APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB SUMMARY OF …...highest number since 2000. AMC’s Instagram followers double. Chapters offer new programs, such as Volunteer Work Weekends, making the most

IN PURSUIT OF AMC’s mission to promote the protec-tion, enjoyment, and understanding of the outdoors, I am pleased to report that 2016 was another year of excellent results. Operating performance was very strong, with a record-breaking year in occupancy at our destinations, as well as in our annual fundraising. It was also a year for significant capital activity and investment, as we opened a new program center in New York and sold our long-time Boston headquarters and acquired the next one, position-ing us to better serve our mission well into the 21st century.

This success is evidence of the exceptional efforts put forward by AMC’s staff and volunteers, who steward the organization’s resources, and of the unwavering support of AMC members, partners, participants, and donors, who make those efforts possible. We thank you all. Highlights from 2016 operating activities include:

Total operating revenues grew by more than 3 percent from 2015, reaching $28.6 million.Donors and partner organizations contributed more than $5.5 million to the Annual Fund and grants in sup-port of AMC’s mission. Outdoor Program Centers and Volunteer-Managed Camps and Cabins topped $12 million in revenue for the first time.Staff and volunteer-led program activity expanded by almost 4 percent, to $9.4 million in spending, supported by direct revenue of $3.3 million.Record revenue for AMC Books reflected demand for AMC’s expertise, generating important support.

AMC also invested significantly in its future through a number of historic capital projects, including:

Completing the $1.8 million construction of The Ste-phen & Betsy Corman AMC Harriman Outdoor Center, 30 minutes from New York City in Harriman State Park.Selling our historic headquarters on Joy Street for $15 million and purchasing a new headquarters building in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.Protecting more than 4,000 acres that surround Silver Lake and 12 miles of the West Branch of the Pleasant River, bringing our Maine Woods property to nearly 75,000 acres.Progressing toward a July 2017 reopening of the new Medawisla Lodge & Cabins in Maine.

On top of a banner year for operating and capital ac-tivities, AMC maintained its tradition of careful and pru-dent financial management. The 2016 financial year closed with a surplus of $138,000, less than one-half of 1 percent of our operating budget. This amount has been allocated to reserve funds, which will be distributed by our Board of Directors to support key projects and initiatives.

Outstanding financial results enable us all to support AMC’s mission and work toward our Vision 2020 goals. In the following pages, you’ll read more about the Vision 2020 achievements that illustrate AMC’s many accomplishments.

It is the support of AMC members, volunteers, advo-cates, and our many partner organizations that has helped us build the crucial assets—monetary, organizational, stra-tegic, and human—we rely on in pursuit of our mission. We commit to managing these resources responsibly toward advancing AMC’s mission and building a stronger future.

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB SUMMARY OF

2016 ANNUAL REPORT

Cliff Krauss TREASURER

181,3248,0001,395

guest overnight experiences at lodges, huts, shelters, camps, and cabins

volunteer-led activities, including chapter and Adventure Travel programsnew leaders trained

Advancing Excellence in Outdoor Recreation and Leadership Training

275,000+ constituents, including members, guests, advocates, and supporters

Expanding the Breadth and Strength of the AMC Community

89,853 kids experienced the outdoors through AMC programs and destinations

days of youth experiences provided

Getting Kids Outdoors

Leading on Regional Conservation Action

1,82939,30314,778

miles of trails maintained

volunteer trail hours donated

new acres of land protected, working with partners

2016 Progress Toward Vision 2020

at work

your

SUPPORT

Realizing the Larger Opportunity in the Maine Woods

74,358140

total acres permanently protected under AMC ownership

total miles of trails open for hiking and skiing

total miles of trout streams restored33.5

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FUNDING SOURCES (in $1,000s)

2016 2015 2014

Contributions, Gifts, and Grants 5,575 5,166 5,168

Membership Dues 3,109 3,124 3,094

Outdoor Centers 12,273 11,947 11,018

Programs* 3,298 3,353 2,913

Publications 817 773 654

Endowment Spending Allocation 2,556 2,505 2,347

Special Project Funding** 1,007 880 864

OPERATING FUNDING SOURCES 28,635 27,748 26,058

EXPENSES

2016 2015 2014

Outdoor Centers 11,738 11,475 11,171

Programs* 9,402 9,053 8,098

Publications 662 689 597

Member Services 2,918 2,742 2,737

Fundraising 1,333 1,256 1,230Administrative 2,445 2,231 2,073 OPERATING EXPENSES 28,498 27,446 25,906

OPERATING SURPLUS 137 302 152

Non-Operating Contributions, Investment,and Other Activity

19,264 751 8,122

TOTAL CHANGE IN NET ASSETS 19,401 1,053 8,274

NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR 114,477 113,424 105,150

NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR 133,878 114,477 113,424

Additional Information: Capital Spending (Property & Equipment)

24,096 4,798 2,237

2016 OPERATING EXPENSES

2016 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS For a detailed financial statement, see outdoors.org/about/financial-information.cfm.

58,418

2015

ENDOWMENT (in $1,000s)

$55,000

$65,000

$45,000

$35,0002014

61,930

2016

59,789

* Programs include Conservation, Outdoor Engagement, Adventure Travel, Leadership Training, Trails, and Research** Special Project Funding is provided by capital campaign receipts and other reserves

for Vision 2020 initiatives

2016 OPERATING FUNDING SOURCES

Outdoor Centers 43%

Membership Dues 11%

Contributions, Gifts, and Grants 19%

Publications 3%

Programs* 12%

Special Project Funding** 3%

Endowment Spending Allocation 9%

Member and donor supportProgram fees and revenues

Special project funding

Outdoor Centers 41%

Programs* 33%

Fundraising 5%

Publications 2%

Member Services 10%

Administrative 9%

AdministrativeProgram delivery

Fundraising

Building AMC’s Community: Membership reaches second-highest number since 2000. AMC’s Instagram followers double. Chapters offer new programs, such as Volunteer Work Weekends, making the most of AMC’s new Harriman Outdoor Center. Delaware Valley Chapter replaces the roof of the Leroy Smith Shelter on the Appalachian Trail (AT). Chapters contribute thousands of dollars in support of AMC’s Youth Opportunities Program, Camp Dodge, Harriman Outdoor Center, and the opposition to Northern Pass. More than 160 people attend Fall Gathering, hosted by the Narragansett Chapter, and 160 people take part in Outdoor Fest at Noble View Outdoor Center, sponsored by the Berkshire Chapter. Worcester Chapter adopts the trails at Mount Wachusett State Reservation. AMC Young Members committees hold more than 450 events. AMC Outdoors wins an EXCEL Award for best cover photo (Sep/Oct 2015).

Conservation Policy and Research: AMC policy staff is instrumental in the effort to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). After allowing the 50-year-old fund to expire in 2015, Congress reauthorizes it in 2016 for three years and appropriates $450 million for the year, the highest funding level since 2010. The Highlands Conservation Act, a key program of LWCF that AMC helped initiate, receives $10 million in 2016, the first fully funded year since its inception in 2004. AMC continues to lead the opposition to the proposed Northern Pass transmission line, which has shifted out of the White Mountain National Forest but still compromises New Hampshire’s interconnection of land and culture. AMC’s air-quality staff scientist testifies in Washington, D.C., at EPA hearings on the Regional Haze Rule, and AMC continues its 30-year work on reducing regional haze pollution.

Trails: In 2016, AMC’s pro trail crews work a total of 6,913 hours in the White Mountains and the Mahoosuc Range. On Maine’s Mahoosuc Trail alone, the crew relocates more than 1,000 feet of trail and installs 160 bog bridges, 22 metal rungs, and 50 rock steps. Pro crews also work on Champney Falls Trail, Sabbaday Brook Trail, Crawford Path, and Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail. North Country volunteer trail crews put in an impressive 25,714 hours, with work by 963 individuals on 122 separate trails; 214 Bay Circuit Trail volunteers work a total of 1,427 hours to maintain the BCT, a trail used by thousands each year. In the Delaware Water Gap and Harriman State Park, volunteers work 2,100 hours, maintaining trails and helping build a new trail around Harriman’s Breakneck Pond. The 214 members of the Berkshire teen trail crews put in 1,427 hours, maintaining parts of the AT in Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as the New England National Scenic Trail (NET) in Massachusetts.

Outdoor Learning and Leadership: AMC’s Youth Opportunities Program (YOP) serves more than 36,600 youth through nearly 2,000 outdoor experiences and trains 131 new outdoor

2016 HIGHLIGHTS

leaders. A Mountain Classroom serves 9,500 students via environmental and outdoor learning experiences, a 9 percent increase over 2015. Outdoors Rx serves nearly 1,700 youth and families and adds eight new medical partners, including six community healthcare centers affiliated with the Fitness in the City program of Boston Children’s Hospital. Teen Wilderness Adventures reaches 359 participant in its 25th year. Leadership Training and Risk Management facilitates 37 trainings, reaching 741 outdoor leaders. Adventure Travel offers 41 domestic and international trips, with more than 500 total participants.

Maine Woods Initiative: AMC adds 4,358 acres of recreational land and wildlife habitat to its Maine Woods Initiative landholdings with the acquisition of the Silver Lake property, adjacent to the Katahdin Iron Works tract. This effort is possible through a partnership with the Forest Society of Maine, Open Space Institute, and Sweet Water Trust. AMC now stewards more than 115 square miles of Maine conservation and recreation land, an area one-and-a-half times the size of Acadia National Park. AMC completes its 40th project in aquatic habitat restoration, adding 4 miles of stream and bringing the total restored brook trout habitat to 33.5 miles. AMC cuts the 3.8-mile Gorman Loop Trail, connecting Gorman Chairback Lodge to Third Mountain Trail, and adds 6 miles of new ski trails. Through AMC’s Maine Woods Community Youth and Environment Project, the organization reaches 1,847 students in 103 programs.

Outdoor Program Centers: The huts, Cardigan Lodge, Cold River Camp, and Three Mile Island all set occupancy records. The Stephen & Betsy Corman AMC Harriman Outdoor Center opens July 1, 2016, thanks to the support of state partners, donors, chapter volunteers, and staff. Echo Lake Camp successfully transitions from Ned and Mary Mitchell’s 35 years of service to new managers Elly and Scott Preston. AMC receives another three-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation award in partnership with area colleges Dartmouth, Smith, Stony Brook, and Carthage for science education training and astronomy outreach programming. Cardigan Lodge’s manager, Tom Fisher, is named the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association’s innkeeper of the year, and AMC guide Bill Quade is recognized as an REI Adventures top guide for Appalachian Trail hut-to-hut hiking.

FROM PREVIOUS SPREAD, LEFT TO RIGHT: Young Members Leader-ship Training; New Hampshire Chapter; Teen Trail Crew at Camp Dodge; Joy Street; Annual Summit; a young steward; Silver Lake; AMC climbers; Corman AMC Harriman Outdoor Center; Amherst office; a lifelong Lone-some Laker; Berkshire Chapter–built tentsite on the Connecticut River Pad-dlers Trail; hut croo; Three Mile Island; construction crew; river cleanup

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