SORBA · Board Briefing
Ride → Join: Closing the Membership Gap
This briefing is written for the SORBA board. It synthesizes our recent rider survey into a single decision-ready playbook: who our non-members really are, what we should stop saying, what we should start saying, and where to place the ask. Use the tabs below to jump to any section.
The Core Insight
Our non-members aren't resistant. They're disconnected.
Across our survey, we found no anti-SORBA sentiment, no distrust, and no indifference to trails. What we found instead is a community of riders who are uninformed, unprioritized, and slightly friction-averse — riders who are already aligned with our mission but haven't been triggered to act.
Our New Mantra
We will stop saying "Join SORBA."
We will start saying "This trail exists because of riders like you."
The community we're talking to
Passive Supporters
The "I'll Do It Later" Riders
Awareness Gap Riders
The Uninformed
Contribution Reframers
The "Sweat Equity" Crew
Value Structurers
The Flexible Givers
What this means for us
We are not fighting an uphill battle against critics. We are closing a loop with friends.
Our work is no longer to convince riders that SORBA is good. Our work is to make them realize that the trail they love only exists because of the membership they haven't bought yet.
This is a conversion problem, not a perception problem — and that is a significant unlock for the board.
Who We're Actually Talking To
Four segments. One shared blind spot.
When we look at riders who haven't yet pulled the trigger on membership, they don't form one wall of resistance. They cluster into four distinct groups — each requiring a different message from us.
Passive Supporters
44%The "I'll Do It Later" Riders
Mindset
They ride frequently, value the trails, and have zero ideological friction with us. Membership is simply a "someday" task.
Barrier
Low urgency. We are losing them at the last 10% of the funnel — not at the front door.
Our messaging shift
Join SORBA.
→ Takes 60 seconds. Keeps your favorite trail open.
Awareness Gap Riders
28%The Uninformed
Mindset
They ride our trails, but they do not realize those trails are member-funded. They have no mental model of impact.
Barrier
A communication gap, not a user problem. They are waiting for us to connect the dots.
Our messaging shift
Support the mission.
→ SORBA memberships are the primary funding source for the trails you ride.
Contribution Reframers
22%The "Sweat Equity" Crew
Mindset
They contribute through volunteer work and view membership as a cold financial substitute for real labor.
Barrier
Identity conflict. They don't yet see that memberships are what fund the tools, dirt, and insurance their volunteer days require.
Our messaging shift
Become a member instead of volunteering.
→ You show up. Membership fuels it. You're not a volunteer or a member — you're a steward.
Value Structurers
6%The Flexible Givers
Mindset
Not price-sensitive — structure-sensitive. A lump sum feels intimidating; a small recurring contribution feels invisible.
Barrier
We have not offered them a contribution structure that fits their wallet.
Our messaging shift
$39/year membership.
→ $5/month. Less than a post-ride beer.
Our Approach
Activation, not persuasion.
We do not need to change minds. We need to change moments. Our strategy moves the ask out of the administrative inbox and into the dirt — where our riders' gratitude is highest.
Trigger
We move the ask out of the inbox and onto the dirt. Gratitude is highest at the trailhead — that is where we make the ask.
Identity
We unify volunteers and members under one name: stewards. We stop asking riders to support us; we invite them to recognize what they already are.
Clarity
We translate dollars into outcomes. Every dollar maps to a tool, an hour, a bridge, an open trail.
The Ride → Join funnel
- 1Ride happensA rider finishes a lap on a SORBA-maintained trail.
- 2Trigger appearsTrailhead signage and a QR code meet them in the parking lot.
- 3Realization landsThe copy connects their ride to our membership funding.
- 4Action is frictionlessA 60-second mobile join — or a tap to tip the trail builder.
Example — concept only
What we could place at the trailhead.
Below is an illustrative three-panel signage concept the board can react to. Each panel does one job: build awareness at the trail entrance, convert at the main kiosk, and trigger at the parking-lot exit. Final design, materials, and copy can be refined with our partners.
Sign 1 · Awareness
THIS TRAIL IS MAINTAINED BY SORBA MEMBERS.
Sign 2 · Conversion
YOU JUST RODE A SORBA-MAINTAINED TRAIL.
Maintained by local riders. Funded by members.
Join in 60 seconds →
Sign 3 · Exit Trigger
RIDE DONE?
KEEP IT OPEN.
Your membership helps maintain the trails you love.
Join today
in 60 seconds
These three panels are illustrative only. They show the messaging logic — awareness, conversion, exit trigger — that we recommend the board approve in principle before we commission final fabrication.
Closing the Loop
Where we place the QR codes.
We recommend two distinct QR codes deployed across two contexts: bike shops (where the buying mindset already exists) and trailheads (where gratitude is highest). The primary ask is always membership. The fallback ask captures support from riders who aren't ready to join.
Primary ask
Become a SORBA Member
What this QR should link to:A 60-second mobile-optimized join page with Apple Pay / Google Pay enabled and the $5/month tier visible.
Fallback ask
Buy the Trail Builder a Beer
What this QR should link to:A one-tap donation page with preset amounts ($5, $10, $20). For riders who aren't ready to join — we still capture support from the trail they just enjoyed.
Placement guide
| Location | Primary QR | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Bike shop counter | Become a Member | Riders are already in a buying mindset; staff can prompt at checkout. |
| Bike shop service desk | Become a Member | Rider is paying for tune-ups — a natural moment to invest in the trails too. |
| Bike shop community board | Become a Member | Passive impressions for repeat visitors who aren't yet members. |
| Trailhead kiosk (entry) | Become a Member | Awareness signage primes the rider before the ride begins. |
| Trailhead exit / parking | Buy the Trail Builder a Beer | Lowest-friction ask at peak gratitude — captures the riders who won't commit to membership today. |
| SORBA events / group rides | Become a Member | Highest-intent audience; staff can walk riders through join in person. |
Script for asking a bike shop to display our QR
"Hi — we're with SORBA, the local mountain bike association. We maintain the trails your customers ride. We're piloting a small countertop card with a QR code that lets riders join SORBA in 60 seconds. It costs you nothing and takes about a square inch of counter space. Could we leave one with you?"
Bring two cards: one for the counter, one for the service desk. If they say yes, ask if we can also put a sticker on the community board.
Partner bike shops (board to fill in)
What We Recommend
If we only do three things.
The board does not need to approve everything in this briefing. We recommend the three actions below as our highest-leverage moves. Owners and target dates are intentionally left blank for the board to assign.
| Priority | Action | Why it matters | Owner | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ Do First | Place trailhead signage with QR codes at our top 3 highest-traffic trailheads. | Captures the 44% Passive Supporters at the moment of peak gratitude. | __________ | __________ |
| ✓ Do First | Add a $5/month flexible membership tier on the SORBA join page. | Removes the structural barrier for the 6% Value Structurers and lowers commitment friction for the Passive Supporters. | __________ | __________ |
| ✓ Do First | Recruit 3–5 partner bike shops to display SORBA QR cards at the counter. | Closes the Awareness Gap (28%) where riders are already in a buying mindset. | __________ | __________ |
| Launch the "Stewards" identity campaign across email and social. | Reframes the 22% Contribution Reframers without asking them to change behavior. | __________ | __________ | |
| Publish a simple impact dashboard: hours worked, trails maintained, dollars deployed. | Gives every segment the proof they need to act. | __________ | __________ |
Verify the data
Every number in this briefing is grounded in the raw survey results.
How this page was built in Lovable (for the board, step-by-step)
- Open this project in Lovable — you can edit any text by chatting with it in plain English.
- All copy on this page lives in one place: the top of
src/pages/Index.tsx. Ask Lovable to "update the X segment description" and it will edit it for you. - To swap the placeholder QR boxes for real scannable QR codes, generate them at any free QR generator (qr-code-generator.com) using the membership-join URL and the donate URL. Then ask Lovable to replace the placeholders with the new images.
- To update the raw-data link, change the
RAW_DATA_URLat the top of the file. - When the board is ready, click Publish in Lovable to share the live link.
