The Armed Forces Initiative is always seeking Corporate Sponsors to help us in our mission to get more Veterans and Active duty Military into the wild public places, hunting and angling. To be one of our corporate sponsors means you and your organization believe, as we do, that access to America's wild places are an essential part of American freedom and getting members of the military community into these places is one of the best ways for them to treat the symptoms of PTSD, TBI, and the stresses of transitioning from military to civilian and you stand behind that belief.
There are several levels of Corporate Sponsorship reflective of the generosity of your donation and the number of veterans and active military members we can help with it.
- All donations include a subscription to the AFI newsletter and video/photo updates of how we are spending your donations 4 times per year.
- Donors may also contact Trevor Hubbs at any time for a personal update on the AFI program and personalized thank you message crafted for the person or organization of your choice
- Select level donors can also have their products featured in our videos from the field on Social media and the BHA You Tube Channel
If you would like to support Veterans, National Guard, Reservists, Active duty, or Gold Star Families please reach out to:
Trevor Hubbs at [email protected], DJ Zor at [email protected] or Josh Mills at [email protected]
Airborne Ranger Level Donors:
This is our highest sponsor level reserved for those who donate $50,000 or more worth of funding or material which is enough to fully fund our military camps for a full year. A donation of this size will ensure 2,300 members of the military community are taken out into the field and not only shown Americas public lands and water, but are taught how to be a part of these landscapes, and why these places are so important.
The Kendeta Fund:
The Kendeda Fund supports the dignity of individuals and the sustainability of communities through investments in transformative leaders and ideas.
Infantry Level Donors:
This is reserved for sponsors who have donated between $10,000.00 and $49,999.99 worth of funding or material with which the AFI can support activities for a specific region or project. Examples of how we have used this size funding can be seen in our annual Priorities Landscapes projects in which we take members of the military community out to an area of the United States currently under threat of loss of access or that is worth highlighting for its potential as a resource for healing in the military community. Our 2022 Priorities Landscapes Project is the Boundary Waters Wilderness area which is under threat of a copper sulfide mining operation. Donors at this level may choose the project or region of the country towards which the donation will be applied.
Wenonah Canoes
https://wenonah.com/Default.aspx
For 50 years, we've handcrafted the world's most innovative canoes.Each is purpose-built to take your experience further, no matter the destination.
Vortex Optics
The Customer is King. We care about you, both before and long after the sale. If you ever have a problem with one of our products, we make that our problem—no questions asked. Just take a look at our unconditional, unlimited VIP Warranty and you will see what we mean.
To ensure you get the finest optics, accessories, and apparel, we're obsessed with understanding both your needs and what drives you. That means not only demanding the best from ourselves, but listening to you as we develop new products and services. From the hunt of a lifetime, to protecting your life and the lives of others, we take your faith in us very seriously.
It's pretty simple: We say what we mean and mean what we say. When you see the VIP Warranty on your Vortex product, it's a promise to take care of you for life because you have our pledge to uncommon excellence and dedication in every aspect of our business. Keeping our promises to you is not only good business; it's the right thing to do.
Veterans United
https://www.veteransunited.com
We Help Veterans Become Home Owners!
You defended the American Dream. Now live it. See what your military service has earned you.
Sub-Mariner Level Donors:
The Sub-Mariner donor level is for those donating between $2,500.00 and $9,999.99. Donations of this size help the Armed Forces Initaitive acquire necessary gear required for our teams to get members of the military community outdoors. Examples of these gear acquisitions include:
Providing Fishing gear for all participants of our Boundary waters canoe event
Purchasing Tents to be used by our Alaska teams for events
Purchasing Chain saws, and tools for our Fort Bragg team to help clear drop zones to improve upland habitat
Providing Lodging for our Florida team to take 8 veterans fishing in the Florida Keys for a week
FHF Gear
At FHF Gear we’ve paired the functionality of the hunting and fishing industry with the utility and durability of tactical gear to produce unique and high quality outdoor gear. Using a design that is minimalistic and modular in nature, our products provide the user the freedom to add or eliminate accessories as needed, creating a fully customizable kit for your needs.
For over a decade, FHF Gear has been proudly made in America and backed by a warranty that exhibits not only our confidence in our product, but our belief in customer service.
Mystery Ranch
In this world, there are people who live the strenuous life—long, hard days outside in punishing conditions—and there are companies that make their gear. From the battlefield to the backcountry, from the edge of a raging wildfire to the top of a 15,000-foot peak, MYSTERY RANCH supplies these stalwart souls with backpacks to match their boldness.
Conceived in the Rocky Mountains and used all over the world, MYSTERY RANCH packs have always had a single purpose: to minimize the burden on your back. Which in turn maximizes your strength, speed, and overall performance—as a soldier, firefighter, hunter, skier, climber, or whatever bold and strenuous activity you call your own.
OnX Hunt
https://www.onxmaps.com/hunt/app
The call of the wild is in all of us. It provokes exploration. It propels us to ridgelines, coastlines, high crags, deep crannies — those spaces and moments when our heart forges ahead because we can’t turn back. Because we have to know. Because we must experience it for ourselves.
Whether you find yourself listening for bugles on a lonely hillside, choosing the longer trek at the fork in the trail, ripping through the desert at sunset in your SxS, or picking your ski line from the summit before the powder plunge — onX helps bring that adventure to life. Whether it’s your first step into the uncharted, or your annual backcountry trip, we unlock confidence in the unknown.
G&H Decoys
In 1934, the Federal Government outlawed the use of live migratory birds for decoying purposes. In light of the new legislation, John J. Gazalski realized the need to supply hunters a waterfowl decoy that complied with new conservation standards. This inspired him to invent a lightweight, stackable shell decoy constructed from a substance similar to paper mâché. In 1934, the first handmade “Henryettan Decoys” were produced from operations in the back of his home. By 1940, the demand for the decoys was so great that a U.S. patent was obtained and an abandoned sawmill was acquired and renovated. In the late 1940’s Mr. Gazalski was joined by his father-in-law, J.V. Hutton, and founded G&H Decoy Manufacturing Company. G&H has continued to manufacture Made in USA Decoys, since its founding, over eight decades ago.
By 1956, the growing availability of plastic technology enabled G&H to design and manufacture decoys with even more realistic features. By the early 1960’s the company was also manufacturing floating decoys.
G&H Decoys proudly calls Henyetta, Oklahoma, home. Located in the center of America’s Heartland, G&H Decoys is proud to be American made and of superior quality and value. G&H offers an authentically made decoy that is as resilient as the American hunter and is made to last generations.
When you buy a G&H Decoy, you are buying generational quality, supporting American conservation and upholding the history and heritage of waterfowl hunting in our nation.
BossTek
For almost two decades, BossTek® has specialized in providing innovative solutions for dust control. Our environmentally conscious approach utilizes proven atomized mist technology to efficiently eliminate fugitive emissions to help meet compliance regulations, minimize downtime and reduce labor costs.
We have an innate drive for developing the most revolutionary and reliable solutions on the market. Our dedicated team prioritizes building lasting relationships with clients that foster a lifetime of unparalleled service and support.
Proudly serving industries that make up the backbone of our nation, we’re here to help these hard-working people. We not only want to make their jobs easier but are dedicated to creating cleaner and safer environments to protect them and their surrounding community.
Waltons
Everything But the Meat
Heroes' Harvest
https://www.heroesharvests.org/
Heroes' Harvests is a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to provide our Nation’s service members, to include active duty military members, reserve, national guard, veterans, and Gold Star families, a dynamic therapeutic environment through exclusive hunting, fishing, and outdoor experiences. We also directly support our community members, in conjunction with outfitters across different states, for transitioning service members who seek a career in the outdoor industry.
EGA Level Donors:
Eagle, Globe, and Anchor level donors have donated between $1,000.00 and $2,499.99. Donations of this size fund a single event for the Armed forces Initiative and are our most popular donation level. Donors of this size receive a full report on our events including pictures, video, and written accounts of our participants using the gear or branding of the donor company.
Backcountry Fuel Box
https://backcountryfuelbox.com
We are a small team of backcountry hunters, skiers, and outdoor adventurers behind the scenes of the Backcountry Fuel Box. Everyone on the team knows what it's like to choke down a snack that tastes like fine aged dirt molded into bar form, as well as having experienced backpacking into somewhere only to find we didn't bring enough of the right backcountry foods to keep us going for the extended stay.
We feel your pain when it comes to finding the right foods and drinks for your backpack and we're here to help you dial in your backcountry nutrition the best we can.
Chippewa Custom rods
Tom Schenk, owner of Chippewa River Custom Rod Company, first learned how to make custom fishing rods when he was twelve. He fished (A LOT), so it was a suiting and practical endeavor. He custom built fishing rods and fished until joining the Army Rangers, 3rd Battalion from 1989 to 1993. No surprise, when he got back to St. Paul, MN, Tom got right back to building rods and fishing.
In 2002, realizing the city life wasn't for him, he headed off to Northern Wisconsin, stopping at the junction of the Chippewa and Flambeau rivers--the heart of musky country. He found himself owning a small tavern and building custom fishing rods.
Tom's true joy and craft is making beautiful custom fishing rods. Especially custom fishing rods exactly how people ask them to be made. Should you ever hold a Chippewa River Custom Rod in your hand and cast away, you'll understand the difference between 'manufactured' and 'crafted'.
GuideSource Outdoors
https://www.guidesourceoutdoors.com
Guidesource Outdoors was conceived during archery elk season in 2021. After the hunt of our lives we learned even the best outfitters regularly encounter challenges in securing high quality help. What started during a 3 day, 30 hour road trip home snowballed and brought us to the conclusion that we could help based on the application of our experiences and skills acquired over the course of our professional careers. This enabled us to merge something we were passionate about with something we were good at to fundamentally change how guides and outfitters do business.
Access The Wild
https://accessthewild.com/about-us
It dawned on us one day that there are a lot of different places where people can research the location for their next outdoor adventure. However, there is no single resource that consolidates all the information, so they don't have to hunt from site to site. The mission of accesstheWILD is to be the key that unlocks your access to the WILD by combining all the information on places to go and gear to use into one site.
Salmo Java Roasters
Conceived by a combat medic on a tactical site in South West Asia, born on a trout stream in upstate New York then raised in the outdoors of the USA. We are the small batch gourmet coffee roaster for outdoors people.
Gastro Gnome
https://www.gastrognomemeals.com
At Gastro Gnome, we start by sourcing the best ingredients for our authentic comfort food recipes. Then, we make them travel ready, so they taste just as good when you rehydrate them at your campsite as they did when we first prepared them in our kitchen in Bozeman, Montana.
Seek Outside
We at Seek Outside are passionate about the outdoors, wild places and the experiences they provide. We exist to improve the all season backcountry experience by producing rugged, dependable, lightweight, high performance products, and to promote good stewardship and conservation of these wild places.
Big Agnes
We started Big Agnes 20 years ago with a back-of-the-napkin dream - build better gear for sleeping in the backcountry. The plan seemed simple; provide a comfortable night of sleep and people will come back for more. As the saying goes, ‘any good expedition can be planned on a napkin’.Fair enough, but we’d like to tweak it and add BUT expect the unexpected.
None of us could have predicted the effects as we endured a global pandemic. But as the snow melted, summer emerged and we left our homes we were all pulled by the common thread that unites our community - the urge to be outside. Finding inspiration in micro-adventures closer to home, backyard family campouts, and solo time in the backcountry became our new normal. Simple hikes became exciting. Campfire light provided hope. Distanced banter around camp warmed our spirits. This return to activity helped fill the void but wasn’t a replacement for the bonds we create when we are getting after it ‘normally’ with friends and family. We were reminded that being outdoors is what matters most and that having the right gear is critical.
Sitka Gear
At SITKA we recognize the importance of the critical work being done by our conservation partners. Through donations and the Sitka Ecosystem Grants, we are proud to provide financial support to help ensure their conservation goals can be met each year. Without their steadfast efforts to keep sheep on the mountain, elk bugling in our forests and waterfowl flooding winter skies, wildlife would be in serious trouble, and the ecosystems that sustain them would, without question, be further impacted.
This is where you come in. As hunters and harvesters we are part of nature not separate from. The ecosystems that inspire us and the wildlife we pursue need all the help they can get.
First Lite
First Lite strives to make the industry's best apparel for the hunter who demands nothing less. We design SIMPLE and FUNCTIONAL products built to work for the tree stand on the back forty or a nine-day expedition in the Brooks Range. We understand that the passion and success of our customers and employees depends on the conservation of the world's wildlife and the protection of our collective access to the wild places they inhabit.
2nd Lieutenant Level Donors:
This level is for those members donating between $1.00 and $999.99.
Phelps Game Calls
Phelps game calls was established in 2009. I had always been fascinated with calling animals into close range, so what better venture than making calls? I set out to make the most realistic and easy to use calls available. After a bunch of trial and error, I had found combinations that sounded good and were easy to use. Since the inception, I have designed and made Elk, Turkey, Predator, Deer, and other custom calls.
Operation Phoenix Outdoors
https://www.operationphoenixoutdoors.com
Our mission is to give back to our nation's heroes by using the outdoors as therapy to create mental health breaks. We do this by bringing military, veterans, first responders and their families on hunting and fishing trips to facilitate fellowship, friendships and healing.
Individual Level Donations
Donate Now! - Just make sure you select Armed Forces Initiative in the drop down at processing.
(Ask about contributing to our Endowment)
Rifleman Package - $50
This will cover the cost of taking one veteran or active service member into the field for an event. It will pay for food, water, and loaner gear necessary to teach the participant to hunt or fish.
Fire team package - $250
This will cover the cost of taking 5 veterans or active service members into the field for an event. With this donation the AFI can purchase tents, sleeping bags, and other necessary gear to put our members in the field during the coldest months.
Squad Package - $550
This covers the cost of taking 8 veterans or active service members out into the field to learn to hunt or fish. With this donation the AFI can help cover the cost of planning and implementing the program in more states and more active-duty installations.
Platoon package – $1500
This package can cover a full camp kit for one of our clubs or installations, we can buy a cook tent, camp stove, coolers, and other gear needed for our volunteer leaders to help get more veterans in their community out on our public lands and waters.
Company package - $2500
This donation can provide travel assistance for participants to hunt and fish areas of the country that are considered bucket list destinations like The Brooks Range, tongass national Forrest, Bob Marshall Wilderness, Boundary waters canoe area, and Everglades.
Battalion Package - $10,000
This donation fully funds one of our AFI regions (Northeast, South East, South West, Midwest, Mountain West, etc) for a year of operations. Please specify the region you wish to support via Email to [email protected].
Airborne Ranger Package - $50,000
This is our highest-level donation. Making a donation of this size pays for AFI camps for a full year across the Untied States. This will take 1500 + veterans out into the public wild places we all love and help bring this valuable demographic into the conservation conversation creating a stronger corps of conservation advocates.
- All donations include a subscription to the AFI newsletter and video/photo updates of how we are spending your donations 4 times per year.
- Donors may also contact Trevor Hubbs at any time for a personal update on the AFI program and personalized thank you message crafted for the person or organization of your choice.
