Fiscal Year 2024 Recap

Happy New Year! As we continue into 2025, we want to take some time to celebrate and reflect on our collective achievements during Fiscal Year 2024.
Vienna Christensen Vienna Christensen
Manager of Volunteer Development
January 28, 2025
Fiscal Year 2024 Recap
Alpine Scramble at Thunder Mountain Lakes. Photo by Evan Moses.

The Mountaineers is an incredible community of outdoor enthusiasts, students, instructors, advocates, and leaders. We are inspired by our community’s dedication to fostering connections to the outdoors. As we close the door on 2024 and continue into 2025, we reflect on the core of our mission: to connect people to the natural world and to each other. Take a look back on our collective achievements and how our strategic goals of Lead, Engage, and Advocate guided us this past fiscal year (October 1, 2023 - September 30, 2024). 

LEAD

This year, we led innovation in outdoor education in many ways. In early 2024, we launched the first ever Tacoma Leadership Conference (now known as South Sound Leadership Conference) in response to feedback from our volunteers, who expressed interest in greater geographic opportunities for our leadership development programs and the return of the collaborative energy and branch networking that The Mountaineers Leadership Conference offers. We closed out the year with the North Sound Leadership Conference, showcasing nine incredible speakers, including but not limited to keynote and author of The Outdoor Leader, Jeanneatte Stawski, and volunteer and magazine author of Caught Between Two Fires: A Native Perspective on Outdoor Leadership and Education, Dr. Dennis Eller. 

Throughout the year, the Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault Prevention Commitee was hard at work to make our community more safe and welcoming for all. After nine months of intentional deliberation, the committee released a 13-page report summarizing their work and detailing a five- year plan to continue fostering a culture of safety at The Moutnaineers by reducing the risk of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Our engagement with thousands of members through new virtual and in-person programs provided exciting growth in our educational opportunities. We offered 507 seminars and clinics and 210 courses, altogether serving an impressive 11,896 individuals in our outdoor community. In June, we celebrated 20 years of the Conditioning and Hiking Series with founders Kelly and Matt Cleman. This course has helped hundreds of hikers reach fitness goals and take their hiking to new heights and greater distances. Throughout the year, Mountaineers members and volunteers continued to enjoy the community and connection that our programs offer. One great example has been the ongoing success of the Foothills Hiking Committee’s introductory hiking course, GoHike! GoHike! has eliminated barriers that often deter beginners from venturing onto trails, and has become a supportive entrypoint for many Mountaineers who want to get outdoors. 

We are thrilled to continue our ongoing leadership development opportunities for Mountaineers volunteers through our Leadership Development Series. During the past fiscal year, most of these seminars were offered remotely, enhancing accessibility for members across our branches. We were thrilled to host 32 seminars for our volunteer leaders, facilitated by nine new presenters from across the country and nine returning presenters, with a total of 347 attendees. Many of our webinars were recorded and can be viewed on our Leadership Development Series YouTube playlist.

We journeyed by foot and paddled across waters throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. From stewardship, to trail running, to unique Global Adventures, 670 volunteer trip leaders led 3,381 participants on 2,961 trips, demonstrating their dedication to teaching outdoor skills. Together, we traveled 224,370 miles and climbed 48, 897, 383 feet! 

Throughout the year, we released more than 27 new book titles designed to help people learn new skills, find places to visit, and experience the outdoors. This includes the launch of the 10th edition of Mountaineers Books flagship work Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. We are proud to have a strong award-winning year for Mountaineers Books. Some notable mentions for this year’s award winners include: 2024 Banff Climbing Literature and 2024 Boardman Tasker Award winner Headstrap and 2024 National Outdoor Book Award and 2024 Banff Jon Whyte Award winner Alpine Rising

ENGAGE

We are committed to fostering inspiration and cultivating a sense of belonging in the outdoor environment. As we frequently emphasize, our volunteers are the heart and soul of our mission, delivering high-quality, community-focused outdoor programming. This past summer, for the first time ever, we were able to host a BIPOC- specific course. Since its founding five years ago, the Canyoning Committee has prioritized inclusive programming and this past fiscal year, the committee had enough BIPOC-identifying leaders, assistant leaders, and instructors to host a BIPOC Basic Canyoning course. Read more about our Equity & Inclusion 2024 Trail Markers

In almost every aspect of our work, volunteers are at the forefront, and we are extremely grateful for  the 3,573 members who volunteered their time this past fiscal year, as well as the many others who supported us from afar. All in all, our community recorded a whopping 182,654 volunteer hours this past year! 

At The Mountaineers, every adventure tells a story, and this past fiscal year over 170 members received the brand new 2024 Trip Reporter badge for writing trip reports.  Sharing stories through trip reports is foundational to our community’s ability to get outside. The annual Trip Reporter badge, will continue to celebrate community members who share their outdoor experiences through Mountaineers trip reports.

The Mountaineers provided a total of  1010 youth activities, encompassing year-round clubs, day camps, and partner programs. Additionally, we conducted 137 Partner Programs in collaboration with partner organizations to provide over 6,000 youth experiences to youth across all branches. The Tacoma Branch alone partnered with nine organizations to provide 1,560 youth experiences, and the Olympia Branch experienced significant growth in their partner programs collaborating with five community partners to provide 628 youth experiences. These programs allow us to engage with the broader community through impactful programming that gets youth outside who may not have otherwise had the opportunity.

This past fiscal year, you raised over $2.4 million in philanthropic contributions elevating the way our outdoor community helps people of all backgrounds find empowerment through outdoor connection and return to give back as volunteers, educators, storytellers, conservationists, and community-builders.

We are grateful for the 2,532 individual members and volunteers who contributed over $1.08 million in donations as well as the $554,098 received in corporate and foundation support. We're excited to welcome 1,549 donors who collectively gave $155,210 making their first-ever gift to The Mountaineers. A special shoutout to the 74 community members who raised an additional $155,210​ by leveraging their employer benefits to match donations and volunteer hours. 

Another great way donations support our outdoor community is through fiscal sponsorships, where The Mountaineers provides administrative support and tax-exempt status for other mission-driven organizations. In our fourth year in partnership, Climbers of Color raised $69,226 in support of their mission to create more leaders of color in mountaineering. The Mountaineers also became the fiscal sponsor of the Washington Canyon Coalition, stewarding $20,690 to support safe access to Washington canyons and stewardship of canyon environments.

We continue to see growth in our leadership giving circle, Peak Society. More than 350 households (570 members) made a leadership level donation of $1,000 or above in 2024. We also saw growth in our new Ridgeline membership, which recognizes the more than 150 households (200 members) who give $500 annually. Additionally, five new Summit Society members pledged a legacy gift in their estate plans to The Mountaineers. Combined with received bequests last year, Summit Society has grown to honor 94 households. 

Through the creativity of both our volunteers and staff, we sustained the impact of our programming. We extend our gratitude to our committed volunteers for maintaining an engaged and learning community throughout yet another year.

ADVOCATE

As our region’s public lands experience increasing visitation and land managers like the Forest Service remain chronically underfunded, advocating at the intersection of conservation and sustainable outdoor access continued to remain in  focus for The Mountaineers advocacy work in 2024.

The year started out strong with the launch of our new eLearning course Advocacy 101. This has become an essential tool to equip our community with the knowledge necessary to launch into the world of outdoor advocacy. We now have more than 100 graduates for the initial version of Advocacy 101.

Thanks to philanthropic support from our community, our Conservation & Advocacy team was able to focus on influencing potential solutions for pervasive issues that Mountaineers members and the broader outdoor community face, such as wildfire response and resiliency. The Mountaineers and our members spoke up in high numbers during public comment opportunities to help land managers plan for more sustainable visitor use in popular recreation destinations like Mount Rainier National Park. We also convened a panel discussion on how to make our northwest forests more resilient to climate change at our 2024 An Evening of Advocacy event, preparing our community weigh in during the process to update the Northwest Forest Plan.We look forward to continuing to amplify ways to engage in land management planning efforts for FY 2025.

In 2024, we continued to partner with Sacred Lands Conservancy, to produce a series of educational pieces on the importance of mindful recreation and how we can develop deeper connections to the histories of our natural places. Lhaq’temish fisherwoman and enrolled Lummi Nation tribal member, Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinley, unpacked regional and tribal treaties and how we are all treaty people, and as such can learn about, respec,t and honor the rights and connections of indigenous people to the lands we enjoy. Braided River, the advocacy branch of Mountaineers Books, released a beautiful work Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain: Washington's Olympic Peninsula, in partnership with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, in a continued effort to protect the Olympic Peninsula.

As part of our updated, refreshed strategic plan, we shared our ambitious goal of becoming a net zero organization by achieving net zero carbon emissions from direct organizational impacts. This summer we were able to celebrate a huge milestone in that goal with the Tacoma Program Center achieving net zero carbon emissions!

One of the ways we advocate for public lands protections is by engaging with lawmakers and land managers through our continued work to lead Outdoor Alliance Washington. The Mountaineers Conservation & Advocacy team joined our partners at Outdoor Alliance for joint advocacy in Washington D.C. This work has a direct impact on the spaces we all enjoy. This summer we celebrated our work with Rep. Kim Schrier and the completion of GAOA projects at Denny Creek.

Our members and volunteers are equally active in conservation and stewardship efforts. In the past fiscal year, we offered 160 stewardship activities, in which 467 unique participants volunteered over 14,649 hours. We also awarded 669 Low Impact Recreation badges, 173 Public Lands 101 badges, and 73 Advocacy 101 badges this year.

THANK YOU

In 2024, we experienced significant adventures, valuable learning opportunities, exceptional service, and inspiring dedication to our community. As we continue into 2025, we are filled with anticipation for even greater opportunities and adventures. Our heartfelt thanks go out to every member, volunteer, donor, and reader for your steadfast commitment to The Mountaineers mission and the embodiment of our core values. We eagerly look forward to seeing you in 2025!


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