About the Report
Defining Stewardship
REI’s core purpose is to inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. At the co-op, being a good steward is reflected in how we care for the world in which we play, work and live, and how we connect people to nature.
Specifically, our efforts are designed to:
- Facilitate 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 for outdoor recreation, with a focus on young people
Maintain REI as an employer of choice, where employees are highly engaged and reflect the diversity of our communities.
Why We Report
REI publishes an online stewardship report to be transparent in our social and environmental efforts and to hold ourselves accountable to our members, customers, communities and employees.
REI’s sixth stewardship report covers the co-op’s activities and performance related to these areas during the 2011 calendar year. The performance metrics and data contained within this online report include our operations and facilities (headquarters, distribution centers, retail locations and some aspects of supply chain manufacturing).
This report is an important part of our continual work to implement our initiatives and programs, apply what we learn, measure against our goals, and share our progress and challenges with REI’s stakeholders.
Report Structure
REI’s 2011 stewardship report is organized into the three content sections — Community – philanthropic efforts and nonprofit partnerships centered on conservation, volunteerism and advocacy; Sustainable Operations – initiatives and efforts to reduce our overall impact on the planet; and Workplace – the co-op’s workplace priorities and policies, as well as fair labor compliance with vendor factory partners. For additional details on the content of each section, visit the report’s table of contents.
Materiality
To determine the most relevant subjects to include in REI’s 2011 stewardship report, we built on the foundation we established in our first five reports. The scope of our reporting is for calendar year 2011, and was informed by internal and external stakeholders: employees, leadership, REI’s board of directors, members and customers, local community constituents, nonprofit partners and advocacy groups.
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 was largely a cross-functional internal effort, we have consulted with external experts regarding REI’s priorities for reporting on our corporate responsibility and stewardship.
All past REI stewardship reports are archived and maintained with open access for future reference, and complement additional information presented on REI.com/stewardship.
Comments
We welcome your thoughts on our 2011 stewardship via email at stewardship@rei.com. Your feedback supports our ongoing goal of providing relevant information that is important to our members, customers, partners, employees and others.