Patagonia’s CEO is worried about political apathy—so the company offered 112,000 people $100 to help 3 friends plan to vote

Patagonia has spent decades getting young people off their screens and into the outdoors, sporting the Fitz Roy mountain logo on their fleeces. Its next bet: getting them to the polls for the midterms.

The outdoor apparel company set aside $11.2 million for its 11.2 Million Vote Project, which launched Sept. 26. Anyone who sent a voting plan to at least three friends or family members could choose $100 in Patagonia credit or a $100 donation to the League of Conservation Voters. 

The money was gone in four days. By Sept. 30, more than 112,000 people had signed up, and nearly 500,000 people, counting participants and the friends they had reached, had plans to vote in this year’s midterms, the company told Fortune. 

Behind the giveaway is a gap between caring about the environment and actually showing up to vote—and a bet that friends can help close it. Patagonia partnered with non-profit organization Environmental Voter Project, whose polling suggests Americans often think about tackling climate change through recycling and shopping choices rather than politics. Researchers who study turnout say personal outreach is a promising way to turn that concern into votes, particularly during midterm elections. 

“Offering a meaningful incentive was a game changer,” Corley Kenna, Patagonia’s chief communications and impact officer, told Fortune. Without it, the company might still have reached its goals, she said, but doing so probably would have taken longer than four days—or it might not have reached them at all.

The campaign also reflects Patagonia’s concerns surrounding the future of public lands.

“There are 90 million acres of public lands at threat,” Kenna said, while saying Patagonia would continue explaining to its community which lands are threatened and what people can do through Election........

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