Corporate Citizenship | Concept2

Corporate Citizenship

At Concept2, we value community. We work to build an inclusive community around our products and our sports. Anyone who uses our products is a member of that community. We support and encourage each other. We participate together in online challenges—for motivation and for good causes. We train together, whether in person or remotely. We can race each other, too.

Welcome to the Concept2 community!

Our Mission

  • Rowing is our original reason for being. Our first goal is to promote and encourage the growth of rowing, indoors and outdoors.
  • We strive to design, manufacture, sell, and service unique products of the highest quality and value for the benefit of the Concept2 community: our customers, employees, suppliers and neighbors.

Our Values

  • We are committed to equal opportunity for all.
  • We are committed to creating a positive, healthy culture that fosters both individual initiative and teamwork, and where employees take pride in their work.
  • Our actions and relationships are characterized by honesty, fairness and integrity.

Social Responsibility

From the beginning, Concept2 has focused on charitable efforts in the areas where we have the strongest connection: close to home in Vermont and in the sports we know best. As our products and reach have expanded, our efforts have expanded. We continue to focus our giving in ways that directly influence our local and athletic communities.

Supporting Vermont

We support local 501c3 organizations that improve the quality of life and strengthen the state where we work and live. Our employee-led Donations Team targets their efforts towards efficient grassroots organizations. We try to balance our giving among organizations that promote social justice, environmental conservation, education, equality, arts, sports, and health.

Organizations supported by our employee-led Concept2 Donations Team include:

  • Schools and child care centers in our area, including the annual Concept2 scholarships given to two graduates at each of our surrounding high schools.
  • Organizations focusing on land conservation, including Vermont Land Trust, ​​Nature Conservancy VT, Northern Woodlands, Lake Champlain Land Trust, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, and Friends of Green River Reservoir.
  • Groups working toward racial equity, including our local Racial Equity Alliance of Lamoille, Clemmons Family Farm and Black Lives Matter of Burlington.
  • Organizations focused on gender equity, including Vermont Works for Women, Planned Parenthood, and organizations helping victims of domestic abuse, such as the Clarina Howard Nichols Center.
  • Organizations working for social justice, including Outright Vermont, Peace and Justice Center, Migrant Justice, Capstone Community Action, and Habitat for Humanity Lamoille County.
  • Efforts to support sustainable agriculture and reduce food insecurity, including The Center for an Agricultural Economy, Salvation Farms, Vermont Foodbank, and Hunger-Free Vermont.
  • Organizations working on climate issues, including VT Natural Resources Council, 350VT, Energy Action Network, and Renewable Energy Vermont.
  • Organizations that bring the arts to our local Vermont communities, including the Flynn Theatre, Catamount Arts, and River Arts in Morrisville.
  • Youth sports organizations and teams.
  • And our local volunteer fire departments, rescue squads, libraries and food shelves.

Nationally

As a major supplier in the world of rowing, Concept2 strives to play a significant role in making the sport welcoming to diverse and underserved populations. We support boathouses, teams and organizations through our “Pulling Together” program. The goal is to improve the accessibility of rowing.

Learn more about the programs we're working with.

If your program sounds like a fit for Pulling Together support, please email info@concept2.com for an application. Requests are reviewed monthly.

Our partnership with the Pocock Foundation’s A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund is our most significant ongoing activity dedicated to breaking barriers within the sport of rowing. This fund aims to increase and maintain access to rowing, and diversity throughout youth rowing programs across the country.

Learn more

Sustainability

As a manufacturer of consumer goods, Concept2 has an environmental impact. We take seriously the responsibility to minimize the impact of our processes, purchases, and products sold. Sustainability is a driving factor in our designs, processes, and the day-to-day way we run our facility.

Material Use and Lifecycle

One of the biggest commitments we make is to design and make products that last. We use high-quality materials and components, which combine with our designs to result in products that are long-term investments.

We provide spare parts and technical support to keep our products running. We love seeing Model A Indoor Rowers (made as early as 1981!) still providing their owners with great workouts. Those wishing to upgrade to a newer model can generally sell or donate their older machine so it doesn’t end up in a landfill.

Performance Monitors can be recycled as eWaste if no longer working. Our foam packaging can also be recycled.

Facility and Processes

Concept2 machines are assembled in Morrisville, Vermont, using US-made and imported components. We’re committed to making our headquarters as environmentally-friendly as possible.

Solar panels at Concept2 Headquarters in Vermont

Here are some of the things we do:

  • Rigorous paper, plastic, and foam recycling programs.
  • Over 190kW installed solar (in a combination of ground-mounted tracking and rooftop installations) and we are working toward a goal of 100% solar electricity.
  • In line with Vermont’s Universal Recycling Law, we expanded our existing composting program to ensure our kitchen waste doesn’t end up in the landfill.
  • EV chargers encourage our staff to reduce carbon emissions during their commutes.
  • Numerous lighting upgrades to be as efficient as we can with our lighting.
  • Modern water-conserving toilets.

Our aim is to get as close as possible to being a zero-carbon footprint factory.