Ok, looks like I sidetracked the conversation. Not my intent. SUWA seems like they were directly involved in both campaigns to get folks to write their opinion to the BLM, like BRC did, as well as active in lobbying, so I was trying to find out more about them. I'm not sure where folks are pulling in REI, Sierra Club, etc, etc, or saying "The CEO of this org did XYZ." Ok, provide an article or something, currently we don't have that in this tangent of the conversation. In any case, y'all can drop that line and continue the conversation where it left off. Deleting my previous post.
You seemed to be on a research spree and interested in digging deeper, so I and others gave you a decent start of things you can start looking in to. If you just want the nitty gritty laid out for you to look at without doing any research, then I guess I misread your posts. You seem to have knowledge of how non-profits report their donations, so I figured all you needed was some terms you could type into the search engine of choice and go digging. I see RS as a place where I can chat with friends and not have to cite every single statement made. I've been apart of those types of communities before but not interested in doing that here. The bottom line is that it's an ever-changing sphere and right now SUWA and the others have the upper hand and the ear of politicians. I will provide some info about REI and SUWA below.
Believe it or not but 4x4ers have been dealing with this for longer than I've been alive. So there are some people who have been there, seen that and when they post something then there is meat to be found. You just have to dig to find it. A lot of these organizations, like REI, have buried their past actions and revamped their websites etc so that it is harder to find, they have received a lot of backlash in the past for it.
Huh. that list appears to be a lot of organizations who help folks with special needs, etc. All seems positive to me, not seeing where REI does something to support anti motorized access? What did I miss here..
REI has directly supported SUWA with corporate donations. Recently, in 2021, they changed the way that they support these communities. The list that you looked at is not the whole story. REI has something called CAN, Cooperative Action Network, which does more political action. They directly support things like the 30 by 30 initiative, Build Back Better, the REPLANT act, Let Nature do Its Thing, etc. These acts look great at first, but what they do is provide funds to measure the impacts of things like 4x4 recreation, hunting, industry etc and then create pathways towards closing access to these public lands, in the name of climate change or restoration. They have a letter writing form on their website and collect money for these things at checkout and allow groups to set up in their parkings lots etc etc.
REI also hosts SUWA specifically and hosts and promotes their events:
PRICE: Free DOORS: Doors 7pm DESCRIPTION: Wild Utah - America's Red Rock Wilderness Instructor: Jenny Holmes Wild Utah! draws upon diverse voices to tell the story of why Utah's unique wild lands--places of pristine natural beauty, untrammeled ecosystems and unfathomable cultural signific
www.wildcraftciderworks.com
secure.suwa.org
REI is part of the Conservation Alliance, along with Kelty, The Northface and Patagonia and others. They donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to SUWA and similar organizations every year and it has been active for over a decade. This is just a couple articles but you can find hundreds:
The Conservation Alliance – an organization dedicated to harnessing the collective power of business and outdoor communities to fund and advocate for the protection of North America’s wild places – has announced their Winter 2022 grant cycle recipients, ultimately investing $775,000 across 19...
www.elevationoutdoors.com
Funny enough, this webpage no longer exists but it is still visible on archive.org:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110202160015/https://conservationalliance.com/blog/2010/8
The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $700,000 to 19 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America.
www.outsidebusinessjournal.com
REI used to openly support SUWA back in 2013 and Obama appointed the CEO of REI to lead Dept. of Interior, at the time Utah Congressman Bishop opposed the appointment because of support for SUWA and other radical environmentalist groups:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/07/obama-picks-ceo-rei-to/23775336007/
Travis Hammill, the current D.C. director of SUWA, worked for REI for 9 years and was a manager of their Outreach division:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamthammill/details/experience/
I'm bored now so I'm going to stop here but I hope this at least gets you started.
