Keen, Inc. Continues Partnership With Conservation Alliance

March 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Bend, Ore., March 3, 2010 – KEEN, Inc. renewed a partnership with The Conservation Alliance that has played a key role in the growth and evolution of the Alliance over the past five years. Through its Hybrid.Care program, KEEN will cover a significant percentage of the organization’s operating expenses, and match new member dues dollar-for-dollar in 2010. The partnership will further the Alliance’s mission to protect North America’s threatened wild places for their habitat and recreational values.

First launched in 2005, the KEEN partnership with The Conservation Alliance has helped the organization add 110 new members, matching the first year of each new member’s dues dollar-for-dollar. To date, KEEN has matched $513,000 in dues, all of which has gone into the Alliance’s budget to fund conservation organizations. The partnership also provided resources for the Alliance to hire its first staff in 2005, and add a second position in 2007.

“I consider KEEN to be our fifth founding member,” said John Sterling, Conservation Alliance Executive Director. “Four brands launched the Alliance in 1989, and the more recent KEEN partnership propelled us to an entirely new level.”

“The KEEN partnership with the Conservation Alliance is a key part of our Hybrid.Care giving program and a great way for us to act on our core values,” said Linda Tom, KEEN Marketing Manager. “ We thank the Conservation Alliance for helping KEEN play a role in supporting groups across the US and Canada preserve land for people to enjoy long into the future.”

KEEN’s support in 2010 will help build on the tremendous success The Conservation Alliance achieved in 2009. In its 20th Anniversary year, the Alliance contributed $900,000, and grantees delivered 21 victories that protected 10.5 million acres of land and 1000 miles of rivers, removed one dam, and acquire one climbing area.

“It’s going to be tough to top our 2009 results, but the KEEN partnership will certainly help,” added Sterling. “The political landscape for conservation is terrific right now, and we have the resources to help protect some truly special wild places.”


About the Conservation Alliance:
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas.

Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.

Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $8 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 49 million acres of wildlands; 28 dams have either been stopped or removed; and the group helped preserve access to more than 17,000 miles of waterways and several climbing areas.

For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, see www.conservationalliance.com.

About KEEN and Hybrid.Care:
KEEN Inc., manufacturer of hybrid footwear, socks and bags, is an outdoor brand that delivers innovative hybrid products, enabling all outdoor enthusiasts to live an active lifestyle. Through its Hybrid.Care initiative, KEEN strives to be a company with a conscience and to make a positive difference by supporting and working with social and environmental organizations around the world. Since 2004, KEEN has distributed more than $5 million to non-profit organizations paving the way for change.