Alliance for Gender Equity in Outdoor Adventure
GEA ALLIANCE
Gender equity in outdoor adventure benefits everyone. The GEA Alliance exists to back the organizations making the outdoors a place where women and girls belong — and to give them a durable home to grow from.
Our mission
We connect women, girls, and gender-diverse adventurers with transformative adventure opportunities, advancing gender equity on and off the mountain.
Why it matters
Gender equity, on and off the mountain.
The outdoors has never been an equal place. Cost, confidence, access, and who gets to picture themselves as an adventurer all tilt against women and girls. Closing that gap doesn't just open the outdoors to more people — it makes the outdoors better for everyone in it.
That conviction is why these initiatives exist, and why the GEA Alliance was built to stand behind them.
Gender equity in outdoor adventure isn't just a women's issue — it's something that benefits everyone, including men.
How the Alliance began
Two initiatives, joined by a shared purpose.
The GEA Alliance was formed when two established initiatives — The Cairn Project and Summit Scholarship — decided they were stronger together. Each had spent years building community and getting women and girls outside. By joining forces under one alliance, they could share governance, stewardship, and a single foundation built to last.
The initiatives
The programs doing the work.
The GEA Alliance exists, first and foremost, to serve these two initiatives. Each keeps its own name, community, and voice; the Alliance is the foundation they share.
The Cairn Project
Founded by Alison Wright & Sarah Castle
Peer-to-peer fundraising and storytelling that gets girls and young women outside in their own communities.
Visit cairnproject.org →Summit Scholarship
Founded by Sunny Stroeer
Expedition scholarships for women adventurers — funding the trip, the training, and the first big objective.
Visit summitscholarship.org →What the Alliance does
A shared foundation, so the work stays in the field.
The GEA Alliance carries the institutional load for its initiatives — legal home, governance, and stewardship — so each one can put its energy into programs, not overhead. Because the Alliance holds that foundation, funders and partners gain a single, accountable point of contact across both initiatives.
Legal home
A single 501(c)(3) under which the initiatives operate, file, and receive tax-deductible gifts.
Governance
A shared board and the policies, oversight, and accountability that funders and partners expect.
Stewardship
Financial management, reporting, and the back-office infrastructure that keeps the mission durable.
Leadership
The people behind the Alliance.
The GEA Alliance is governed by a shared board drawn from across both initiatives, including their founders.
Founder of Summit Scholarship, which grew out of AWExpeditions, her guiding company for women, by women.
Co-founder of The Cairn Project; career in the philanthropic sector advancing justice and empowerment. Directs the Environmental Defenders Collaborative at Global Greengrants Fund. JD, Seattle University.
Co-founder of The Cairn Project; soil scientist studying global change in ecosystems. PhD, University of Montana. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Project manager for ultra running events and wilderness conservation across the southwest. Raised in northwest Montana, now in southern Utah.
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach and small business owner; became a Cairn Project Trailblazer in 2019. Raised between France and the US.
Michigan-based adventurer and community builder with a background in education and public service.
For funders & partners
One partnership, the whole pipeline.
Because the Alliance carries the institutional work for its initiatives, supporting the GEA Alliance is simple: one relationship reaches girls through The Cairn Project and women through Summit Scholarship — the full arc from first trail to first summit.
Single point of contact
One relationship, one agreement, both initiatives — less administrative friction for partners supporting the mission.
Consolidated reporting
Unified governance and financial reporting across the Alliance, on the cadence funders expect.
The full pipeline
From a girl's first community adventure to a woman's first major expedition — supported end to end.
Tax-deductible
A registered 501(c)(3); gifts to either initiative are receipted through the GEA Alliance.
Build a partnership with the GEA Alliance.
For sponsorship, grants, or partnership inquiries across both initiatives, get in touch.
Get in touch