Scottish Trail Fund

Creating and managing the trails we love takes time, effort, commitment, and money.

For our country to have the variety of trails we all want then it takes investment in all areas of our trail eco-system.

We know that individual Trails Associations do a great job at raising funds within local communities. The Scottish Trail Fund will provide additional support to these groups by providing finances - particularly towards tools, trail building and first aid courses, and insurance for them to carry out work.

Perhaps as valuably, we will provide strategic support including managing national relationships, raising the profile of Scottish mountain biking to Scottish Government, Local Authorities and other key stakeholders, lobby for increased capital investment and create the eco-system which allows more trails to be legally built and maintained across Scotland.

All of this costs money and we need your support - to give you an idea of the cash required to keep us riding here are a few elements that your donation will pay towards:

• £750 pays for a First Aid Course for a Trails Association

• £1,400 enables us to deliver a DIRTT Volunteer Trail Planning, Building and Managing course helping us support more volunteers to run dig days across Scotland
• £2,500 covers the cost of tools for a Trails Association
• £10,000 covers the (average) cost of a feasibility study to develop arguments and consider site opportunities and constraints on an average community-led project (pump track, local trails)
• £50,000 is the cost of a national MTB trails manager (we are not there but that is our hope!)
• £100,000 the average cost of a pump track or urban MTB skills area (this fund is very unlikely to pay for this - but everything needs to be ready behind the scenes to get these amazing tracks)

You may think that donating a coffee/cake per month (or whatever you can afford!) will not scratch the surface of these amounts. However, if the MTB community embraces the Scottish Trail Fund we will use our expertise in match funding to invest further and get more money into our trails.

• Support Trail Associations and local riders/trail builders across the country– encouraging trail stewardship and advocacy
• Fund volunteer trail building courses – creating leaders to run trail building and maintenance sessions across Scotland
• Fund first aid courses for volunteers
• Lobby for increased investment into the Scottish trail network
• Fund trail development projects to be ‘shovel-ready’ for capital investment
• Work with landowners and land managers to resolve any disagreements and work with them to get more trails in the right places
• Match your donation with at least 50% from public and private sector sources to grow the trail network in Scotland
• Support projects through the process of applying for funding through the Cycling Facilities Fund and other funding sources
• Support and promote trail crowdfunding projects
• Promote riding in Scotland to a global audience to increase the economic impact of our sport to our country

WE WILL;

• Represent your views to Scottish Government
• Continue to seek funding to support trails associations across Scotland
• Represent mountain bikers at National Access Forum – helping to retain and enhance access to trails for riders
• Lobby for increased investment into our trail network and the volunteers who help manage it
• Seek funding for participation programmes (MTB Health Fund)
• Give you access to discounts to MTB products, shops and events through our partner programme (to be launched in 2023)
• Opportunity to win prizes each month from our merchandise and from mountain bike brands (launched in 2023)
• Keep you updated through a digital newsletter 3 times a year