We Get the Scoop on the Future of IMBA from Executive Director, Dave Wiens [Podcast #103]

Greg Heil: Thanks for rolling with that as I sprung that on you, but I think that transitions great into our next topic, which is the new and improved Chapter 3.0 program. One of our readers, Rob Ern, asked, “Would you be willing to rethink the 60/40 split of membership fees with Chapters? Based on our club’s discussion of this, the 60% that IMBA takes is excessive. More of the money should stay local or at least regional. This and the lack of good insurance offered are the main reasons our large club has repeatedly voted against becoming a chapter.”

However, apparently Rob hasn’t read our most recent article about the Chapter 3.0 program, in which the split will change to 50/50. So my question is, though, Dave, do you think that changing the split to 50/50 is putting enough money back in the pockets of the clubs to put these monetary concerns to rest?

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Dave Wiens: Well, given that there are over 200 chapters, I think that there are going to be some clubs that [say,] “Hey, this is great, we like that.” And we’ve heard from some clubs that they would like to see more.

In my mind, the whole Chapter program is something that I’d like to see evolve over time. It’s something that was created six or seven years ago out of just clubs that existed, and they created the revenue split, the revenue share with these chapters, you gotta come on as a chapter to participate in it and operate it and [they] grew to the point that it’s at now. . . .And of course, whenever you have 200-plus chapters all around the country, there’s probably going to be varying levels of satisfaction. I think you had some chapters that were absolutely satisfied and maybe some that were less so.

But then when we lost the Subaru Sponsorship, that just sent the whole Chapter program into a bit of a spiral because in the haste to subsidize that program, it doesn’t pay for itself which is, it’s not unusual. Nonprofits, we fundraise all the time to run programs that if they are revenue-producing programs, they don’t necessarily cover their costs. We’re prepared but that, it was too big of a hit with Subaru and additionally, the money was there but then our RDs and our ARDs which is a talented, talented pool of staff that we had around the country, and unfortunately we had to let quite a few of them go in the downsizing and cost cutting measures that took place, but they also had Subarus to drive around so they were accessible. They could get to chapters and they could move around pretty freely and all that IMBA really had to do was make sure the cars were insured and that they could put gas in the gas tanks and that we were doing maintenance on them.

So we lost the money, we lost our transportation, and it was a big hit to the program, so that’s what started people really questioning it, and this is where we’re at now. My thoughts are, we’ve got 200-plus chapters, we’ve got a ton of members. We have a lot of chapters that are supportive. Certainly a few have left and maybe some more are planning to, and I think this question related to a club that isn’t a chapter yet but maybe was considering it.

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Just like everything else at IMBA, I want to look at this. I want it to be as effective as it can be. It’s a challenge to try to … We can’t have a one-size-fits-all because there’s never any way that one size will fit all with mountain biking when you’ve got California and Montana and Idaho very concerned about Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas, and Recommended Wilderness, topics like that. You’ve got the Midwest where there really is very little to no BLM or Forest Service lands, and they’re really interested in community trail systems. Likewise, Texas has its own issues, the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic. One-size-fits-all just doesn’t work so we need to find the way that IMBA can be as valuable and relevant and effective to our chapters.

The revenue split is something that for now, it’s 50/50, and we’ll see what it is in the future because I know, first hand, from running Gunnison Trails, how important it is for local organizations to have funds to try to do what they need to do. Likewise, the national organization needs to be funded to do what it wants to do, but one thing that we’ve done with IMBA, I mean we’ve had some staff reductions recently, and I guess those have been portrayed in different ways. . . . But my vision for IMBA, the home base or the administrative part of IMBA, is that it’s very lean and it supports our advocacy in the field.

We’re working toward that. We’re downsizing, or “rightsizing” as it were. That, to me, is going to be very important that we remain a very lean home office and focused on what we’re getting done out in the field, and that’s where chapters come in, that’s where clubs come in, and even local organizations. Those are the people. Those are the advocates. Those are the mountain bikers that are doing the great work, and we need to find out what is our perfect formula to support that work. It certainly takes money, as we know.

The professional trail building industry right now, and a lot of trails are being professionally built either by Trail Solutions, or there’s tons of other very good, we call them “craft builders,” these are the professional companies like Trail Solutions. They specialize in mountain bike trails. They’re building just amazing trails out there, but they’re not cheap. They’re $20,000 a mile and up, so it takes a lot of money to put great mountain biking on the ground and hopefully, IMBA can be part of finding those funds and helping clubs find those funds because in the big picture, it really isn’t that expensive to put trails on the ground, especially considering the value the community’s received from those trails.

You build a golf course or a rec center or swimming pool or a skate park, the trail amenity is right up there, at the top of the list, and I don’t know how many community surveys I’ve seen where they ask, “What’s the amenity that most people are looking for?” And it’s always trails. It doesn’t always mean singletrack flow trails or not only mountain bike trails. It means big, wide concrete and all kinds of trails.

But anyway, trails are important to communities, and more and more communities are coming around to, “Hey, we’ve got a swimming pool. We’ve got a skate park. We need a trail system.” So we need to help local organizations and communities to find the funds and the funding mechanisms to put those great experiences on the ground. It’s definitely something that we have in mountain biking that’s unique, not just to our activity but certainly to some, that the physical part that we need to put on the ground costs quite a bit of money, so that’s part of what IMBA can help with, and it’s an important part of what we do.

Right now, it’s a 50/50 split with our chapters and a certain amount of support. We only want to improve that in the future, whatever direction that takes. We want to be as valuable as we can to those local organizations.