Trails transform people and communities.
Let’s accelerate more and better trail experiences for more people in more places.
Leading with Trails is a historic comprehensive campaign, raising $20 million to transform trails. Building on 35+ years of success alongside new national momentum for trails, we have a unique opportunity. Trails can and should benefit more people.
There’s never been a better era to lead in outdoor recreation with trails. Proactive and professional planning can solve the long-standing challenges trail systems face. Now is the time to address dated and eroding trails with critical maintenance.
This is a pivotal moment. Communities are ready for better, more accessible trails, and IMBA and our partners are poised to make it happen. We invite you to join us as a visionary.
IMBA leads and helps to create, enhance, and protect great places to ride. Since 2020, we have focused on more trails close to home, an initiative to impact 250 communities by the end of 2025. As of early 2025, 625 communities are engaged in the process and nearly 200 have been positively impacted: 102 have created new trails and more than 93 are committed and ready to create their trail project.
We’re pursuing a vision where trails unite, elevate and heal to create more vibrant, connected places to live. Imagine a future where every person has access to high-quality trails just steps from their home. A future where trails are a key driver of economic vitality, where children grow up active and connected to nature, and where communities are more resilient and sustainable. This is the future we're after. With your partnership, it’s achievable.
Positive Outcomes
Together, let’s re-imagine how advocacy can accelerate trail system development in this new era of trail-based recreation. IMBA’s Leading with Trails campaign will focus on positive outcomes across three powerful pillars.
Our Strategies
Our strengths and initiatives are focused on supporting trail champions—the passionate people leading projects and efforts in every community. Trail champions need a variety of resources across three cornerstones to be successful.
Knowledge & Expertise
Information & Education
Trail Development occurs in phases: community engagement, funding, access, assessment, planning, design, construction and stewardship. Trail champions deserve a leveled-up and updated IMBA Resource Hub and programs addressing each phase, offering the most advanced knowledge and tools.
Modeling Better Experiences
We’re identifying specific communities where we can catalyze state-of-the-art model trail systems, which will inspire and influence communities nationwide. New and renovated IMBA trail assessment and community designation tools will advance community engagement and momentum.
Partnerships & Capabilities
Today’s trail industry is a powerful network, but efforts can be fragmented and positive results will depend on IMBA’s new partnerships. Trust for Public Land is identifying land that will benefit from trails. NICA is helping identify gaps in youth riding spaces. Trail Solutions and IMBA are expanding partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, universities, state offices of outdoor recreation, and the Trails are Common Ground coalition of multi-user groups.
Evolving Trail Solutions
IMBA Trail Solutions literally wrote the book on trails. The team is the bedrock in best practices to secure community support and create sustainable trails. However, more professional planners, skilled construction staff, and community engagement specialists are needed to meet growing community demand.
Data & Analytics
The trail community insufficiently captures and leverages data to support trail development. Data and social science that demonstrate trail desert locations, wildlife considerations, trail development progress, economic impact, and more will turn this deficiency into an advantage.
Financial Leverage
Influencing Public Funding
There’s more public funding for outdoor recreation than ever before. More states are financing recreation. The work now is to produce professional trail plans to be competitive for these funds, state by state. And, it’s critical to train and unify local trail project leaders to make their case for these funds—a case that can be as strong as any other local recreation amenity.
Leveraging Private Funding
Philanthropic funding is the lubricant to position trail champions for success. IMBA is attracting more foundation partners with converging interests in conservation and recreation to support both IMBA and its ability to broker funds with community projects – a new effort. IMBA has launched a Funding Services initiative to coach communities on capital campaigns and deliver related services.
Accelerating Trail Funding
IMBA’s Trail Accelerator grant has awarded more than $580,000 of in-kind trail plans communities have leveraged to raise millions for trails. However, applications exceed available funding, and communities need broader support. A new Trail Accelerator Fund will meet the backlog of planning support, while broadening IMBA in-kind service awards to include community workshops, fundraising consultation, funding matches, and more.
Advancing Advocates
Unified Advocacy
Shared-use trail solutions rely on strong advocacy. We must invest in paid, professional leaders, locally and regionally. Without this, expanding knowledge and leveraging funding comes to a crawl. With it, projects and funding move forward. IMBA is shaping an initiative to help trail organizations level-up for today's recreation landscape, while uniting disparate voices to strengthen state and regional advocacy.
Maintenance Moved Forward
Renovating and maintaining trails that have been ignored is equally important. Maintenance solutions – spanning volunteer muscle to professional work – deserve support through direct funding. Thousands of miles require attention, before the damage is beyond repair. Land agencies are asking for more help from IMBA. IMBA Trail Care Schools help close the gap.
Community Engagement
IMBA’s ability to unite varied local stakeholders is pivotal to a project moving forward or stalling out. This highly effective facet of IMBA support has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. Further, we predict more private landowners seeking to develop trails for the public. These private projects are often quicker to complete—we must have the capacity to engage.
Policy & Regulation Leadership
Access for trails can never be taken for granted. Victories for land access, equitable access and trail funding will need to be defended. IMBA remains on the front line of advocacy on Capitol Hill and in state capitols and agency offices, working out solutions to create, enhance and protect trail access from present and future threats.
Leading with Trails is a comprehensive public campaign, counting all sources of income across IMBA trail development services, membership commitments, philanthropic giving, grants, and more. The financial goal is $20 million by the end of 2026 to close resource gaps that will complete our goal of impacting 250 communities. Launching this new level of direct services in 2025 and 2026 will accelerate community projects stuck or poised for breakthrough success.
Lead with us.
More to come.
Interested in being a philanthropic leader for a new era of trails or have questions? Have a conversation with us about our initiatives, goals, and ways to be supportive. Let's lead together. Reach out to us.
