Bikepacking Roots
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 812622394
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 5169967530
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $229,303
- Expenses
- $227,731
- Assets
- $184,389
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Noelle Battle (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Noelle Battle (Executive Director): $69,037 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Bikepacking Roots supports and advances bikepacking the growth of a diverse bikepacking community and access to and the conservation of the landscapes and public lands through which we ride. We lower the barriers to bikepacking through intentional route design educational programming inclusive events a grant program and more.
What it reported doing in 2025
Through our Routes Pillar we develop and maintain bikepacking routes and publish resources to help riders enjoy those routes. This includes maintenance of our route information for all Bikepacking Roots signature routes. In 2023 we launched a new project called the Community Routes project where we work with route stewards around the country to showcase routes that they have created and have committed to ongoing stewardship of. In 2024 we published 16 new routes through this project. We also published a new Signature Route from the Mexico to Canada called the Great Plains Gravel Route. We served as fiscal sponsors of the Orogenesis Collective a project to build the longest mountain bike trail in the world but in 2025 they became their own 501c3 so that project was transitioned out from our Routes Pillar.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 68.1%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 30.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 68.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $155K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $69K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.