2025 Outdoor Foundation Annual Report

Expanding Access and Inspiring the Next Generation of Outdoor Participants

 

For more than 25 years, the Outdoor Foundation has worked to expand access to the outdoors, strengthening communities and mobilizing local partners so that children, youth, and families can build lasting connections with nature and outdoor recreation.

The 2025 Outdoor Foundation Annual Report reflects a year of significant growth and impact. Through our Thrive Outside Initiative, communities connected more than 972,000 children, youth, and families to meaningful outdoor experiences. Yet reaching more people is only part of the work. Lasting impact comes from creating consistent, welcoming opportunities that inspire people to return, deepen their participation, and build lifelong connections with the outdoors. Closing the gap between initial access and sustained participation is one of the outdoor community’s most important challenges — and opportunities.

This report shares what we accomplished together through Thrive Outside, what our national research tells us about the growing participation and frequency gap, and how we are working to inspire the next generation of outdoor participants.

  • More than 972,000 children, youth, and families connected to the outdoors in 2025 through hiking, camping, paddling, biking, rock climbing, camping, environmental education and stewardship, youth leadership, and so much more.
  • Community-driven strategies that bring local partners together, remove outdoor access barriers, and create lasting opportunities for more people to get outside and stay engaged.
  • A growing national network, with two new Thrive Outside Communities launching in Western North Carolina and Pittsburgh, bringing the total to 15 Thrive Outside Communities launched since 2019.
  • Deep community roots, with more than 600 partner organizations, schools, and public agencies in our national network, three-quarters of which work directly with public schools or school districts
  • A focus on stewardship of our public lands, with two-thirds of partners engaging youth in environmental conservation and stewardship activities
  • National insights from our Outdoor Participation Trends Report show record participation — 183.2 million Americans — alongside lower participation frequency than a decade ago, highlighting the opportunity to turn growing interest into sustained engagement. 

Download the full 2025 Annual Report to see how local leadership, cross-sector partnerships, and the nation's most comprehensive participation research are helping build a healthier, more connected, and more inclusive outdoors.

Interested in partnering with us to help more children, youth, and families build lasting connections with the outdoors? Contact us at info@outdoorfoundation.org to start a conversation.


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