Message from Cooper Quinn, President of the NSMBA
You’ve heard the rumours, talked to some of ‘em out on the mountain, or attended the AGM: trail crew will be taking the winter off, and look different next year.
The past three years saw significant increases in the size of our seasonal trail crew, and the year round trail crew (and other staff). While revenues have been increasing year over year, it hasn’t been enough to maintain our level of spending; we’ve operated at an annual loss for the last three years). In my opinion, the trails very much reflect this – capital has been turned into assets. While having a full complement of crew year round is amazing, it’s not currently a model we can afford to maintain.
The past few winters have been filled with white stuff making trail work difficult, and coupled with the seasonality of our cash flow means winter is hopefully the most effective time to make these changes for the trails sake, and the most impactful for the Associations longevity.
This isn’t a decision we arrived at lightly – we value our whole crew deeply as humans, friends, and as a key component to making the Association tick. Some of them have been with us off and on for the better part of a decade (and one a whole heck of a lot longer than that), and there’s no way to adequately thank them for the caring and dedication to the trails that they have.
2020 will see us working to increase our volunteer leverage & engagement, along with other changes to continue to ensure the Association remains relevant, vibrant, and financially stable for the foreseeable future. We’ll staff up/down with additional trail crew as budgets, projects, and weather/seasonality require. And, hopefully, with continued hard work and determination, revenue will continue to grow, and we’ll be able to have a larger year round trail crew again in the near future. Given the levels of trail use we’re seeing year round now, our trails need constant work.
The current schedule and budget sees re-hiring some full time crew at the end of Feb/early March (the 2020 budget has not yet been approved by the board). For a more detailed breakdown of the financials, check the AGM presentation
If you’d like to continue to see the level of trail crew work that’s been happening for the past 3-ish years (I know I would), the way to do that is with your wallet, and/or time. Your dollars matter, and sponsorship dollars matter if that’s a thing at your place of employment. Fern level starts at $500, which is pretty palatable for many businesses – and it includes four memberships.
2020 Memberships are for sale, and as you may have noticed cost is increasing to $50 for 2020. If we maintain the same number of members, and people continue to purchase Trail Boosts at similar rates, this will increase gross revenue by a bit under 5%. We’ll still be the cheapest membership of the big three in the Sea to Sky (NSMBA, SORCA, WORCA) by $10.
Membership isn’t just about revenue, though (hence why we’ve kept the price lower than many comparables), the membership number is often the critical factor that is used to determine grant allocations, engage sponsors, and importantly, advocate for mountain biking with elected officials and government staff.
If you have any questions or comments, please email info@nsmba.ca