Supporting Trail Champions
IMBA worked with 174 new communities in 2023. Now, 619 communities are committed to trails or engaged in the process, with 84 more having realized their vision for more and better trails close to home.
Communities want trails, and trail champions across the country are leading the charge.
IMBA is partnering with trail champions through the advocacy, education, trail solutions and stewardship it takes to create, enhance, protect and sustain these great community spaces. And just as the trail development process is a winding path of common steps, the composition of a successful trail champion team will vary in every community, while having similar skill sets throughout.
Let’s celebrate the land managers, the elected officials, the grassroots leaders, the health and wellness advocates, the super-volunteers, the retailers, the community organizers, the NICA coaches, the dig day legends, every local mover-and-shaker, and of course, the mountain bikers. These local leaders are championing trails in so many communities, for the whole community.
IMBA is partnered with trail champions in hundreds of communities across the country. Your support is supporting trail champions in 703 communities and counting. Thank you for your commitment to more trails close to home.
Advocacy & Access
On the heels of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Advancement Act becoming law in late 2022, mountain bikers continued the momentum on Capitol Hill in 2023. The BOLT Act – another bill by mountain bikers, supporting long-distance trails – cleared half a dozen congressional steps to climb closer to becoming law. This included an oral House Committee testimony in March by IMBA’s Director of Government Affairs, and an October fly-in with mountain bike advocates convening in Washington, D.C.
MTB’ers Climb The Hill
Local advocates from around the country joined IMBA in D.C. to meet with national leaders.
October Fly-In
ACT in Ohio
How the Ohio Mountain Bike Alliance used IMBA’s Action Cultivator Tool to rally recreation partners.
Saving Trail FundingCloser to home, the IMBA team engaged with more than 150 diverse partners to advise on advocacy around trail projects, including protecting a thoughtful trail plan in Colorado that exemplified a proactive public process, and investing in New Mexico’s recreation-focused future.
2024 voices
Spoke up on national MTB efforts
864 advocates
Lent their voice to local MTB issues
287 meetings
With legislative and agency partners
Engagement & Education
Online. In-person. In the classroom. On the trail. IMBA’s team met with communities across the country to create, enhance and protect local trails for mountain bikers and for all trail users. Mountain Bike Trail Development: Guidelines for Successfully Managing the Process was released in May, and the comprehensive new book was downloaded by 1,373 land managers, local leaders and trail champions in 2023 to equip even more communities with great tools for trails.
IMBA led classroom and field assessment workshops in 14 communities from California to Nebraska to Alaska, including Trail Care Schools for volunteers, Trail Management Schools for land managers, and special advocacy and assessment workshops for state leaders and forest service staff.
Navajo Nation’s youth mountain biking boom has led to partnering with grassroots programs, school systems and government agencies on plans for better places to ride. IMBA welcomed Laura Johnson as Navajo Nation Coordinator in 2023 to help communities realize these plans. Five pump tracks are slated for spring 2024 installation.
For communities building their vision toward more and better trails, IMBA’s Trail Labs: Foundations workshops welcomed 60 participants from 26 states and two countries to spring and fall sessions in Bentonville, AR and Cedar City, UT — two community models for more trails close to home.
Planning, Design & Construction
IMBA’s Trail Solutions construction team moved from northeast to southwest in 2023, beginning the season in West Virginia and ending the year together working on Prescott, Arizona’s Bean Peaks system to build something exceptionally rare: new, mountain-bike optimized trail on Forest Service land. From singletrack to skills parks and every jump line in between, 2023 construction projects focused on accessibility and skills progression for new riders, youth, and adaptive mountain bikers.
Two New Trails in Tennessee
Chattanooga rounded out its riding offerings with double-header trail openings: beginner-friendly flow at Aetna Mountain and progressive tech at Walden’s Ridge.
Fast-paced Partnerships
Assessment to Construction
Jonesboro, Arkansas looked to IMBA to examine and enhance existing trails before planning and designing 5.7 new miles for locals and visitors alike.
Serving ResidentsThe IMBA Trail Solutions planning team met with hundreds of local stakeholders in dozens of communities in 2023, all on one topic: trails. Planners learn a community’s vision and bring trail champions together to craft a path forward, all well before the regional reconnaissance work it takes to envision a future trail through the trees.
53 projects
Planned & designed in 24 states
716 miles
Of trail possibilities mapped
13 bike parks
Moving forward in 11 communities
13 new trails
Constructed in 11 states
Funding
With 173 trail projects created and committed since 2021, IMBA knows where the majority of communities get stuck: funding. Alongside the Dig In fundraising program founded by Shimano, IMBA’s Trail Accelerator grants, and various federal funding opportunities managed with conservation and recreation organizations; IMBA embarked on new funding services and education support in 2023. IMBA is working closely with 14 pilot communities in 12 states to find funding through detailed research and individual support. Learning about these challenges and opportunities is informing a more robust funding education program. This has included coaching communities through capital campaign design and development, and bringing on new resources like GrantStation for Local Member Organizations.
$1.22 million
Shared with local member orgs through IMBA’s Local program
$151,000 raised
For 9 Dig In projects managed by IMBA Local Member Orgs in 7 states
$2.8 million
In national philanthropic support to accelerate IMBA programs and advocacy
$581,087 awarded
To 18 projects for maintenance and repair through Legacy Trails grants
$262,000 donated
To 17 projects through the National Forest System Trail Stewardship program
36 local member orgs
Joined a GrantStation workshop for local funding strategies
$20,000 Raised for Trails
How one IMBA Local Member Organization in North Carolina exceeded their Dig In fundraising goal.
FATRAC Success
Revamping Gateway Green
An IMBA grant helped this popular Portland bike park upgrade its skills area to sustainably handle demand.
80-Volunteer EffortsTrail Accelerator grants continue to demonstrate the power of a professional trail plan. A plan gives the community a vision to rally support and net new funding. Every dollar a Trail Accelerator grant community has been awarded has been leveraged to raise $222 more for trails.
Stewardship
IMBA Local Member Organizations are the backslope behind every trail close to home. This community stewardship is as vital to a healthy trail system as any great trailhead sign or rolling grade dip. Engaging local riders through inclusive events, volunteer work and etiquette campaigns protects and enhances the social sustainability of local trails.
Dream Big. Then Plan.
How Colorado’s Silverton Singletrack Society committed to the long-haul to build trails right the first time. IMBA joined the locals to break ground on Baker’s Park in July 2023.
10 Years in the Making
Small Adjustments, Big Accessibility
IMBA secured funding for Central Oregon Trail Alliance to partner with Dovetail Trails and Oregon Adaptive Sports on an adaptive assessment of local trails.
Adaptive Trail Design
Reprising Relationships
Five years later, mountain bikers in Southern California were ready for a repeat of the bonds built at a 2019 Angeles National Forest Trail Stewardship Summit.
Breaking Tread
Neighboring Clubs
Classroom time and on-trail training allowed the largest IMBA Local Member Organizations in the Los Angeles area to share and learn alongside each other.
Sustainable Stewardship18 new groups
In 13 states joined as Local Member Organizations
20,039 hours
Of volunteer work reported by 4,324 local volunteers
43 events
Hosted by local groups for Take a Kid MTB Day
IMBA and Trails are Common Ground provide guidance that local groups, recreation partners, brands, retailers and trail users can share to promote etiquette, safety and eMTB education.
Jessthemaker and Caliradokid are pitching in with a humorous take on these topics, collaborating on short videos to spark conversation among riders and trail users. The first video has amassed more than one million views across platforms. By creating memorable characters and addressing awkward situations with grace and humor, the initiative has reminded new and returning trail users to enjoy the trail responsibly, ride appropriate terrain for their skills, and take care of their equipment.
Partnering for Places to Ride
IMBA believes in the power of like-minded organizations working arm-in-arm to enable more people to enjoy outdoor recreation. At every step of the trail development process – from joint advocacy and access work with Outdoor Alliance to agreements with the U.S. Forest Service on national education and local trail stewardship – IMBA and Local Member Organizations are working together to make trails better for the whole community.
Partnering for new Places
IMBA and Trust for Public Land formalized a partnership that helps identify and acquire ideal city-adjacent land for community trails. Parks + Trails
Your Community on Trails
More trails close to home means more places for kids to ride. NICA and IMBA work closely on the best opportunities for better youth riding. Complementary Missions
Creating Spaces, Together
A Pennsylvania IMBA Local Member Org received a national award for Excellence in Partnership from the Army Corps of Engineers. Years of ProgressTrail Philanthropy Leading The Pack
Trails and terrific riding can only happen with financing, which comes in various forms. Small donations, state funding, federal grants, corporate gifts and more all add up to funding trail plans, construction and stewardship. In particular, philanthropic gifts to advance IMBA’s focus on more trails close to home have grown considerably; more than 300% during the past few years. A new level of charitable giving to the IMBA mission was achieved in 2023.
The IMBA Singletrack Society deserves a huge round of applause. Generous donors giving at this level have helped IMBA coach communities on their projects, connect trail project leaders with new sources of funding, and protect the interests of mountain biking at local, state and federal levels of policy, regulation and law. None of the accomplishments in this 2023 Annual Report would have been possible without each and every talented and generous member of the Singletrack Society. It is a special group of leaders who help make big things happen.
Here’s just one example of one donor making a significant national impact: philanthropic support of $250,000 from an individual donor in spring 2023 allowed IMBA to enroll five new projects into the Trail Accelerator Grant program in Massachusetts, Michigan, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada, bringing the program total to 42 projects nationally. This support also helped grow community-based workshops, with IMBA hosting 16 workshops that reached more than 300 land managers in 10 states. Such transformational support grows these priority programs; completes professional trail designs that leverage local dollars for construction; and educates hundreds of municipal officials in sustainable trail planning and maintenance.
With several healthy years of fundraising and support, 2023 was a year for IMBA to invest in programming to increase community access and trail development. This included enhanced programming to support trails closer to home, advocacy wins with legislation to create new protections and designations, and education tools for Local Member Organizations and trail champions.
2023 Total Revenue: $6 million
2023 Total Expenses: $6.5 million
2023 Net Revenue: -$557k
Individual donors who responded to IMBA’s year-end appeal, participated in various bike sweeps supported by leading mountain bike brands like Pivot, and individuals who joined as new IMBA National Supporters, all made their commitment to the IMBA mission known with more gifts than ever. Thank you!
Funders understand how commitments are leveraged by IMBA to create more access, riding, and wonderful life experiences. IMBA is grateful to these outstanding philanthropic leaders.
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"My first mountain bike experience was on a borrowed hybrid bicycle on steep river bluff trails in Nebraska. Stretching the limits of center-pull brakes and 35c tires, I was hooked! Mountain biking has since provided me with the most amazing life experiences as a rider, advocate, trail builder, promoter, retailer, coach and racer. Making all of that even more amazing are the wonderful people I have come to know and ride with along the way. Hit me up and let’s go ride!"
Meet our teamKent McNeill
CEO
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