grants from gear companies for college

i was just wondering if climbing gear companies ever offer grants for college for students going into fields such as outdoor recreation specialization or mountain search and rescue or other such careers? has anyone ever heard of this?

Not that I know of. I've looked into it as well, one of my minors as an undergrad was in Outdoor Rec. Some companies will give you grants for research projects. But it probably won't be free gear if that's what you are looking for. In my opinion the outdoor industry is a very very competitive field. You have lots of people who have 4 yr and even graduate degrees who have paid thousands of dollars for certifications (wfr, wemt, aca, amga, etc...) who are super passionate about what they do, who work for way less $$$ than lots and lots of other fields. But we get to do what we love.

Some places offer grants for expeditions though. Look at the American Alpine club grants. Or grants of local or regional mountaineering clubs in your area. Patagonia used to give grants to fund individual conservation work, not sure if they do anymore. Mountain Hardwear also had a similar program. It never hurts to write a company and ask.

With the state of the economy grant funding is going to become very hard to come by in the near future.

Good luck!

what about architecture students?

The only thing I know of is my university; there are about fifteen of us that run a huge outdoors club and some gear companies have hooked us up with pro deals or discoutns for all our members...but to my knowledge nobody gives up free schwag unless you're basically a pro...

If you are looking to do research, the AAC has some grants. Usually these are for specialized research by graduate students, and they are competitive. Look at the AAC webpage, they are advertised right now, with applications and proposals due soon.

There is a big issue you touch on here - the difficulty of getting into outdoor/adventure sports. This is compounded by the expense. These challenges continue to limit entry into outdoor/adventure sports by often underrepresented populations.

The industry expresses an interest in contributing to diversity of participants in outdoor/adventure sports.

If you can attach your gear needs to a larger cause, say diversity, in a real, important and impactful way, you might just get the interest of vendors and, hence, the gear you need.

So get civically engaged!

Otherwise, check with Liberty Mountain. Our other pro purchase arrangements preclude students expressly.

Best of luck.