Patagonia’s Profits Are Funding Conservation — and Politics
Summary
The gusher of philanthropic money is the product of an unconventional corporate restructuring in 2022, when Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his family relinquished ownership of the company and declared that all its future profits would be used to protect the environment and combat climate change. Patagonia and the Chouinards set up a series of trusts, limited liability corporations and charitable groups designed to protect the independence of the clothing company while distributing all of its profits through an entity known as the Holdfast Collective. “It’s a combination of charity and politics, and it’s the beginning of changes we’re going to see more of.” For a group that is distributing so much money, the Holdfast Collective has so far managed to remain largely under the radar, unknown to several philanthropy experts and Democratic fund-raisers who were asked about it. The network received a $1.6 billion infusion from Barre Seid, a reclusive businessman who donated all the shares of his Chicago device manufacturing company in a transaction that shook the political world, and drew comparisons to the Chouinards’ transfer of Patagonia to Holdfast. Chris Lehman, an organizer for the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, which is working on the effort, said his group received $500,000 from Holdfast this month, allowing it to compete against deep pocketed corporations on the other side of the fight.