SmartWool Corporation's latest round of grant recipients from the SmartWool Advocacy Program includes the SmartWool Advocacy Fund and the SmartWool Breast Cancer Fund. This round of grants will see over $90,000 in financial and product support distributed between the following
organizations:
SmartWool Advocacy Fund:
- Friends of the Mississippi, Denver, CO
- Institute for Environmental Solutions, St Paul, MN
- Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, Denver, CO
- Black Canyon Boys and Girls Club, Montrose, CO
- Adaptive Sports Center, Crested Butte, CO
- Boulder Parks & Recreation Foundation, Boulder, CO
- Boys and Girls Club of Craig, Craig, CO
- City Wild, Denver, CO
- Colorado Fourteeners initiative, Golden, CO
- Colorado Youth Corps Association, Denver, CO
- Family Means, Stillwater, MN
- Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, Breckenridge, CO
- Meet The Wilderness, Edwards, CO
- Mobile Baykeeper, Mobile, AL
- Outdoor Outreach, San Diego, CA
- Rails To Trails Conservancy, Washington, DC
- The Women¹s Wilderness Institute, Boulder, CO
- Thorne Ecological Institute, Boulder, CO
- Trust For A Mountain Classroom, Glastonbury, CT
- Wild Rockies Field Institute, Missoula, MT
- Humble Ranch Education and Therapy Center, Steamboat Springs, CO
- KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy, Denver, CO
SmartWool Breast Cancer Fund:
- Casting for recovery, Denver, CO
- Breast Cancer Fund, San Francisco, CA
- Living Beyond Breast Cancer, Ardmore, PA
This latest round of granting brings SmartWool's total giving to $300,000 through five rounds. Since its inception in April 2005, the SmartWool Advocacy and Breast Cancer Funds has awarded financial grants and SmartWool product to industry, outdoor, youth and breast cancer non-profit organizations. With the continued success of SmartWool's online and women's specific 'pink ribbon' business, the company anticipates increasing corporate giving. The next deadline for grant applications is September 1,
2007.
Awarded semi-annually, the SmartWool Advocacy Program was born of a desire to efficiently give back to the communities in which SmartWool's customers and employees live, play and work. It is comprised of two separate funds using different funding mechanisms: The SmartWool Advocacy Fund is funded by 10% of net revenues of online sales from SmartWool's e-commerce website and the SmartWool Breast Cancer Fund is financed by 2% of sales of women's specific socks marked with a pink ribbon.
Administration and execution of the SmartWool Advocacy Program is undertaken by a board comprised solely of SmartWool employees elected by their peers. Additionally, all SmartWool employees are awarded a benefit, enabling each to volunteer as many as 40 paid hours per year to help local non-profit organizations. This allows SmartWool and its employees to supply not only monetary awards, but to contribute much needed labor as well.