As stated by Montana Law, at least 10% of membership as of 7:59 AM on November 3, 2025, must vote to reach a quorum.

The vote passes if two-thirds of the votes cast OR a majority of the voting power vote in favor, whichever threshold is lower.

In terms of real numbers, Adventure Cycling has 17,793 eligible members as of 7:59 AM, November 3, 2025. At least 1,780 members must vote to reach a quorum.

To pass, 1,187 (assuming 1,780 votes are cast) or 8,897 of the total voting power must vote FOR the sale of the building for it to pass.

All current members can vote. Membership must be current as of 7:59 AM Mountain Time on November 3, 2025.

All membership types are entitled to one vote.

• We acknowledge that some member types allow multiple household members to share an Adventure Cycling Membership. In these scenarios, each household is limited to a single vote.

• A member will need to use their member number and a unique PIN to vote. These are supplied in your email or letter.
• All members have been assigned a unique PIN specifically for this vote.
• All members have always had a unique member number.
• Votes can be cast one of two ways:
• Preferred method: online form
• Secondary method: call (406)540-5622 and leave a voicemail with the following information: “This is [member name], member number [####], PIN [####], I vote [FOR/AGAINST] the building sale.”
• Voicemails missing any piece of information will not be counted.
• Please be as clear as possible so that your vote is counted correctly.
• Voicemails can be left anytime during the voting period.

A member can only vote once and cannot change their vote once it’s submitted.

November 3, 2025, 12:00 PM Mountain Time through November 24, 2025, 11:59 PM Mountain Time

Results will be announced by December 10, 2025, via email to all members and on the website.

If you need assistance with the voting process or require accommodation, please contact us. Call (406)721-1776 or email questions@adventurecycling.org.

Adventure Cycling has consulted legal counsel to ensure we are following all appropriate laws and regulations and have solicited advice from experts who specialize in providing a fair and transparent voting process

We’ve employed a third party, Pedal Lucid, to run a secure vote outside of Adventure Cycling’s database and systems. They have implemented a secure, web-based and voice mail-based voting system that authenticates members using their Member ID and a unique PIN, eliminating the need for separate login credentials. The solution validates member status, prevents duplicate voting, and maintains comprehensive audit trails including IP address and device information for all submission attempts.

All vote data and member PINs are stored in Pedal Lucid’s server, and submission logs are maintained in their SharePoint for auditing purposes.

Montana law for member organizations requires a vote on the sale of major assets not in the course of ordinary business operations. While there were prior changes to the bylaws in 2014 that aimed to limit member rights, arguably those changes do not overcome the Montana law that requires a vote on the sale of major assets not in the course of ordinary business operations.

Also, members are our most important stakeholders. We want to hear from you. We want you to participate fully in the organization, as we believe in your ability to help us through the hard times and the good.

Details about the potential buyer are confidential until the deal closes in order to protect privacy and ensure the transaction proceeds smoothly.

Our space is very unique with 10,000-square feet of open office layout, most of which is not ADA accessible. It would be difficult to partition off spaces to be able to rent to multiple tenants. Yes, it can be done with a lot of capital investment. We do not want to invest our limited resources in becoming a landlord when those resources should be invested in our mission and operations. There is a significant amount of deferred maintenance that would need to be addressed before we could rent out space. We do not have the staff capacity to manage multiple tenants with varying needs of IT and facility support.

A sale would provide needed capital for the organization to execute mission critical activities while the headaches (and financial costs) of being a building landlord could be someone else’s.

As a nonprofit, Adventure Cycling doesn’t pay property taxes, but we do incur regular expenses for utilities, insurance, and basic maintenance. However, our current 10,000-square-foot building is significantly underutilized — only 7 staff members occupy the space — which has led us to be conservative about maintenance spending.

This approach has resulted in substantial deferred maintenance that must be addressed. Before we could rent out unused space to offset costs, we would need to invest between $150,000 and $250,000 in critical repairs.

These capital improvements are beyond our current financial capacity.

While our annual operating expenses (utilities, insurance, etc.) are reasonable, they don’t account for these larger infrastructure needs. The proposed lease-back arrangement would cost more than our current annual expenses, but we are leasing at favorable rates and it would transfer the responsibility for this deferred maintenance and future repairs to the building’s new owner. This would allow us to focus our resources on our core mission rather than building upkeep.

A lease-back means Adventure Cycling will sell the building but continue occupying part of it as a tenant. This means we will stay in part of our building.

Under this arrangement, we will lease approximately 3,600 square feet of our current building at 150 E Pine Street, about one-third of the total space. This includes:

• The front entrance and main public-facing area
• Space for our 7 Missoula-based staff
• Areas to welcome visiting cyclists, weigh bikes, and take portraits
• Display space for bicycle travel memorabilia and historical exhibits

Lease Terms:

• Discounted rent for 5 years
• Option to renew for an additional 15 years in 5 years increments

This arrangement allows us to maintain our downtown Missoula presence and continue the programs and visitor experiences that have defined Adventure Cycling, while right-sizing our space to match our actual needs.

Each year, Adventure Cycling records the number of cyclists who sign our guest book. Excepting the 40th anniversary celebrations, we hit our peak number of visitors in 2010, with nearly 1,100. Each year since, we’ve seen a decline in visitors, which appears to parallel the declining interest in riding pavement routes (the Great Divide doesn’t go through Missoula). In 2025, we had 272 visitors.

In 1974, Dan and Lys Burden began working on Bikecentennial in earnest out of their apartment in Missoula, Montana.

In 1975, the operation moved to the historic Belmont Hotel building on the second floor above Missoula’s Eddi’s Club bar.

In 1984, the office moved to a different downtown location in Missoula, the former JC Penney’s storefront.

In 1991, the organization bought the building at 150 E. Pine Street in downtown Missoula, a building that was once a chapel for Church of Christ, Scientist.

In 2012, renovations, including a second story, were completed at headquarters, resulting in a 10,000-square-foot building with an open office layout.

Since 2018, the board and staff have been aware of existential threats and have been taking incremental approaches to preserve as much capacity while addressing those threats. Those incremental approaches included:

• 2018: New strategic plan to address threats of an aging core membership, trends shifting toward digital navigation, and socioeconomic conditions of potential members.
• 2020: Pursued PPP and ERC (COVID relief funds) to help offset loss of revenues from Tours, sales, and other business lines in 2020
• 2020-2024: Broadened programming with specific focus on making ACA and adventure travel more accessible to younger, more diverse potential riders: short trips, more diverse content in magazine, etc.
• 2023: Focused tour slate when economies of scale weren’t possible anymore
• 2023-2024: Performed detailed analysis of true membership costs and updated membership levels with simplified tiers and price rationalization
• 2023 and 2025: Several rounds of staff reductions
• 2024: Shed new and flagging programs to save core program areas
• 2025: Partnered with another organization to help support tour logistics while maintaining our amazing tour leaders

Incremental approaches proved too slow to materialize or otherwise ineffective to offset the decrease in membership. Selling the building is seen as the most beneficial way to preserve and build on core mission and core capabilities of Adventure Cycling. In other words, keeping the building at the expense of routes, guided tours, and magazine would be more damaging to the long-term sustainability of the organization.

In 2024, we implemented rigorous financial oversight processes and people:

• New financial auditors
• New VP of Finance
• Predictive indicators of future financial performance
• Standardized and improved monthly financial review information and process
• Required board approval of predicted variance above thresholds
• Decreased exposure to stock market volatility
• Changed board meeting cadence to monthly

You can view our IRS 990s, financial audits, and annual reports here.

The proceeds from selling the building will be added to Adventure Cycling’s investment reserves and managed according to our investment policy. These funds will serve as a strategic bridge to help us return to financial sustainability and membership growth.

Currently, Adventure Cycling operates on a deficit despite a very tight budget. The building sale proceeds will allow us to invest in programs and improvements that attract and retain members, while we work toward breaking even operationally within the next 3-5 years.

The reserves will fund initiatives proven to drive membership growth and engagement:

• More routes and more frequent route updates – expanding our core offerings
• Digital and website improvements – enhancing the member experience online
• Strong advocacy tools – including petition-signing software to amplify cyclists’ voices
• Expanded tours program – more options and better-delivered experiences
• Member-specific events – both in-person gatherings and online programming

We will draw on these reserves strategically as we build toward operational sustainability. This approach balances financial prudence with the necessary investments in programs and innovations that will generate revenue and grow our membership base.

Without the building sale, we lack the resources to make these critical investments. Your YES vote (FOR the building sale) provides the financial foundation Adventure Cycling needs to thrive for the next 50 years while we transition to a sustainable operating model.

We appreciate your support! Get a friend to be member, donate, join a drop in ride, or share your Adventure Cycling is Everywhere story!