Some End of Year Cheer

To those that don't know, we're a B-Corp over here at Minimal Gear, which comes from a host of do good responsibilities, including donating 20% of our profits to registered non-profits. In 2024, we've experienced a great problem to have: we ended up being more profitable towards the end of the year than we anticipated and we needed to make some extra donations before year end. 

We like to make our donations mindfully over here and recognize the privilege of working for a community minded business, so we decided to split it up into five donations with each person within the company choosing a non-profit they were passionate about to dedicate their part of the donation to. Each person wrote up a little paragraph about their non-profit and why they chose it - read on to learn more about why we wanted to support the organizations we did! 

Kyle - Portland Mountain Rescue

Portland Mountain Rescue (PMR) is our local volunteer search and rescue team for Mount Hood and the surrounding region adding up to 4,000 square miles with 1,000,000 residents. They're a group of rockstars -- expert mountaineers in their own right, coupled with medical expertise and selflessness. They can receive calls at any time of day or night when a hiker or climber is injured or missing, and they quickly mobilize and take emergency action. As a backpacker, climber, and skier on Mount Hood year-round, I could think of no better group to support this holiday season.

Becky - Friends of Outdoor School

Outdoor school was an important part of my childhood and a hefty chunk of my work experience as a young adult - today I can look back at it as a foundational part of my relationship with the outdoors. A positive early introduction to outdoor spaces can significantly contribute to making them more accessible to students as adults - I think outdoor school is one of the best tools at our disposal for creating an outdoors for all. Friends of Outdoor School led the effort to pass Ballot Measure 99, which secured state funding for all 5th and 6th graders in Oregon to spend a week at Outdoor School - Oregon is the only state in the country where all students can attend Outdoor School, regardless of financial barriers. They currently do amazing work advocating and supporting Outdoor School across the state. I'm supremely happy to be able to allocate my portion of the donation funds to them. 

Kate - SheJumps

SheJumps works to get more girls and women participating in outdoor activities. We’re all big fans of them over here on the Minimal Gear team, as three of us wanted to allocate our portion of donation to them! As a woman in the outdoor space, I think it’s an important cause especially for the young girls who might not have these opportunities otherwise. I personally have friends who have benefited from their scholarship and been able to achieve goals they might not have otherwise. They’re a great organization to support and I’m happy to be able to send our donation funds to them.

Wes - High Fives Foundation

I had the opportunity to work with the High Fives Foundation in the past. I learned about their mission to help those who’ve experienced life altering brain and spinal cord injuries not just adapt and overcome said tragedies but adapt and destroy them with the goal of getting back to their outdoor adventure sport. From first entering the program, High Fives offers not only financial assistance but additional resources and a community that rallies around each other. They’re program creates an environment engulfed in positivity and emotional support that stives towards challenging their athletes to set outlandish goals and achieve them in order to return to their outdoor passions

Mika and Gilad - The Venture Out Project

The Venture Out Project is a nonprofit with a dual mission: 1) To provide a safe and fun space for LGBTQ+ people to experience the outdoors; and 2) To provide education and support that helps schools and organizations affirm their LGBTQ+ community members. The VOP has always been close to our heart as one of the first places that we decided to use Minimal Gear's small earnings to support. We are proud to still, 8 years later, still be able to support The VOP to ensure a safe space for all to recreate outdoors.

All in all, we ended up needing to donate a little over $4k before the end of the year to ensure we hit 20% and we made a donation of $841 to each of the organizations listed above. Our 20% profit donation for 2024 was the biggest it's ever been and we want to thank everyone for continuing to support us - you're quite literally the reason we are able to do this. Happy New Year - we look forward to what 2025 has to offer!