Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
204994769
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2016, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
Phone
2063998347
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Amateur Sports

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$888,734
Expenses
$929,973
Assets
$839,750
Liabilities
$59,904

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Spencer Anthony-Cahill (President)
  • Emily Mallos (Vice President)
  • Eric Brown (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Eric Brown (Executive Director): $86,659 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition's (WMBC) mission is to preserve and enhance bicycle trail access in Whatcom County through stewardship, education, and advocacy.WMBC is a federal non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. We work with many diverse groups such as land managers, elected officials and educational institutions to promote and expand access for mountain biking and cycling on public and private land. We are stewards of the land we recreate on and coordinate efforts to build or maintain trails. We also promote biking and trail building through our education programs and events.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education: WMBC After School Ride Clubs (ASBC): 13 Bellingham elementary and middle school clubs, including Flying Squirrels girls riding group. ASBC's groups ride spring and fall on weekly rides. This program reached 454 students this year. We had over 90 volunteer ride leaders support this program.Youth Dig & Ride (YDR): Our Youth Trail Corp program rebranded this year to the Youth Dig & Ride Program. Our Youth Dig & Ride Day program is one of the best ways for middle schoolers to have fun in the woods with their friends, while also giving back to the Galbraith Trail community. Participants have the opportunity to trail build on their favorite trails, then go ride with their friends (and instructors) afterwards, learning the basics of trail building, history of stewardship on Galbraith, as well as riding with kids their age. They worked hard all year on Galbraith Mountain focusing on a variety of issues, strategies and solutions to help our trails run even better. We served over 62 students in 2025 and offered 13 trail days and one summer camp.WMBC/Vamos Outdoors Project: WMBC and Vamos Outdoors Project have partnered to offer Latin, Migrant, and multi-lingual youth in our community a weekly after school bike program. This program focuses on building community, empowering youth to use bikes as transportation, and fostering leadership skills.Youth participants spend afternoons outside learning bike maintenance skills, how to ride on multi-use trails, and how to navigate around their community by bike. There are many pump tracks in our county that allow youth to practice basic and advanced bike skills from their own neighborhood. Students in grades 6th-12th have the opportunity to earn a bike of their own plus a helmet, lock, and light. Participants must attend 80% of rides and make up missed skills to earn a bike.The active transportation portion of this bike program is supported with funding from Washington's Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington's climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.JoyRiders: The JoyRiders is a mountain bike club that is all about getting women (18+) out on the trails and having fun. In 2025, the JoyRiders hosted 213 riders on 25 group rides. They also held a trail workday, sponsored a women's only race, and held a maintenance clinic. This program is supported by 15 very dedicated volunteers.WMBC Summer Mountain Biking Camps: 2025 was our second year of running summer mountain biking camps on Galbraith Mountain! We offer camps for children aged 8-13 and beginner and intermediate skill levels for all ages. We had nine weeks of summer camp and 135 students participated.WMBC Ambassador Program: In 2025, we utilized the Ambassador Program to help foster a positive interaction on the trails we manage. We have 39 trail ambassadors who help folks navigate various areas, provide etiquette reminders and directional assistance, and help support our other fundraisers and events.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.6%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.9; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.8% of revenue deployed · 84.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $782K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $87K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.