Today Fizel is introducing 1% for the Outdoors, a commitment to direct one percent of company revenue toward protecting and maintaining the places that outdoor businesses and their customers depend on.
The businesses we work with — outdoor retailers, guides and outfitters, campgrounds, marinas, resorts, rental operations and recreation brands — all share the same underlying asset. Trails, rivers, coastlines, snowpack and public land are not a backdrop to their operations. They are the product. When those places are degraded, closed or unmaintained, the effect shows up in bookings, in retail traffic and in the long-term viability of entire mountain and coastal towns.
1% for the Outdoors is our way of putting a permanent line item behind that reality.
What the commitment is
One percent of Fizel's revenue is set aside for outdoor stewardship. It is calculated on revenue rather than profit, which means the contribution does not depend on how a given year ends. Whether it is a strong year or a difficult one, the commitment holds.
We chose revenue deliberately. Profit-based giving is easy to describe and easy to quietly suspend. A revenue-based commitment is a fixed cost of doing business, budgeted the same way we budget infrastructure or payroll. It scales as we grow, and it stays in place when we don't.
Where the funds go
The commitment is directed toward organizations and projects doing practical, physical work in the outdoors. That includes trail construction and maintenance, river and watershed protection, public land access and stewardship, coastal and waterway cleanup, and programs that help more people get outside safely.
We are prioritizing groups whose work is measurable and local — the trail crews, watershed councils and access advocates that operate close to the communities our merchants serve. Specific partners and projects will be named on the 1% for the Outdoors page as they are confirmed.
We are not directing funds toward general awareness campaigns or brand-adjacent marketing partnerships. The intent is maintenance and access, not visibility.
Why a payments company
It would be reasonable to ask why a payments company is making a conservation commitment at all. The answer is that we are not a general-purpose payments company. Fizel exists to serve the outdoor economy specifically, and we said as much when we introduced the company in 2024.
Our merchants' revenue is tied to conditions on the ground: snow that arrives, rivers that run, trails that stay open, harbours that stay clean. A payments partner that benefits from that activity and contributes nothing back to it is taking something out of a system without maintaining it.
There is also a simpler version of the argument. The people who work here spend their own time outside. This is the kind of commitment we would want from a company we bought from.
How it works in practice
The commitment is structured to be durable rather than promotional:
- One percent of revenue, calculated on top-line revenue, not profit.
- Directed to stewardship, access and conservation work with a physical, local outcome.
- Independent of merchant pricing — no surcharge, no opt-in fee, no cost passed to businesses or their customers.
- Reported publicly as partners and projects are confirmed.
That third point matters to us. Merchants working with Fizel are not funding this through a line on their statement. Our pricing is structured the same way it was before this commitment existed.
Accountability
A commitment like this is only worth as much as its reporting. We are starting deliberately small in what we claim: the percentage, the basis it is calculated on, and the categories of work it supports. As partnerships are confirmed and funds are distributed, we will publish what went where.
We would rather under-announce and over-report than launch with a large number and go quiet.
For the businesses we serve
Nothing about 1% for the Outdoors changes how Fizel works with merchants. Pricing, support, settlement timing and the systems we help businesses run stay exactly as they are. This is a commitment we fund, not a program merchants are asked to join.
If you run an outdoor business and you already support stewardship work in your own community, we'd like to hear about it. Some of the best candidates for this funding are the organizations our merchants already work with. You can reach us through the contact page.
More about how Fizel thinks about the outdoor economy is on our about page, and the businesses we work with are listed across our industries pages.
