About this Report
REI's second stewardship report covers the co-op's activities and performance related to our social and environmental responsibility during the 2007 calendar year. The performance metrics and data shared within this online report include the majority of our operations and facilities (headquarters, distribution centers, retail locations and supply chain manufacturing), unless otherwise noted.
Our first report, which covered efforts from the 2006 calendar year, established a process comprised of milestones, numbers and storytelling surrounding our stewardship priorities. The report's goal was – and remains – to be transparent in our actions and hold ourselves accountable for the goals we set to our members, customers, communities and employees.
The 2007 stewardship report provides an update on our progress toward the goals we communicated last year. Our stewardship efforts are an ongoing process where we have implemented our initiatives and programs, applied our learnings and measured our progress.
Defining Stewardship
REI's core purpose is to inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of adventure and stewardship. At the co-op, stewardship is defined as our efforts to:
- Encourage the active conservation of nature
- Inspire the responsible use and enjoyment of the outdoors
- Enhance the natural world and our communities through responsible business practices
- Foster opportunities to increase participation levels in human-powered recreation, with a focus on young people
- Maintain REI as an employer of choice, where employees are highly engaged in the vision of the company and are representative of our marketplace
Report Structure
REI's 2007 stewardship report is structured into the following sections — Community, Environment and People. For cross reference, these sections were entitled Active Stewardship, Sustaining Our Natural World, and People in our 2006 stewardship report. For additional details on the content of each section, please visit the report's table of contents.
Materiality
To determine the most relevant subjects to include in REI's 2007 stewardship report, we built on the foundation we established in 2006. The scope of our reporting was informed from internal and external stakeholders: employees, leadership, REI's board of directors, members and customers, local community constituents, nonprofit partners and advocacy groups. REI's Corporate Social Responsibility Steering Committee, leaders and managers, who represent aspects of the cooperative, provided oversight in the development of the report content. REI's board of directors provided input into our goals, metrics and measurement.
Input was not only collected through formal channels, it was also gathered on an informal basis by talking with and listening to a number of our valued stakeholders. REI's business objectives and long-term strategic plans also served as a basis for determining relevancy, as did co-op policies, programs and initiatives. While the process for determining relevancy was primarily a cross-functional internal effort, we consulted with external experts to help establish REI's priorities for reporting on our corporate responsibility and stewardship.
While we hope to keep our online information updated and accurate, REI stewardship reports will be archived and maintained with open access for future reference.
Comments
We invite you to read the full 2007 stewardship report, share our highlights brochure with others and give us your feedback. Your comments will support our ongoing goal of providing relevant information through this report that is important to our members, customers, partners, employees and others.
