Protect. Educate. Inspire.

2021 Orvis Impact Report

Because ensuring a sustainable natural world, where fly fishing, wingshooting, and outdoor passions can be passed from generation to generation is at the core of our business.

A group of three adults with a small child walking through a field
Simon Perkins cuddling with his dogs inside a vehicle.

Dear Fellow Adventurer,

In 1965, my grandfather, Leigh Perkins, purchased a small Vermont company called Orvis. In doing so, he cracked the code of tying his love for the adventure and wonder in nature to a careerone where every day was spent connected to his passion for the outdoors. 

 

He also quickly made two moves that would forever forge the trajectory of our brand and our relationships with our customers. He created the first fly-fishing schools, teaching people the enjoyment of a deeper connection with species and habitat. And, he began giving back to protecting and restoring wild places, fish, and birds so that we all could continue to pass down traditions that help give meaning to our lives, define our values, and connect us with each other and with the natural world. 

 

At Orvis, connecting generations to nature is not only an ideal, it’s a strategic pillar of the company. Our vision is to lead the sustainable future of fly fishing, wingshooting, and the natural world. We feel it’s both our opportunity and our responsibility to do so collectively so children and grandchildren can enjoy and protect something so impactful to so many lives. It’s a legacy that we proudly embrace, and a responsibility that we are grateful to share with so many of you.  


Sincerely,


Simon Perkins

President | 3rd Generation Family Ownership

The Impact We Made Together in 2021


115 nonprofit organizations supported in 2021


$1.5 million raised through Orvis donations, customer, and nonprofit partner match


We supported local stream and ecosystem restoration projects in our own backyard and backyards across America to help mitigate the impacts of a warming climate. 


With you and our partners, we continued to support organizations that provide access to fly fishing and meaningful connections to nature for historically underrepresented communities.  

Nature
If we are to benefit from the use of our natural resources, we must be willing to act to preserve them.
—Perk Perkins, Orvis board of directors and former CEO

Our History of Commitment

For more than 165 years, the Orvis mission has been to guide its patrons to lead more fulfilling lives through a deep personal connection to the adventure and wonders of the natural world. Orvis has been family owned, Vermont based, and committed to conservation since 1856. We have a long history of giving back to our communities and the environment. Here are some more recent highlights.

Orvis commits 5% of its pre-tax profits to protecting nature, advancing canine health and well-being, and supporting the communities in which we operate, and where our associates live.

Our largest grants are Customer Matching Grants, whereby Orvis commits a substantial matching fund for donations solicited from our customers through promotions in our catalogs, stores, websites, social media, emails, and publicity campaigns. These grants offer the additional benefit of bringing strong publicity and endorsement to the project, the value of which often far exceeds the actual dollars raised.

Canine cancer affects 1 in 4 dogs, and half of all dogs over ten years old. Fortunately, in recent years, veterinary scientists have made tremendous research strides—recent studies have led to new research tools, better diagnostics, and improved chemotherapy treatments. But there is more work to be done. That's why The Orvis Company partners with Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit organization that invests in animal health science, to support canine cancer research and improve the health of all dogs.


What's Being Done

Since 2009, Orvis and our customers have raised more than $1 million to help fund canine cancer research. Morris Animal Foundation, the global leader in supporting scientific research that advances veterinary medicine, has used this funding to advance early cancer-detection tests, to implement safer and more effective chemotherapy protocols, and to develop a tumor tissue bank for common canine cancers. Since 1948, Morris Animal Foundation has funded more than 250 canine cancer studies at research organizations and universities around the world. The Canine Lifetime Health Project and the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study are among their current veterinary initiatives.


Join the Action

Help create a brighter future for dogs. Show your support today by entering your dog’s photo in our Cover Dog contest, voting for your favorite entries, or donating directly to Morris Animal Foundation.

Learn to fly fish for FREE

We supply all the gear you'll need! At a Fly Fishing 101 class, you'll learn the basics of fly casting and rigging, so you can get out on the water right away. Plus, at the end of the class, you'll receive special offers to make it easier to get the fly-fishing gear you need.

The Orvis Breaking Barriers Award honors an individual who has gone above and beyond to bring new blood into the sport by breaking down barriers and introducing new audiences to fly fishing.

50/50 On the Water inspires women to get out on the water and discover the joys of fly fishing, celebrates female anglers, and provides women with the resources (and gear) they need to make their own fishing adventures a reality.

Orvis is committed to making fly fishing and the outdoors more inclusive.

Orvis’s vision is to inspire the world to love the adventure and wonder in nature. For us, an inspired world is one that is inclusive, equitable, and without barriers. One that is achieved by being vulnerable, acknowledging privilege, exploring blind spots, engaging in uncomfortable conversations, and effecting change.


In the summer of 2020, Orvis became the first company to sign the Angling for All (AFA) Pledge. Created by Brown Folks Fishing, the pledge establishes a commitment and resource for the fishing industry to identify and eliminate barriers for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, creating a more inclusive and equitable sport and lasting change.


“We are honored and grateful to have such a strong partnership with the team at Brown Folks Fishing,” says Orvis President Simon Perkins. “Their mission to build capacity, access, resources, visibility, and a solid community for anglers of color makes the sport stronger, and we are excited to sign the pledge as an acknowledgment of our commitment to this critical work. This is an opportunity for us to explore our own blind spots and unconscious biases and an important step forward in Orvis’s history of passion and commitment to access, inclusion, and stewardship in fly fishing.”

Trout Unlimited Logo
Leigh Perkins, standing outside, posing in full fly-fishing gear

Battenkill Home Rivers Initiative

10% of Giving Tuesday Profits to backyard habitat


In honor of the late Leigh Perkins and his love for his home river, Orvis donated 10% of Giving Tuesday profits to restoration efforts on the Battenkill in southern Vermont. It is one of the most iconic undammed freestone rivers with healthy populations of wild brook trout and brown trout in the Northeast. To date, the initiative has restored and reconnected three miles of an important tributary to the Battenkill, allowing better access to coldwater habitat for trout. TU staff and volunteers including Orvis employees have also planted over 1,100 trees and shrubs providing shade and cover for the fish. Both efforts are important to mitigating the impacts of a warming climate on trout and will improve the fishing in this river for all for future generations.

Everglades Foundation Logo


Drift boat blazing across the water.

The Everglades Foundation

Raised and Donated over $53,000


Orvis and the Everglades Foundation continued the critical work to restoring the flow of freshwater south through Everglades and into Florida Bay, in our collective efforts to bring back an ecosystem on the verge of extinction. 


Progress was made in 2021, including the completion of the nearly 30 year restoration of the Kissimmee River, and the removal of the old Tamiami Trail road bed, which essentially cut off the flow of water south. This has allowed 220 billion gallons of freshwater to flow again into the Everglades and Florida Bay.


A restored Everglades will enhance the carbon sequestration capacity of this unique ecosystem, which spans 3 million acres of freshwater and estuarine wetlands. It will also support Florida’s $86B tourism industry, $11B recreational fishing industry, $23B recreational boating industry, and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Celebrating 25 years Casting for Recovery 1996-2021 Logo
Two women fishing in a river in front of a red covered bridge

Casting for Recovery - 25th Anniversary

$40,000 raised for access to fly-fishing retreats


Casting for Recovery was founded in Manchester, Vermont in 1996 with Orvis as its first corporate sponsor. In 2021, we celebrated a quarter of a century of partnership, providing life-changing experiences for women with breast cancer through connection with each other and the natural world. Together with our customers, we raised $40,000 through corporate and customer donations and proceeds from a limited-edition Mirage® reel commemorating CfR’s anniversary during Breast Cancer Awareness month. 


Funds raised in 2021 continued to support Orvis’s and CfR’s shared commitment to the Angling for All Pledge, providing specific programming for women with stage IV metastatic (advanced) cancer as well as a Southeast Regional Retreat for women of color living in the Mississippi Delta. In addition, funding supported retreats for low-income women, Native American women, and other groups disproportionately affected by breast cancer. 

Orvis Breaking Barriers Award.  Recognized for going above and beyond in making fly fishing accessible and inviting to others
Durrell Smith hunting with his dogs

Minority Outdoor Alliance

Breaking Barriers


In 2021, bird hunter, podcast host, and co-founder of the Minority Outdoor Alliance Durrell Smith received the Orvis Breaking Barriers Award for his work to bring new communities into wingshooting and create important conversations on the future of our shared outdoor passions. Based in Atlanta, Smith co-founded the Minority Outdoor Alliance (MOA) with his wife, Ashley, in 2020. The nonprofit organization aims to “inspire folks from all backgrounds and ethnicities to participate in hunting, fishing, and all other active outdoor pursuits on safe and diverse public lands and waters.” In September 2021, Orvis sponsored MOA’s first annual Outdoor Festival hosted at the Orvis Shooting Grounds at Pursell Farms. 

Trout Unlimited Logo
Underwater photo of salmon in Alaska.

Trout Unlimited Alaska

$661,000 raised for protection and engagement


In 2021, Orvis, Trout Unlimited, and our customers raised over $600,000 to support the ongoing work to maintain a pristine Bristol Bay and the largest sockeye salmon run in the world for the people and communities that rely on it. 


After the Pebble Mine permit was denied in 2020, TU Alaska shifted its work to ensure that Pebble—or another mining company—doesn’t come back in the future with new efforts. Through this work, in 2021 the EPA committed to finalizing safeguards around the Pebble deposit area specifically, adding a layer of protection. Trout Unlimited is committed to permanent protections for the ecosystem as a whole.


Funding supported the Save Bristol Bay Guide Ambassador Program, where 71 fishing and hunting guides from the region completed trainings with TU staff to foster conversations and calls to action with interested clients, building community around a shared commitment to conserving the resource. 


For the 12th year, funding also supported the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing Guide Academy, providing local indigenous students with a week-long introduction to fly fishing and the skills needed to be a guide in the Bristol Bay lodge and tourism industry. The program is offered at no cost and graduated 10 students in 2021. 

Orvis Giveback Days Logo
A mother holds a bag for her daughter to throw litter into

Orvis Giveback Days

$270,000 raised for local projects and communities


In the spring and the fall, Orvis retail stores along with our customers raised over $270,000 for local Trout Unlimited chapters through the Orvis Embrace a Stream challenge, Project Healing Waters, pet adoption groups, and Casting for Recovery, supporting local stream restoration projects, creating better lives for dogs, and promoting human health and healing through fly fishing in back yards across America.  

Morris Animal Foundation Logo
A dog swimming with a large stick in its mouth

Morris Animal Foundation

$383,000 to Fight Canine Cancer


Through our beloved Cover Dog Contest, Orvis and our customers raised over $380,000 for the Morris Animal Foundation and their Golden Retriever Lifetime Study which advances the health of all dogs. The study is one the largest, most comprehensive of its kind in the United States, collecting valuable data on over 3,000 enrolled golden retrievers. In 2021, these funds helped train veterinary pathologists essential to correct cancer diagnosis, improved scientists’ understanding of earlier disease detection, and launched new studies around lymphoma detection and obesity risk in dogs. 

Petfinder Foundation logo
A dog stands on a dock at sunset, contemplating

Petfinder Foundation

Over 7,500 Canine Lives Made Better.


Together with our customers and partners, we raised over $56,000 to help improve the lives of over 7,500 homeless dogs at 30 shelters across the United States. All money raised supported the shelter dog enrichment programs, improving the quality of life for dogs, making them happier, and healthier, and increasing their chances for adoption—ensuring that no adoptable pet is euthanized for lack of a good home. 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of the Orvis and Petfinder Foundation partnership.  

 Ariel view of two people standing in the salt flats with a rod in hand.
More than half the intense enjoyment of fly-fishing is derived from the beautiful surroundings and the satisfaction felt from being in the open air.
—Charles F. Orvis, founder of The Orvis Company
Three hunters walking through a field

Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Stay up to date on Orvis conservation efforts with our weekly updates on the blog. Help us protect what we love.