The Trail Pot

The Trail Pot – National Mountain Biking Development Fund officially opened last week. We’ve been registered as a charity for a while, but we’d held off ‘going live’ until to get a few of our ducks in row first. We’re there now – so it’s go go go!

Already we’ve had some brilliant coverage in the industry and mountain biking press – thanks for the support everyone – and there are questions coming in about how it works and what it can do.

SingletrackWorld | MBR | ibikeride

Thankfully, nothing too unexpected and we’ll answer them here.

We’ve a long road ahead of us with a very steep initial climb – but with your support this can completely change the face of grassroots mountain biking and create a fertile community in the years to come.

“There is some seed funding in place, but to build further momentum the charity is looking for funding from riders and businesses”
Yes – the Trustees have committed seed funding to support getting The Trail Pot off the ground, and we have a number of small donations. At this stage, it’s the local bike shops, cafes, coaches and guides we need to get on board as the Supporters play a key role in determining where the future funding goes. Get in touch to find out how to get involved.

“We wonder how the central Trail Pot and fundraising activities will dovetail with local trail groups and local fund-raising campaigns.”
It’s completely complementary. The Trail Pot will alleviate some of the burden on those groups who have to chase, scrape and beg for funds, by already having a pot in place they can apply to. It worked brilliantly for Peak District MTB when they were able to apply the central European funding in support of protecting Cut Gate. The money was already there – and so the energies of the volunteers could be better spent doing the things they needed to do to take the next steps. The charity status of The Trail Pot means that supporting businesses get a benefit on top of their contribution too AND by supporting The Trail Pot, they can directly influence the regions in which the money is invested.

“Can they exist alongside each other, rather than competing for the same donations, robbing Peter to pay Paul”
Yes, they can absolutely exist alongside each other, and more than that: a fuller Trail Pot benefits everyone – the local campaigns can access Trail Pot funds that previous simply wouldn’t have been there. And local riders can still support their local campaigns. Local businesses can contribute with all the benefits of supporting a charity, and the whole community gets the grassroots lift.

“I sense their success will be the success of phase 1 i.e. the raising funds bit and encouraging investment from brands, corporates or rider donations”
Yes, this is exactly where we are now. We need the LBSs, the SMEs, the coaches and others to get behind us as Supporters, as well as the bigger brands to help fill the pot. This is the key and exactly where we are now.

“I also think with these things there is a Phase 6 – which is to track the progress and metrics of each allocation”
Yes. This is going to be made totally clear. Transparency is vital as it is the community we’re doing this for. We’ll have metrics which show how much is in the fund, where the Supporters are from regionally, and down the line, where the money goes. As a charity we’ll also have annual returns to do now – dotting the Is and crossing the Ts.