will be donated to the foundation.
Individuals can also give to the fund, and proceeds of events such as the annual Big Shakeout Festival will go to the charity.
Alpkit chief executive David Hanney said: “The health and social benefits of outdoor recreation are well documented, alongside the important personal development opportunities that expeditions further afield offer young people in particular.
“But all too often these opportunities are missed due to lack of funding for critical equipment, transport or qualified support staff such as first aiders or mountain leaders.
“The Alpkit Foundation will help to plug these gaps and allow people of all ages, from all walks of life, get outdoors in a way that wouldn’t be possible without our help. The charity will also support the invaluable work of conservation bodies which protect the environment in which these activities take place, safeguarding them for future generations.”
The Alpkit Foundation is a not-for-profit independent charity founded on 8 July and registered with the Charities Commission.
The charity is managed by seven trustees. The four director co-owners of Alpkit are trustees along with an independent trustee, staff trustee and customer trustee. The independent trustee, staff trustee and customer trustee are all annual appointments.
Mr Hanney said: “The support that the Alpkit Foundation provides is invariably in the form of direct action be it financial, discounted equipment or technical training. In short, we want to make it easy for more people to be more active outdoors.
“It’s all about helping real people, do real things with a minimum of fuss.
“The criteria are simple: if your project meets our aims and we have the money then you’ll get our support.”
The charity’s trustees meet every month to review applications. Anyone interested in applying should go to the Alpkit website.
The aims of Alpkit Foundation are:
- To help young people, especially but not exclusively through leisure time activities, so as to develop their capabilities that they grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society
- To provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life
- To advance the education of the public in the conversation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment
- For the public benefit to promote the education (including social and physical training) of people in such ways as the charity trustees think fit
- To advance sport or games which promote health by physical or mental skill or exertion and which are undertaken on an amateur basis.
Alpkit was founded in 2004 by four climbers, Nick Smith, Jim Evans, Kenny Stocker and Col Stocker. It designs and sells equipment for enthusiasts of Alpine activities including climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking and trekking, from its factory store on the edge of the Peak District.
