A Progress Update

In June of 2020, the Cairn Crew shared our intentions to do better as a business and industry in supporting diversity in the outdoors. We wanted to provide an update on the progress we've made and additional actions we've put in place since that initial post.

Our small but mighty team of ten has been learning and working hard to put into place actions intended to have an ongoing impact. We don't know all of the answers or the best actions, but we remain committed to learning and evolving our practices to foster greater inclusion and diversity in our business and the outdoor community as a whole. Here is an update on some of the actions we have taken.

  • In June, we signed the Outdoor Industry CEO Diversity Pledge (@outdoorceopledge) and committed to the actions and process it encompasses. This has included, but is not limited to, a focus on the areas of marketing, personal growth, internal training, grants, and external initiatives. Our 2020 Metrics Report is posted publicly on the In Solidarity Project site here (note you may need to sign into Google to view the full report). A few updates are shared below, but we encourage you to read the full metrics report.
  • We made a monetary donation to Outdoor Afro (@outdoorafro), a nonprofit organization that has become the nation’s leading, cutting-edge network that celebrates and inspires Black connections and leadership in nature, and we invited our Cairn Community to help. Learn more about Outdoor Afro.
  • We added the ability for our Subscribers redeem their Cairn Points to donate to Outdoor Afro and Outdoors for All, and matched donation funds contributed through Points Redemption. We were able to donate over $4500. Thank you to our community for continuing to support these organizations through Points redemptions!
  • We hold monthly voluntary sessions intended to help us each gain a better understanding of the past and present experiences of BIPOC communities specifically related to the outdoors, and more broadly in society.
  • We have partnered with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Laboratory at Oregon State University-Cascades to develop an assessment and training program for our organization. The Lab will then utilize Cairn as a case study to develop templates and training that can be implemented for organizations throughout the outdoor industry. As a small organization, we felt this would be the most impactful use of our financial resources as it allows us to invest in both internal training and a grant to develop programming that can impact the industry as a whole. 
  • We will continue to evolve, learn, and share updates or additional actions as we move forward.

We appreciate you inviting us into your outdoor adventures. Like you, we believe that time outside feeds the soul and that we’re more connected to this planet and the people we share it with when we’re out there. We share the experience of being outside and find common ground when we’re spending time on the ground.

See you out there!

- The Cairn Crew 


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