When we recapped the NBA event with our senior leadership team, everyone talked about how important our new brand and name were at this moment. It gave us power and purpose and sounded amazing ringing out in the stadium and in the press. So grateful for Mission Minded!
Raise the Future
We helped develop the brand for REI Cooperative Action Fund that attracted over 2.9 million donations from REI Co-op members, employees, and friends allowing for over $24 million in grants (so far) to help get more people outdoors, especially those who have traditionally been excluded.
Sector
Nonprofits
Deliverables
Brand Strategy
Visual Identity
Website Design
Website Strategy
WordPress Development
Visual Identity
Website Design
Website Strategy
WordPress Development
A new fund, after a hard reckoning.
Challenge
Following the murder of George Floyd and the national racial reckoning that followed it, the national outdoor retailer established the REI Cooperative Action Fund to make a deep and enduring commitment to create a more equitable outdoors. But beyond the initial financial commitment, Fund leaders needed to create a vision, mission, and messages that could inspire REI members and employees and establish a plan for the future. They needed a simple story to share to differentiate the REI Cooperative Action Fund from others doing similar work in the field.
Power lives in the membership.
Insight
One of the biggest opportunities for the REI Cooperative Action Fund to differentiate itself was embedded in the organization’s name. While other organizations also work to make the outdoors more accessible—including many of the Fund’s grantees—no one else has the power to mobilize REI’s 50 million customers to contribute to real change. Literally and figuratively, “Cooperative Action” is the organization’s middle name.
Ann Ayers
as Chief Executive Officer
, Raise the Future
3-year plan, portable message.
Journey
Working with Mission Minded, the REI Cooperative Action Fund established a 3-year strategic plan that focuses on commitments to Connect People Outside, Create Spaces Outside, and Center Health Outside. We worked quickly and nimbly together to create a message framework that inspired the C-suite, in-store employees, REI members, and grantees alike.
Working with our in-house DEI advisor, we also helped the Fund create language that directly acknowledges racism in our society. It’s evident in their primary statement about the Fund: “Time outside and connection to nature is fundamental to the health and well-being of all people. But millions of Americans lack access to the outdoors, and far too many people do not feel a sense of belonging or safety outside. There is no simple or singular solution to these challenges. It takes community-wide action to ensure all people have their right to the outdoors honored and protected.”
$24M+ in grants and 2.9M+ donations.
Impact
Over 2.9 million donations from REI Co-op members, employees, and friends have supported the REI Cooperative Action Fund since it launched in October 2021. The fund has provided almost 700 grants totalling nearly $24M since its inception. Through funding to organizations like Boyz N the Wood, Refugee Women’s Network, and Urban Bike Project, this collective action translates to more people—especially those who have traditionally been excluded—experiencing the outdoors.
