Protecting Outdoor Spaces: The Conservation Alliance in Conversation

Conor McElyea:
We want to start to do a better job connecting people to the places that we're working to protect. Because once you get to experience a place firsthand, your life and passion about that place is forever changed.
Michael Torrance:
Welcome to Sustainability Leaders. I'm Michael Torrance, chief sustainability officer with BMO Financial Group. On this show, we will talk with leading sustainability practitioners from the corporate, investor, academic, and NGO communities to explore how this rapidly evolving field of sustainability is impacting global investment, business practices, and our world.
Speaker 3:
The views expressed here are those of the participants and not those of Bank of Montreal, its affiliates or subsidiaries.
Melissa Fifield:
I'm Melissa Fifield, head of the BMO Climate Institute, and I'm excited to be joined by Conor McElyea from The Conservation Alliance. Welcome, Connor.
Conor McElyea:
Thanks, Melissa. Great to be here.
Melissa Fifield:
I thought we could start by sharing with our listeners what your role is at The Conservation Alliance, what The Conservation Alliance is, and how it came to be.
Conor McElyea:
Absolutely. So my role is the senior director of membership and partnerships at The Conservation Alliance, which is a very fancy way of saying that I run all the brand relationships at The Conservation Alliance.
The quick of The Conservation Alliances, we represent a coalition of nearly 300 businesses who together pool resources to both fund and advocate for the protection of North America's wild places and open spaces. Our origin story goes back to 1989. We were founded by four leaders of the outdoor industry, Patagonia North Base, REI, and Kelty Packs, who had a shared belief and understanding that as outdoor businesses, they had a responsibility and a need to help protect the places where their customers recreated. And our original focus, which is still a core part of our programming today, was that in order to be a member of The Conservation Alliance, you had to pay annual dues and we would pass those dues through into a grant program. We would use the funds in that grant program to support grassroots conservation efforts all across North America.
And that was great, and that is still a core part of our work today. But one thing we started to recognize when assessing the landscape over time is that we were in a really unique position. We were the only business coalition out there working in North America at a national scale really focused on specifically land and water conservation opportunities. And with that came a huge opportunity to shift the traditional narrative that in order to protect the place, you're going to hurt local economies, stunt job growth. And we came in and we said, "Hey, we can bring the business voice to the forefront to support conservation initiatives knowing that we represent businesses who have a bottom line connection to the importance of protecting these places."
So now we find ourselves 34 years later, taking a two-prong approach to our work. We're using strategic grant making on the front end and then supporting that with business-led advocacy on the backend. And throughout our history, we've awarded over $30 million dispersed across 926 grants. And that funding has helped protect over 81 million acres of land, 3,579 river miles, purchased 21 climbing areas, halt or remove 37 dams, and protect five marine reserves. And those numbers sound really impressive, but it's hard to get some context around exactly what that looks like or what that means. So a little context for just the acreage perspective, they're only five states that are larger than 80 million acres in the United States. And so when you look at our historical protection, you put that into context, this model has had an incredible impact in large part to an incredible business community who is organizing efforts to support conservation opportunities.
Melissa Fifield:
That's incredible. Thanks for sharing that context. So The Conservation Alliance partners with member companies who are looking to protect these outdoor places. What kinds of organizations are partnering with The Conservation Alliance? How do you identify key partners? What do you look for in a partnership?
Conor McElyea:
That's a great question and one that's evolved a lot over the years. I would say today it's any business who has an interest in supporting outdoor recreation access or natural climate solutions, protecting habitat for biodiversity, obviously given our origins coming from the outdoor industry with a very obvious line of correlation between the importance of protecting outdoor places for outdoor consumers to recreate.
But in recent years, we started to see a lot of expansion. And I would say the organic growth really kicked off with New Belgium Brewing approaching us back in 2015. They recognized they had a lot of overlap in their customer base with the outdoor industry. And they were also recognizing this huge threat that they were facing with the key part of their supply chain, water, being a threat in Colorado. And so they recognized in order to have a viable business over time, they were going to need to make investments in conservation that would protect the headwaters and cold water tributaries upstream in order to give them access to that water downstream that they use to produce their beer. And that started to lead to incremental growth in brewing. And we said, "Well, we're outdoor businesses and we do a little bit of microbrewing." Little disconnect, but we worked through it and we saw some slow and steady growth in the brewing industry.
When you start to broaden industry representation, you have a lot of different interests and push and pulls. And so figuring out where we can unify our efforts and broaden without getting too big that we lose our ability to have impact.
Melissa Fifield:
That's great. And a perfect segue to my next question is really building on this idea why do you think it's important to have that multi-stakeholder collaboration, those folks that have different perspectives coming together to achieve these same land and water conservation objectives.
Conor McElyea:
Yeah, I mean, unlike the allies, it create power by countering perceived opposition. I think it's been incredible to have the unified support from the outdoor industry that we've had over the year. You look at the outdoor industry numbers creating four and a half million jobs a year, 862 billion in consumer spending every year. But once again, it's a very obvious line of correlation. If you're an outdoor brand that isn't working to protect the outdoor places, your values are a little out of whack. It's when we start to bring in folks that aren't quite as obvious yet speaking the same language and unifying behind the same efforts that really start to shift narratives and change the perception of who this group, The Conservation Alliance, represents, and that the power they hold through all of the business membership and industries that they represent.
And so I look at a few examples. A pushback that we often get when we're talking with elected officials is, if we're not going to drill for oil and gas on this pristine landscape that you're working to protect, how are we supposed to get our energy? And when we started to bring in renewable energy companies into our membership, it's not like we're trying to counter every argument that's out there, but we're bringing in a voice that is creating jobs and energy solutions and is pro-con conservation. That becomes a really powerful story to tell aligned with outdoor businesses. And so I think when you bring in all these various factors, and for one reason or another these connections to why conservation, recreation access, natural climate solutions are good for business, and you can unify them within a shared portfolio of initiatives, that becomes power and can have a huge influence on shaping good conservation policy over time and done so in a bipartisan way.
Melissa Fifield:
So I want to double click into that answer a little bit and just do a deep dive on something that you've learned from those multi-stakeholder collaborations or partnerships in general through your work at The Conservation Alliance. You talked a lot about the power of convening on common objectives, but what's the secret sauce? How do you get there?
Conor McElyea:
Really sitting down, listening and understanding your audience is key out of the gate. And then through that, allowing your partners to engage throughout the process. We have so much member participation in our grant making and in our advocacy efforts, and we make sure that our members, our thought partners as we look to identify our initiatives in any given year. And then that way we can educate them on the issues that they have already said they're interested in and allow them to make well-informed decisions on what they can and cannot participate in.
And so what we don't want to do is force a business, force a brand into a corner and say, "In order to be a member, you have to take this action." Instead, we are going to create policy initiatives, create programs, issue grants that we know our members are interested in, and then invite them into the process, educate them on how they can engage and allow them to make the decision on what's best for them.
Melissa Fifield:
How does The Conservation Alliance evaluate all the various initiatives or policy developments? Or how do you pick the places that you should work to conserve? How do you manage all of those various interests as you consider the design of your specific campaigns?
Conor McElyea:
One thing that has made this organization so successful in the past is our laser focus. We know exactly what we do and what we do not do. And that starts with our funding criteria. So in order to be eligible to receive funding from The Conservation Alliance grant program, you first need to be working to seek new and permanent protection of a place. So when I say that, picture a new green or blue spot on a map that is added in part to the grant that is issued. Second, there needs to be a realistic chance of success within a four-year timeframe. And when I say that, that's where the due diligence really comes into play on our end. We need to do research into the group that's leading the effort, what their budget looks like, how that money will be spent, and then above all else, what's the political viability of that project and opportunity. Because there's no shortage of great sounding projects, but the politics just aren't aligned with them being a realistic opportunity.
The third element is there needs to be a people connection to the place. We're trying to get more people outside for create recreation access. And so we want to be opening up more places for people to explore and experience, not shutting places down. And then the last is there needs to be community support for the campaign. And when I say that, we've always had this real emphasis on the grassroots efforts. And so when you look at the conservation spectrum and you know the large conservation groups out there, look, the world is a better place for them being in it. We also look at the budgets and think, "Where can we have an outsize impact and who are the organizations that are really moving the needle yet historically have been a little under-resourced? And can we really focus our energy and resources into those groups?" These are community-led initiatives, people trying to protect their backyards, they're bringing key stakeholders along, and yet because they're working on such a hyper-local level, they're often left off the national radar and don't draw the attention of traditional conservation philanthropy.
And so we really use our members to help crowdsource those ideas and get those types of projects brought into the fold. And then from there, after we've made our funding decisions, when we look to engage in advocacy, we try to figure out what are the projects where we can have a real meaningful impact? Our money is great, but what role can the business community play in really lifting up these projects and potentially get them over a hurdle that they're facing? And so that's where that additional layer of vetting really comes into play to take an even deeper dive on the politics, the business engagement, all the dynamics that are in play. And then figure out within the group of roughly 50 different organizations every year that we are going to be funding, what are the select few that we can elevate as priority campaigns to provide elevated advocacy support that these issues and opportunities have?
Melissa Fifield:
That's so great to hear more about that framework. And you've talked a little bit about this. Obviously, the conservation of these wild places has an inherent human connection and inherent social impact. But maybe you can spend a couple of minutes and share with our audience how The Conservation Alliance thinks about that social impact. How is it integrated into the design of your initiatives?
Conor McElyea:
Yeah. So people in communities have always been centered in our work. It's a core part of our funding criteria. But historically, the people benefits have really been through this lens of traditional outdoor recreation. So it's the backpacking, the camping, the hiking, the skiing, all of those activities that we think of when we think of an outdoor experience. And so I think for us, it's the access and equity to the outdoors with the small close to home recreation opportunities, and also the vast, off the grid remote wilderness areas that carry a ton of climate and carbon and value.
Melissa Fifield:
That's great. So what's next for The Conservation Alliance?
Conor McElyea:
Oh, thinking big. So we just increased our capacity from four to eight, big deal for an organization that has been incredibly scrappy over the years. We're also looking to increase engagement with our members by providing more education and action opportunities so they can best leverage the platforms they have. In my world, on the membership front, we're looking to improve geographic representation, industry diversification, and ultimately drive more dollars for grants and get more powerful advocates to support our priorities.
Melissa, you were just part of our inaugural summit, which was the first time that we got all of these different industries together in one place, camping together in the outdoors for a three-day retreat where we learned all about the opportunities and the ways that businesses within our network can plug in and support those opportunities. But even beyond that, we want to start to do a better job connecting people to the places that we're working to protect. Because once you get to experience a place firsthand, your life and passion about that place is forever changed.
Melissa Fifield:
We protect the places we love, right? So it's great to hear how The Conservation Alliance thinks about that. And a plug for future summits, it was an incredible experience. So what a great way to put it into practice and have people actually out there experiencing while talking about the future. Anything else you want to add to our conversation, Connor?
Conor McElyea:
I will just say that if this conversation piqued your curiosity, please reach out and let's have a discussion about membership. We're at a point now where if you had any connection or passion or shared value in helping protect these beautiful outdoor landscapes, we want to have your business at the table. And so I just encourage anyone who's interested to get in touch and start to engage in the dialogue.
Melissa Fifield:
Fantastic. That's a great call to action. Thank you for the conversation.
Conor McElyea:
Thanks, Melissa.
Michael Torrance:
Thanks for listening to Sustainability Leaders. This podcast is presented by BMO Financial Group to access all the resources we discussed in today's episode and to see our other podcasts, visit us at bmo.com/sustainabilityleaders. You can listen and subscribe free to our show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider, and we'll greatly appreciate a rating and review and any feedback that you might have. Our show and resources are produced with support from BMO's marketing team and Puddle Creative. Until next time, I'm Michael Torrance. Have a great week.
Speaker 5:
For BMO disclosures, please visit bmocm.com/podcast/disclaimer.