Voice Your Choice™ was conceived to encourage store customers to become better informed and more involved with environmental work in their communities. Through it, we invited you to help determine how our 25 Patagonia-owned, U.S.-based stores spend part of their environmental grants budgets.

Each store received $5,000 this year through Voice Your Choice to be divided among three pre-selected environmental groups. Representatives from each group visited the store to talk about their efforts. Store customers then voted for the group whose work resonated most with them.

Store managers counted the votes in October 2009. The top vote-getter in each store received $2,500, the second highest $1,500, and the third $1,000. Customers cast 11,632 votes – a degree of participation that reinforces our conviction you care deeply about environmental issues and appreciate the opportunity to get involved.

The $125,000 we allocated to Voice Your Choice represents only part of what our stores distribute annually in their communities, and a fraction of Patagonia’s overall environmental giving ($3.8 million in grants and in-kind services in fiscal year 2009).

Big thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s campaign. We appreciate your interest and are confident Voice Your Choice-grant recipients will put their dollars to good use for the benefit of the natural world.

Below you’ll find this year’s grant recipients listed by store.

Atlanta
Georgia River Network - $2500
Georgia Organics - $1500
Georgia Forestwatch - $1000

Austin
Yellow Bike Project - $2500
People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources - $1500
Save Our Springs Alliance - $1000

Boston
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy - $2500
The Urban Ecological Institute - City Roots - $1500
The New England Wildflower Society - $1000

Boulder
Colorado Horse Rescue - $2500
Growe Foundation - $1500
Freiker - $1000

Cardiff
San Diego Roots - $2500
WiLDCOAST - $1500
San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy - $1000

Chicago
Openlands - $2500
Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail - $1500
Active Transportation Alliance - $1000

Denver
Re:Vision International - $2500
Groundwork Denver - $1500
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado - $1000

Dillon
Montana Water Trust - $2500
Bob Marshall Wilderness Fund - $1500
Vital Ground - $1000

Freeport
Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association - $2500
Maine Rivers - $1500
Friends of Merrymeeting Bay - $1000

Hale’iwa
Hawaii Seed - $2500
Surfrider Oahu Chapter - $1500
Halawa Valley Land Trust - $1000

NYC SoHo
Just Food - $2500
The Bronx River Alliance - $1500
Hackensack Riverkeeper - $100

NYC Upper West Side
Clean Ocean Action - $2500
Transportation Alternatives - $1500
Green Guerillas - $1000

Palo Alto
Veggielution Urban Farming Project - $2500
The Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council - $1500
San Francisquito Watershed Council/Acterra - $1000

Pasadena
Habitat Works of Southern California - $2500
Audubon Center at Debs Park - $1500
San Gabriel Mountains Regional Conservancy - $1000

Portland
Depave - $2500
Friends of Family Farmers - $1500
The Community Cycling Center - $1000

Reno
Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful - $2500
Friends of Nevada Wilderness - $1500
Sugar Pine Foundation - $1000

Salt Lake City
Bear River Watershed Council - $2500
Tree Utah - $1500
HawkWatch International - $1000

San Francisco
Tuolumne River Trust - $2500
San Francisco Baykeeper - $1500
Community Clean Water Institute - $1000

Santa Cruz
Save Our Shores - $2500
Wild Farm Alliance - $1500
Aquatic Protection Agency - $1000

Santa Monica
Save Open Space/Santa Monica Mountains - $2500
Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Gardens - $1500
Friends of the Los Angeles River - $1000

Seattle
Woodland Park Zoo / Western Pond Turtle Recovery Project - $2500
21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living - $1500
Sightline Institute - $1000

St. Paul
Friends of the Mississippi River - $2500
The Bronx River Alliance - $1500
The Surfrider Foundation - Minnesota Chapter - $1000

Washington, DC
Phoenix Bikes - $2500
Save America's Forests -$1500
Virginia Forest Watch - $1000

Westport
Soundkeeper - $2500
Audubon Greenwich - $1500
Citizens Campaign for the Environment - $1000

Ventura
Channel Islands Restoration - $2500
Ventura Hillside Conservancy - $1500
Friends of the Santa Clara River - $1000