August 2025 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes and Activity Reports
MORE – Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
August 11, 2025
Virtually present at meeting
Casey Anderson – President
Jali Fernando – Executive Secretary
Alison Wells – Administrative Assistant
David Beugelmans - Secretary
Dave Magill - MD Advocacy Director
Rob Lowe – Membership Director
Neil Blake – Treasurer
Michael Ullmann – VA Advocacy Director
Kathy Mihm – Ride Programs Director
Maris Finley – Activities Director
· Guest: Tom Newton – Seneca Creek State Park Holiday Ride
o Wanted to give overview of winter lights right, both for this year and future years
o Thought about this in the context of SMOREs ride and program. It’s great to have families ride together, which also gets parents into mountain biking as well. The kids and families riding together become a pivotal moment that changes families and make lifelong memories
o Wanted to do a ride under the Clopper Lake Lights.
o To do an official ride and have hundreds of people can happen.
o There is a mature run that happens for the road runners club and they sell out every year with almost 1000 people.
o We would need to backstop the City of Gaithersburg – $2000 at a minimum.
o Idea is to make this a fundraiser for sMOREs , reach out to all riders or teams. This would be on a Tuesday.
o Could have competitions for best costumes, decorated bikes, etc.
o Make it cheaper for club members and more expensive for non-members, and cheapest for kids whether or not parents are members.
o Need enough of an ask to raise $2000.
o Parking shouldn’t be an issue, but want volunteers to direct traffic.
o If we can get even 100 people to collect enough money (so maybe run at a slight loss), and we get pictures and video and put it on social media, its an opportunity we can build on. This would be useful marketing.
o Haven’t discussed a rain date and whether we would need to pay if it rains.
o Dave
§ The $2000 commitment is the only reason I can think of to not want to try this.
§ Interested in other people’s views on this.
o Maris
§ The thing that scared me the most is not the price point, but getting the volunteers to manage parking. Everything else seems ok.
o Casey
§ I support this. Confidential that Tom and others who are already engaged can sort out the details. None of them seem insurmountable. Prepared as a board members to say yes and go plan it.
o Dave M
§ Motion to increase the activities budget by $2000 for purpose of having Tom and Maris organize
§ Dave M Second
§ Passed unanimously
· Executive Director Report (Jali)
o River's Edge film screening update
§ Film screening at Smoketown brewing in Brunswick.
§ Had rights to screen Freehub film festival, which was about $700.
§ This was super successful. He sold $860 worth of tickets online and people came in to buy tickets on the spot. Ended up that evening through someone writing a check, raffle, etc , raised over $1700.
§ And Smoketown instead of taking the $250, gave him $250.
§ Freehub also notched the $500, so we did the event for free.
§ All in all, the event earned $4300. This was just Carlo putting things out on social media. Jali helped coordinate outreach as well.
o Donor and member analysis
§ Sent a donor and member analysis to board.
§ MORE has a strong donor retention rate at 63.6%, higher for the top 100 donors (78%) vs. national nonprofit average (45–50%).
§ Donors are motivated by trail projects — nearly half of gifts in the last 12 months are from non-members/businesses.
§ Trail Liaisons reach different audiences than MORE staff, particularly evident in social-media-sourced non-member contributions.
§ Proposal
· It is time that we do a major donor event, whether an appreciation dinner, or a special ride with donors where we have a ride with them.
§ Casey
· The trail systems with the largest contributions by nonmembers suggest there is a constituency that doesn’t think of itself as a member constituency.
o Trail One Components partnership
§ Company makes various bike components
§ They are coming up with a wheelset and naming it after the Frederick Watershed.
§ Will be launching soon. Test rims at the Shed Enduro. Plan is to launch this soon and for every set they sell, they will donate $1 to MORE.
§ Trail One said they typically raise $500 for a trail. More than the money, it is cool to have one of our trail systems highlighted by a national brand.
· Financial Update (Neil)
o $5.9k net general decrease
§ $11.7k general revenues
§ $5.1k memberships
§ $3k MoCo Epic sponsorships
§ $2.7k other general
§ $0.8k interest earned (need to call FCB about expiring of interest rate on savings account)
o $17.6k general expenses
§ $10.1k staff costs
§ $3.9k MoCo Epic (Key Sanitation deposit)
§ $3.6k other (all less than $1k)
o $16.6k net restricted increase
o $17.5k restricted revenues
§ $10.1k Brookfield (from TFY)
§ $2.9k River's Edge (movie fundraiser)
§ $2k Wakefield (from American Charities - workplace donations)
§ $1k Rosaryville
§ $1.5k Other
o $0.9k restricted funds expenses
· Membership Update (Rob)
o Not a bad month, but not awesome either. Some of it I think may be due to cruddy weather the first 2+ weeks of July with a LOT of rain, etc. But we were slower in both transactions and dollars. We remain ahead of the curve compared to same point in 2024, but only by the smallest margin.
o Definitely continuing to watch, is it the first real sign of the DC area impact to fed workers? A Summer Blip? Who knows.
o 193 Transactions $6910
o Post IMBA Processing - $5.816
o Topline pace vs. last year. Year-to-date membership revenue is essentially even with 2024—$53,827 in 2025 YTD vs. $53,463 in 2024 YTD, a slim positive of $364.
o Total members & recent lapses. Membership stands at 2,113 (17 new + 2,096 current). 119 are lapsed/expiring across June–July (112 this time last year).
o Join & renewal activity (Jul ’25).
o New joins: 17 (down from 38 LY).
o Renewals: 60 under 15 days; 9 short (15 days–3 mo ); 3 middle (3–6 mo ); 14 long (6+ mo ).
o Large donors (annual >$100): 18 totaling $2,100 (vs. 20 LY).
o Paid members & value. In the last 12 months, 1,582 of 2,113 members are paid; estimated value $96,700 pre-IMBA share.
o Auto-renewing (annual). 855 total (members & family), 604 paying; estimated $40,050 annual value (about $50,910 when including monthly). Trend: 578→597 YoY on the underlying cohort.
o Auto-monthly. 94 members (+1 MoM); brings in $905/month (~ $10,860/yr , ~$115.53/member/yr). Cohort ticked up from 87 (’24) to 92 (’25).
o Monthly membership flow (new/renew totals & value).
o Aug ’25 to date (as of Aug 8): 54 / $1,512 (vs. 213 / $8,324 LY)
o Jul ’25: 193 / $6,910 (vs. 210 / $8,166 LY)
o Jun ’25: 177 / $6,975 (vs. 192 / $7,024 LY)
o May ’25: 300 / $13,776 (vs. 303 / $15,000 LY)
o Apr ’25: 214 / $8,134 (vs. 197 / $7,009 LY)
o What changed in July. July ran slower than 2024 in dollar value (about 17 fewer transactions), with lower joins—likely weather-related early in the month plus a broader softening. Despite that, total members and paid members remain higher than last year at this point.
o New-join trendline. New joins tracked at 17 (Jul) , 11 (Jun) , 21 (May) .
o Snapshot. “Total current members” reiterated at 2,113 , with 119 lapsed across June–July.
· Trails
o Virginia (Michael)
§ James Long ride went very well.
§ If anyone wants to see signs that are very effective, James Long and Locust Shade have the same signage and it works very well with the idea of trying to get MORE visible.
o Maryland (Dave)
§ Expecting bids by Friday or Monday for the Patuxent build.
§ Got through legal process with LBI grant and form of grant agreement is going before the Board of Public Works in October. Hopefully we can get the trail open and sidewalk bult in the spring of next year.
§ Want to be back to board in a month or two with a layout for a capital fundraising effort. Why not put materials together, get some plans, and preview with donors. Having a major donor as a part of it is a big factor. Thing I am wrestling with is we can put together a draft at board, but we need to discuss with liaisons to make sure they are on board. Pretty easy to identify half a dozen to 10 projects. Many of the projects would be trail reroutes and trail refurbishments to improve trails we already have.
· Neil
o One thing I’ve heard about are roadblocks to getting further trails built. There seem to be roadblocks. Putting money into local governments or improving existing trail makes sense.
o Dave
§ Been thinking about this problem and a lot of ideas are not new builds that require massive approvals.
· Ride Program Update (Kathy)
o Things are chugging along
o Have a beginner skills clinic scheduled for this Saturday
o No new ride leaders on board in the next month
· Events Update (Maris)
o Been very busy month
o Did table at Smoketown and helped Carlo out. Carlo was surprised with the level of response. It was cool seeing the effort he put in. One person put on this event and raised all this money on his own. Had almost 90 people show up to event on a Monday night in Brunswick
o The ride and picnic events have been very successful. People are very receptive and liaisons are really liking it.
o At James Long, had co-liaison speak about impact MORE has had, and was very excited to speak about it. It really reinforces to the members what we are doing. They really appreciate that we are looking at trails we wouldn’t ordinarily have events.
o Won’t be afraid to continue next year.
o Last one will be at Lake Fairfax. Bike Lane is helping us and is happy we are doing something to give back for all they do for MORE.
o Neil
§ With the $10,000 we got from Trails For Youth, at events you could buy things to raffle off.
Activity Reports
· President – Casey Anderson
- [*]
· Jali Fernando – Executive Director
o MoCo Epic preparations - finalized aid station lineups, met with Montgomery Parks to finalize camping logistics, sponsorships, food trucks, etc.
o Working on applications for OnX Grant and REI Cooperative Grant.
o Helped plan and organize River's Edge film screening event.
o Organized and hosted a webinar on long distance riding in preparation for the MoCo Epic.
o Coordinated with race organizers of The Shed Enduro for volunteer recruitment and aid station sponsorship.
o Regular email communications and social media posts.
· Secretary – David Beugelmans
o Coordinated board meeting and finalized minutes
o Advocate for and advance Annapolis Flow Trail and Bacon Ridge/Waterworks Connector projects
o Waterworks
§ Various trail hardening/water management projects
§ Coordinated completion of new “expert” jump line, Helios
§ Consulted with City on Greenstone Trailcraft flow trail project, currently under construction
· MD Advocacy Director – Dave Magill
o Mostly worked on the Patuxent trail and bridge bids. Bids are due in a week. I also signed the grant agreement for the Sidewalk project
· VA Advocacy Director – Michael Ullman
o Attended a trail work day at Locust Shade
o Attended the James Long Park group ride/picnic
o Attended WOW; Pat and James Childress were awarded
o Working to get Fairfax Parks to give the thumbs up to add Piney Branch Stream Valley Park as an official trail. Staff Members from the Office of Supervisor James R. Walkinshaw have walked the trail and support Fairfax Parks making this an official trail. Awaiting a response from James Corcoran on this.
· Membership Director – Rob Lowe
o [*]
· Ride Program Director – Kathy Mihm
o Set up ride at Little Bennett Park
o Prepared map for Emmitsburg trail system
o Lead Beginner ride on Weds and Women's ride Thurs evenings
· Communications Director – N/A
· Treasurer – Neil Blake
o $5.9k net general decrease
§ $11.7k general revenues
§ $5.1k memberships
§ $3k MoCo Epic sponsorships
§ $2.7k other general
§ $0.8k interest earned (need to call FCB about expiring of interest rate on savings account)
o $17.6k general expenses
§ $10.1k staff costs
§ $3.9k MoCo Epic (Key Sanitation deposit)
§ $3.6k other (all less than $1k)
o $16.6k net restricted increase
o $17.5k restricted revenues
§ $10.1k Brookfield (from TFY)
§ $2.9k River's Edge (movie fundraiser)
§ $2k Wakefield (from American Charities - workplace donations)
§ $1k Rosaryville
§ $1.5k Other
o $0.9k restricted funds expenses
· Activities Director – Maris Finley
o Planning & execution of 2 ride & picnic events
o Hashawha (7/26): 50 attendees - attended by Kathy Mihm
o MoCo Epic arrows were prepped & organized at the event - thanks Kathy!
o James Long (8/9): 30 attendees - attended/supported by Alison Wells & Michael Ullman
o Helped with Rivers Edge Film fundraiser event @ Smoketown Brewery on 7/28 - estimated 90 attendees
o Planning for upcoming ride & picnic event at Lake Fairfax / The Bike Lane on 8/23
o MoCo Epic activity planning
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