A Message from Your Board Chair

Greetings, AORE Community!

It’s hard to believe that we’re over half way through the year. Earlier this month, the Board of Directors gathered together in San Diego for our mid-year meeting. This was the first in-person mid-year meeting since the pandemic; being together in a living, breathing community with my AORE colleagues was truly a joy! The three days of meetings were filled with intentional discussions, thoughtful work, and lots of tacos. This meeting time provided an opportunity to reflect on the first half of this year, and how far we’ve come.

I started my term as chair of the board in January. AORE was facing challenges - a recent resignation of our founding, and long time executive director, a complicated financial landscape, changing politics in the US, and overall many changes and challenges that seemed intimidating. The last six months have been busy. As a board, we've worked to break down these huge tasks into bite sized chunks. We started meeting once a month, then twice a month, then doubled our meeting time. The National Office Staff - Jenny, Rebecca, Adrienne, and Amy - have gone above and beyond in their work for the Association. The AORE team of staff and volunteers has buckled down and done the work to keep the ship afloat and steady! I couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to work with. 

At this point in the year, here are a few of the updates that the Board of Directors has to share. While I couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve accomplished so far this year, we are not out of the woods. Nonprofit organizations such as AORE continue to face challenges as revenue declines, costs increase, and funding sources shift. Changes in the political landscape continue to affect access and permitting, diversity and equity work, and funding opportunities. From the impending enrollment cliff in higher education to managing the effects of climate change in our programs, there is always a need for more time, money, and people. This also ensures that AORE’s relevance as an organization of outdoor professionals is more important than ever. 

I want to thank you, our membership, for your continued support. Thank you for allowing us the time to get our feet under us. Thank you for completing the membership survey, for reading and responding to our emails, and for listening to the AORE podcast. Thank you for submitting more conference sessions than ever before, for attending virtual learning and networking sessions, and for engaging with message board posts. Thank you for stepping up to donate, lead, and volunteer in this unique season for AORE. 

Thanks for tuning in,
Morgan Costello
Chair, AORE Board of Directors


Mid-Year Board Meeting, 2025 | (L-R; Candace Brendler, Amanda Preperato, Rick Dawson, Morgan Costello, Kat Rocco, Doug Amlin)