Fellow Mountain supporters,
I hope that this note finds you and those you care about healthy and staying centered during these difficult times. Despite the challenging public health and economic circumstances we find ourselves operating in, there is much to be excited about at The Mountain. While our group and program (including Mountaincamp) business has largely evaporated through at least the fall, we saw a huge outpouring of support from our donor community since March, enabling us to take full advantage of a $30,000 matching grant from Firespring. Even more exciting, we received donations from 350 donors since March, with an impressive 65% of those being new donors. This support, coupled with a forgivable Payroll Protection Plan loan and the reserves that The Mountain has built over the last decade of fiscally prudent operations has put us on solid footing despite the great economic uncertainty we face. While we do not know when we will see a full recovery of our group and program business, nor do we know with certainty how our development efforts will pay off this year, we do know that we currently have well over eight months of operating expenses on hand. The Board of Trustees and I are regularly engaging with staff about The Mountain's financial position and supporting actions to ensure that we will see the other end of this crisis. Our operating maxim is "don't run out of money." With that in mind, we are operating in a fiscally responsible manner, reducing expenses but also using this forced downtime to address much-needed infrastructure maintenance and examining opportunities to further optimize operations effectiveness. Despite being in a strong position to weather this storm, given the uncertainties we have in our business, your support is more critical than ever. We need to raise an additional $200,000 by the end of the year to stay in the black. If you are in a position to give - at any level - your donation will help ensure the strength of The Mountain for generations to come. Speaking of generations to come, the crisis has provided us an opportunity to reimagine how The Mountain can better rise up to the challenge set out in our mission: to enrich lives, foster an appreciation of the natural world, honor the interconnectedness of all things, and inspire people to build inclusive, meaningful, sustainable communities throughout their lives. You may have seen some of the early results of this reimagining in our Adaptive Living program which drew around 200 participants, connecting Mountain members and introducing new people to the work of The Mountain, and upcoming programs like A More Beautiful World Week, Online Mountain Yoga, and Understand White Privilege and Become an Anti-Racist. More than ever, the world needs what The Mountain does. Despite not being able to host large groups right now, we are determined to create innovative programs and program delivery models that catalyze the change we seek and provide sources of revenue to continue our work in the world. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me. I can be reached at kc.boyce@mountain-board.org
Sincerely,
K.C. Boyce
Chair, Board of Trustees