Organisations supported
The Mountain Care Project supports associations working to protect the environment in Alpine regions and to improve access to the mountains.
Preserving our environment
Preserving our environment
Protect our winters
- Amount awarded: 8000 €
The organisation
Founded in 2015, Protect Our Winters France (POW France) is a committed organisation that unites the outdoor community around major environmental and social challenges. Its mission is to amplify the outdoor community’s voice to accelerate ecological and social transitions, grounded in collective intelligence, climate justice, and a systemic approach.
The project
With support from the Mountain Care Project, POW France is launching a groundbreaking initiative: the Decentralized Olympic Citizens’ Convention. Through participatory workshops held across France, the program brings together citizens, athletes, and local stakeholders to explore a fairer and more sustainable vision for the Olympic Games.
The goal? To generate concrete, locally rooted proposals that can influence national sports and environmental policies. Through a digital platform, educational toolkits, a public awareness campaign, and a final event to share outcomes, the project aims to strengthen local democracy while placing environmental responsibility at the heart of major sporting events.
Une Bouteille à la Mer
- Amount awarded: 8000 €
The organisation
Founded in 2020, Une Bouteille à la Mer is an association that harnesses the power of imagery, sport, and collaboration to inspire respect for the environment. Supported by athletes, scientists, artists, businesses, schools, and local authorities, it creates original projects blending artistic creation, environmental awareness, and civic engagement.
The project
In connection with the International Year of Glaciers (2025), Une Bouteille à la Mer is developing two flagship initiatives: a documentary film and an educational-artistic exhibition. These works aim to reveal the beauty and fragility of glaciers amid climate change, using a sensitive and impactful approach.
The projects will be shared with schools, companies, local communities, and the media to foster broad awareness about protecting these iconic mountain environments. Support from the Mountain Care Project will fund production, distribution, and numerous field-based outreach activities requested by the public.
Mountain Riders
- Amount awarded: 7000 €
The organisation
Since 2001, Mountain Riders has been raising awareness and driving ecological transitions in mountain regions.
With a team of 18 employees, the organisation focuses on three main areas:
- Education
- Zero Waste Mountains,
- Flocon Vert – a recognized certification for mountain resorts committed to sustainable practices.
The project
In 2025, Mountain Riders will organize two Flocon Vert Eductours, major events for the network of certified and transitioning resorts.
These two-day events will bring together representatives from regions committed to the Flocon Vert initiative to:
- visit field projects
- explore key issues such as seasonal housing, inclusion, and ecotourism
- build connections, share ideas, and inspire one another across regions.
Support from the Mountain Care Project will help fund these events and further strengthen the network of territories committed to ecological transition.
Névé
- Amount awarded: 4800 €
The organisation
Founded by dedicated scientists, NEVE is a popular education association that raises awareness about climate change for diverse audiences. Using a scientific, artistic, and participatory approach, it seeks to inspire awareness and foster individual and collective action. Its activities primarily target young people—especially middle school students—but also engage the general public and professionals through training sessions and workshops.
Operated collegially with a small team of staff and volunteers, NEVE combines knowledge, emotion, and creativity to make climate issues accessible to all.
The project
The Mountain Care Project supports Imagine Your Glacier, a unique initiative blending climate awareness, field experience, and artistic creation. In summer, 15 young people will visit a glacier in the La Meije massif. The program includes hiking, overnight refuge stays, glacier observation, interactive workshops, and a collective graphic report created with a professional artist that documents their immersion. This work will become a traveling exhibition, extending the message beyond the trip.
Through this immersive and hands-on approach, Imagine Your Glacier helps young people, many of whom have limited access to the mountains, reconnect with these fragile environments and gain a concrete understanding of climate change.
Social diversity
Social diversity
En passant par la montagne
- Amount awarded: 8000 €
The organisation
For over 30 years, En Passant Par la Montagne has been committed to making the mountains accessible to everyone, especially people facing poverty, social exclusion, disability, illness, or school dropout.
Its mission has three main goals:
- support vulnerable groups toward a fresh start,
- promote the mountain as an educational and inclusive tool,
- use popular education as a bridge to autonomy and self-confidence.
The project
In 2025, the Mountain Care Project will support a flagship initiative: the development of inclusive mountain sports clubs.
Already well established with two climbing clubs and one hiking club, these spaces welcome people from diverse backgrounds every week: youth facing social challenges, older adults, unaccompanied minors, people with disabilities, and anyone who loves nature and community.
The activities go far beyond regular sessions and include weekend trips, special outings, snowshoeing, canyoning, interclub meetings, and in 2025, the creation of an artistic performance to celebrate the association’s 30th anniversary.
Support from Mountain Care will help sustain and expand these activities, explore a new inclusive discipline (trail running or mountaineering), and continue to promote a mountain environment that is more open, humane, and deeply supportive.
Les Enfermés Dehors
- Amount awarded: 10000 €
The organisation
Les Enfermés Dehors is committed to making mountains accessible to everyone, with a special focus on young people from Albertville’s underserved neighborhoods and low-income families.
The association runs two academies offering immersive sport-and-nature programs. Through seasonal outdoor experiences, it trains young persons in mountain safety and environmental preservation, while also introducing them to various mountain-related professions along the trails.
The project
Support from the Mountain Care Project would enable the creation of a second group for younger participants, expand the association’s outreach within local communities, and continue transforming the mountains into spaces for relaxation, learning, and social inclusion.
Yambi
- Amount awarded: 8000 €
The organisation
Founded in 2020 in Annecy, YAMBI is an association dedicated to welcoming and supporting exiled and refugee individuals by combining mountain sports, socio-professional integration, and environmental awareness.
Its mission is to build bridges between local and exiled communities, promoting social diversity and deepening understanding of climate and human issues. The organisation is driven by dedicated leadership, a diverse board, and an active staff, all united by the values of solidarity, dignity, and mutual support.
The project
Cordée d’Avenir is a people-first environmental initiative that blends physical activity, ecological education, and empowerment. Developed in response to the interconnected challenges of exile and climate change, the program includes two complementary components.
The first includes nature-based workshops, educational “fresques” (interactive group activities on climate, migration, and the mountains), and custom-designed board games—tools that build ecological awareness, encourage critical thinking, and foster civic engagement.
The second is physical and symbolic, using climbing to promote mental health, as well as physical and personal empowerment, especially for exiled women. Over time, some participants will be trained to pass these skills on to others.
1% Mont-Blanc
- Amount awarded: 4805 €
The organisation
Founded in February 2024 in Chamonix, 1% Mont Blanc is a young nonprofit inspired by the Vail Valley Foundation model. Its mission is to empower local youth to become changemakers through initiatives focused on sports, culture, and the environment.
The project
With support from the Mountain Care Project, 1% Mont Blanc will be able to continue and expand its programming in 2025. Plans include growing flagship events like the Super Pitch, offering new opportunities for engagement, such as masterclasses and meetings with inspiring figures, and launching a wider range of youth-led initiatives throughout the region.
CIMME
- Amount awarded: 15000 €
The organisation
Founded in 2022, the Centre for Integration through Mountain and Environmental Professions (CIMME) supports the professional inclusion of disadvantaged youth by training them for future-oriented careers tied to ecological transition in mountain regions.
Backed by the ETRE network (Schools for the Ecological Transition), CIMME develops innovative programs that blend time spent in nature, hands-on projects, meetings with professionals, and skill-building experiences.
The project
With support from the Mountain Care Project, CIMME will offer a pre-qualification program focused on careers in sustainable tourism and mountain conservation. This two- to three-month course is designed for young people transitioning careers or planning to settle in mountainous regions, who often lack professional networks, technical experience, and a solid understanding of local environmental issues. Participants receive field-based training from dedicated professionals in a supportive, immersive setting.
The funding will help CIMME co-finance support for eight participants and organize field trips to explore mountain ecosystems, an essential step in fostering ecological awareness and career readiness.
École des Pôles
- Amount awarded: 6000 €
The organisation
École des Pôles is dedicated to raising climate awareness among the younger generation, particularly those facing social inclusion challenges, through the lens of science and wonder.
Its educational model combines scientific rigor with the exploration of polar regions, equipping new generations with a deeper understanding of climate change.
The project
In April 2025, École des Pôles led three weeks of climate awareness workshops in Bassens, near Chambéry, with a key objective: to reach over 600 students, many from underprivileged school settings (REP, SEGPA, multilingual classes, etc.).
These interactive three-hour workshops combine scientific exploration, quizzes, experiments, videos, and polar-inspired stories, fostering awareness that is both emotional and evidence-based.
Each session helps participants understand, feel, and act through mental mapping exercises, practical discussions of solutions, and personalized carbon footprint assessments (in partnership with ADEME) for older students.
Support from the Mountain Care Project will strengthen local impact, cover the costs associated with hosting these specific audiences, and provide sustainable educational materials to partner schools.
Fort de la Batterie
- Amount awarded: 15000 €
The organisation
Perched above Marthod, between sky and mountain, Fort de la Batterie is being brought back to life by a passionate volunteer-led association committed to transforming this former military site into an open refuge for all.
Driven by around fifteen highly active members and supported by a community of nearly 200 people, the association organizes cultural, festive, and sporting events while welcoming hikers from May to October. Its mission is to bring together heritage, nature, and inclusion.
The project
The association is developing a 30-bed mountain refuge designed as a place for connection, learning, and shared experience—especially for young people and groups with limited access to the mountains.
This “shared refuge” will be much more than a shelter:
- a space to explore alpine ecosystems,
- a site for hands-on environmental education,
- a place to live together, learn mutual support, and create lasting memories that bridge social divides.
The project is supported by a network of partners committed to inclusion (Les Enfermés Dehors, Mountain Riders, Ma Chance Moi Aussi, among others), and aims to offer every young person the chance to spend a meaningful night in the mountains in this exceptional setting.
Femmes en montagne
- Amount awarded: 5600 €
The organisation
Founded in 2016, Femmes en Montagne is committed to promoting a more inclusive, accessible, and equal mountain environment. Through school visits, the organisation raises awareness about gender equality among young people, especially those in underserved communities. Its annual festival celebrates inspiring women’s stories in mountain sports and promotes social diversity.
The project
The Mountain Care Project supports the School Tour, a flagship initiative of the Femmes en Montagne Festival, which engages over 1,200 students aged 11 to 18 throughout the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region. The tour aims to break down gender stereotypes, foster inclusivity, and introduce mountain activities to youth who often live nearby but rarely participate. Through inspiring film screenings, educational discussions, and accessibility features such as subtitles and sign language, the project broadens students’ horizons and raises awareness of diversity in mountain sports.
