With the release of Issue 35, Alpinist Magazine announced the first recipient of the new Alpinist Subscriber Grant. This year the Access Fund’s Land Conservation Campaign will receive ten percent of every Alpinist subscription sold–somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000.
“Today, magazine’s circulation efforts are focused giving away a t-shirt or a hat or whatever in order to gain a subscriber.” explained Alpinist Publisher Jon Howard. ” But that model does not fit our brand, our reader nor is sustainable over the long term.” Howard also noted that the Subscriber Grant is not so different from a partnership already in place between Alpinist and the American Alpine Club.
The Access Fund’s Land Conservation Campaign is a sustainable fund that makes low interest loans available for local climbing organizations. As the loans are repaid the funds are cycled back into the program, ensuring a permanent support structure for local climbing. The fund’s projects began with a $10,000 loan to the Washington Climbers Coalition, to secure a purchase option for the right to buy the Index Lower Town Wall, and have included other work in Alabama, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Kentucky, California, West Virginia and, recently, Vermont.
Today the Acces Fund announced an $8,000 loan to CRAG- VT to repair a flooded access road. CRAG-VT Board Member David Crothers said, “CRAG-VT owns its crags, so ultimately we have to pay taxes on them. The road repair, after the heavy flooding, would have nearly drained our funds so approaching the Access Fund was logical. They have helped other organizations in the past with similar dilemmas, it was a big help.”