What started as a passion project between two friends has grown into a real-deal 501c3 nonprofit. Here are some of the things we’ve done in the last 5 years.
- Increased our ridership by nearly 200 percent
- Added 2 new programs Adaptive and Day Rides giving us a total of 5 programs
- Diversified zip code representation in our participants and volunteers
- Implemented free/discounted tickets for BIPOC and adaptive riders
- We’ve increased the size, scope, and number of rides
- Increased our volunteer base tremendously
- Grown revenue streams to ensure financial sustainability
- Paid full-time Executive Director
Now, it's time to look ahead to the next 5 years of this organization. What is going to be the driving force that takes this organization into the future? To answer this question, the board looked to the patron saint of Out Our Front Door, author Robin Wall Kimmer. In her seminal book, Braiding Sweetgrass, she writes:
The answer was so clear. If our first years were focused on growth and expansion, these next ones would be focused on giving back to the community that made that growth possible. The theme of these next 5 years is reciprocity.
We aim to give back to nature, our volunteers, our participants, and our partners. We’ve got a lot of goals. Here are a few:
We want to establish an Out Our Front Door headquarters!
We envision establishing a physical clubhouse that serves as gear storage, a maintenance facility, and an event space. This will help us:
- Improve operations and eliminate waste
- Simplify logistics and provide a social space for meetings
- Create a home for our gear and equipment, like adaptive bikes
- Offer a free space for partner and community orgs to meet
Scale Up Paid Positions
There will be a day when Glenn is not the only staff member! We want to add a second part-time paid employee to help us reduce pre-ride logistics for volunteers and give the org more time to devote to partnership building.
Build up our Partners
- Engage partners to lend their expertise through volunteer training opportunities.
- Offer more free event slots to partners and collaborate with them on rides
- Prioritize collaboration with nature-focused organizations
Improve Nature Education
We stay focused on what is core to our mission, building reverence for nature through adventures.
- Offer more nature education on our rides and work with rangers, nature centers, and local ecology groups to enhance spiels.
- Raise awareness of local trails & nature spaces.
- Create a strategy to support our rides through an unknown climate future
These are some ambitious goals, and we ask you to continue on this journey with us. Engaging in this mutual relationship, this shared community that is built on reciprocity.
Check out the full 5 Year Plan Slide Deck here!
