GOLDEN, Colo. — As summer approaches, Coloradans will be hitting the trails and experiencing the beauty of our state. To keep the trails safe and beautiful, a new app is connecting users with nonprofit organizations that care for their favorite hiking spots.
Backpacker Magazine first reported on the creation.
According to Chris Rizzo, head of operations at Trailfunds, the app will show people the organizations working on specific trails and inform them of upcoming projects. It will also give them an option to donate funds to the nonprofit and eventually help with volunteer opportunities.
"It's strictly supposed to be an easy way for them to spread the message about the good work that they do, as well as reach a user base outside of maybe their local community," Rizzo said.
The launch of this app comes as many nonprofits face financial challenges due to federal funding freezes. Rizzo said there already is a backlog of trail maintenance, and it's not getting any better.
"A lot of them rely on grants, and grants are highly competitive. They come from multiple different places. They come from private agencies, they come from states, and they come from federal funding, and some of these are potentially in jeopardy," Rizzo said.
Madeleine Ahlborn, development and communications coordinator for San Luis Valley Great Outdoors, hopes Trailfunds could help rural communities.
"I think Trailfunds will also help assist in some of that educational pieces with the integrations that they have within their app that can just link to other things around safety, around user experience, all of it," Ahlborn said.
As a nonprofit, San Luis Valley Great Outdoors crews rely heavily on state and federal funding, which makes this app beneficial in connecting people with their organization.
"Every trail user is a potential donor, and for that user to be able to see the narrative and have external links to them, visit our website or our social media page, it just expands the horizon of what's possible in reaching people to help them believe in the work that we're doing," Ahlborn said.
The app is free for both trail organizations and trail users.
"I think that there comes a time where people kind of start to move from just taking advantage and using the outdoors to actually seeing your connection to them, and I think that making that jump is harder than it needs to be," Rizzo shared.
Head over to your app store to download. Rizzo said they will start to onboard organizations throughout the week and will be attending Outside Festival this weekend in Denver to get the word out about their product.
