Thousands of youngsters to benefit from outdoor grants

Family in the Mountains is one of the projects that will benefit from a cash grant (Image credit: It's Great Out There)

Many thousands of young people will benefit from a range of outdoor activity days thanks to a new round of special grants. The #itsgreatoutthere grants have been handed out thanks to the It’s Great Out There Coalition.

Seven non-profit initiatives in France, Finland and the UK have received between €1,000 and €5,000, which will help them to deliver more than 2,000 ‘Outdoor Activity Days’ (OAD) in a natural environment. The aim is to bring together physical activity, inclusion and nature conservation and give young people new experiences in the outdoors.

IGOT Outdoor with Ternu has received a #itsgreatoutthere grant (Image credit: It's Great Out There)

Innovative #itsgreatoutthere projects

Thanks to the latest round of grants, many more young people will be grabbing their backpacks and heading out into the wild to enjoy the benefits of spending time in nature. The seven projects that have been awarded #itsgreatoutthere grants are:

Outdoor Days for Women Beginners (Taivasalla Outdoor Club, Finland)

True Nature Project (AKA - Health Wealth & Oneness CIC, UK), in partnership with Equip Outdoors

Outdoors to Share (Outdoor People, UK)

Girls Count! Adventures (BLAST Fest Ltd, UK)

Minds Matter (Young Gloucestershire, UK)

Family in the Mountains (En Passant Par La Montagne, France), in partnership with Mammut

IGOT Outdoor with Ternua by CREPS (CREPS Auvergne Rhône Alpes Vallon Pont d'Arc Lyon Voiron, France), in partnership with Ternua.

Margo de Lange, policy officer at the It’s Great Out There Coalition, said: “Once again, we have been able to provide assistance to a diverse set of deserving grass roots projects around Europe with the latest #itsgreatoutthere grants.”

Many businesses are supporting the projects, such as Minds Matter in the UK (Image credit: It's Great Out There)

What is #itsgreatoutthere?

The It’s Great Out There Coalition is an International Non Profit Association (INPA) launched by the European Outdoor Group (EOG).

Full members include a wide range of outdoors organisations and brands, such as AKU, Berghaus, Columbia, Jack Wolfskin, KEEN, Lowe Alpine, Mammut, Merrell, Primaloft, Rab, Regatta, Salomon, The North Face and Vango.

The #itsgreatoutthere programme of grants was launched in 2017.

Businesses that operate in the outdoor sector can join the coalition as members or supporters.

De Lange added: "Thanks to our focus on Outdoor Activity Days, we will be able to monitor, assess and report on the impact of every investment that we make to get Europe more active in nature. All of this is possible thanks to the hugely valued ongoing support of our members, some of whom have gone even further by providing additional support to the non-profit organisations that will be delivering the projects.

“This model is very effective. First, we are actively helping people get active outdoors and second, we are gathering the clear evidence of the positive impacts of doing that, which we can use to lobby policy makers about why they should be supporting our work in a sustained and significant way.”

Fiona Russell is a widely published adventure journalist and blogger, better known as Fiona Outdoors. She is based in Scotland and is an all-round outdoors enthusiast with favorite activities including trail running, mountain walking, mountain biking, road cycling, triathlon and skiing (both downhill and backcountry). Aside from her own adventures, Fiona's biggest aim is to inspire others to enjoy getting outside and exploring, especially through her writing. She is also rarely seen without a running skort! Find out more at Fiona Outdoors.