• Rowan Rangers
  • North Yorks Young Rangers

Alpkit Foundation helps people Go Nice Places Do Good Things

Alpkit only exists because of our wild places and the people that make them. Alpkit Foundation is our payback, our social dividend to protect the places we love for everyone to enjoy. We make small awards that help work to remove barriers in getting outdoors and experience wild places.

Projects driven by real activists among our communities and those deeply passionate about the benefits of time outdoors. Snippets of joy. Often we will hear first hand of the small steps that are driving big change. It’s really humbling to see this in action and it’s these stories that build our impact review. As it should be.

Read our 2023 Impact Review now.

Small steps add up to a huge difference

We’ve given awards to improve education, environment, diversity, mental health and participation in the outdoors. This has spread wide through to tens of thousands of people. It’s humbling to see the effect that this has.

Thank you from us to all our customers that make this happen.

Spending time outdoors is good for the mind, body and soul. But generally people are spending less time outdoors. That is a problem we're helping to solve. We support grass-roots direct action projects that tackle issues such as diversity & inclusion in the outdoors, participation, education, conservation and protection of our natural environment and health & well-being.

Apply

Simply click the link below and submit the online form. Our trustees meet every 2 months to consider applications. There's no limit to the number of times you can recieve an award. If possible, please apply at least 3 months before the start of a project so that the trustees have time to consider it at their next meeting.

We particularly like to support projects that:

  • Encourage responsible outdoor activity
  • Have longlasting benefits Introduce new people to get outdoors
  • Demonstrate value for money

 

Alpkit Foundation Little Green Book

Read how the Alpkit Foundation makes a big difference by awarding small amounts of money to incredible people and organisations. This little book showcases eight such projects where ordinary people are doing extraordinary things to make the world a better place.

Yes, we love to support

  • Diversity and Inclusion Projects that engage individual and groups from a diverse range of backgrounds
  • Environmental Projects that seek to support, conserve, or generate understanding of our environment and wild places
  • Health Projects enabling people to gain physical and mental wellbeing from the Great Outdoors
  • Education Projects such as First Aid, D of E, Forest Schools and Mountain Leader
  • Participation Projects that get more people experiencing the Great Outdoors

No, we will not support

  • Holidays
  • Charity challenges
  • Commercially led travel Expeditions that are not focused the Great Outdoors (e.g. rebuilding schools, overseas medicine)
  • Scout Jamborees – due to the large number of participants involved in Scout Jamborees, this is not something we are able to support. We do support the Scout Association through our Youth in Adventure Fund
  • Retrospective applications – make sure you get your application in on time!

We couldn't have done any of this without you. Every time you treat yourself to some of the gear we make here at Alpkit, from ti-spoons to expedition tents, you help fund projects like these. How awesome is that? If you are a UK tax payer, don’t forget to sign the Gift Aid Declaration. It means we can reclaim the tax on this and any future donations you may make. You can make postal donations, cheques should be made payable to Alpkit Foundation. Download the PDF donation form.

Governance

Meet the Team

The Alpkit Foundation is managed by a mix of trustees. The four director co-owners of Alpkit are trustees along with an independent trustee, staff trustees and customer trustees. This means that, by design, Alpkit does not have a majority of trustees on the Alpkit Foundation and we have staff representatives from across the company.

Pete Whittaker

Patron and Trustee

Helen Littlejohn

Customer Trustee

Elly Cundill

Staff Trustee

Adge Last

Independent Trustee

Col Stocker

Co-Founder, Director of Alpkit

Kenny Stocker

Co-Founder, Director of Alpkit

Rehna Yaseen

Trustee

David Hanney

Co-Founder, Director of Alpkit

Nick Smith

Co-Founder, Director of Alpkit

Abby Cornforth

Staff Trustee

Ross Steedman

Staff Trustee

Naomi King

Staff Trustee

Alpkit Foundation

Charities Commision Registration Number 1162585

The Alpkit Foundation is a not-for-profit independent charity founded on 8 July 2015. It is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation that is registered with the Charities Commision in the UK. More details including its aims and financial accounts can be found on the Charities Commision website.

Alpkit donates 1% of sales and at least 10% of annual profit to support grass roots projects. We’re incredibly proud to see the effect that these small steps can make.

Our support takes the form small awards to many projects and help projects get off the ground. This could be:

  • £50 to £500 cash to individuals, community groups, schools and organisations to encourage people to get outdoors and have great experiences that otherwise couldn’t happen; e.g. giving a cash grant to a school to fund transport costs
  • Provide discounted equipment for outdoor adventures and trips to individuals, groups, schools and organisations that wouldn’t be viable without support from the Alpkit Foundation
  • Support outdoor educational programs; e.g. grants for outdoor First Aiders or Mountain Leader Training that wouldn’t be possible without Alpkit Foundation support
  • Support proactive conservation and environmental projects; e.g. community gardens and allotments or grants to help re-wild woodland and protect our wild places
  • Support projects which encourage the development of facilities for outdoor skills and activities to be experienced by wider groups who otherwise may miss out e.g. cycling, climbing, outdoor swimming facilities

There's no limit to the number of times you can apply for an award. We welcome multiple awards over time and each award is assessed on its own merit. The only criteria we apply in making awards is that the project meets the funding criteria and the Alpkit Foundation has the enough money in the pot.

If you know of a deserving project, or think you’re someone that only needs a bit of backing to make a big difference, it’s simple to apply, or donate.