Annual Report: 2020 in Review

Dear Members and Friends of Revere’s Riders,

Two-thousand-twenty is a year that we will all likely remember for all the wrong reasons. COVID-19 impacted our lives negatively in ways that we likely had never imagined and it certainly made it’s mark on Revere’s Riders as we were forced to cancel 4 events because of it. With multiple vaccines now approved for use, two-thousand-twenty-one will hopefully mark a return to something more akin to “normal”.

Even with the challenges of COVID-19, Revere’s Riders had a successful year in 2020. While the number of events we put on decreased slightly, we also saw our Kentucky cadre run their first Rifle 125 at a private range near Willisburg, KY. Our instructors and volunteers in Kentucky are truly top-notch and put on a quality event; look for more KY events in the future.

Our post-event survey results continue to show a high degree of student satisfaction with our courses. Scores average from 4.6 to 4.9 out of 5 on all aspects of our course that we asked participants to rate.

Our financial position continues to be strong with money in the bank to support continued training for our instructor corps, purchase of materials to support our firearms training program, as well as targeted advertising campaigns on social media.

None of this would have been possible without the dedicated work of our instructors and volunteers. None of us receives any compensation for the work we do putting on events each year; we all donate our time and expertise in the hope of training good men and women in the responsible and skilled use of firearms. If we’re lucky, we also hope to instill a renewed love of our country, our long-held faith in dependence of self, and appreciation for the deeds and sacrifices made by both our military and ordinary citizens beginning on April 19th, 1775 and continuing through until today.

The United States of America is genuinely the greatest country on Earth. It is a country built and governed by humans and, therefore, necessarily flawed but we should not lose sight of what we have accomplished together since 1775 and what we can accomplish going forward. Revere’s Riders welcomes all of the more than 7 million new firearms owners to join us in learning age-old American rifle, pistol and shotgun marksmanship skills along with hearing the stories of brave patriots from our past.

2020 Achievements

The numbers from 2020 are as follows:

• Events: 20 (down slightly from 28 in 2019)
• States: 3 (up from 2 in 2019)
  • Indiana: 11 events (2 events cancelled due to COVID-19)
  • Pennsylvania: 8 events (2 events cancelled due to COVID-19)
  • Kentucky: 1 event
• Students: at least 199 students participated in events plus an unknown number of “walk ons” (down from 235 in 2019)
• Post-Event Survey: every participant at a Revere’s Riders event receives a post-event survey asking about their experience. This helps us improve our events, learn how participants discovered Revere’s Riders as well as learn what type(s) of events participants would like to see us offer in the future. For 2020, we asked six questions pertaining to the quality of our events with allowed responses from 1 to 5 with 1 being “worst” and 5 being “best”. In 2020, we received 37 responses. The questions and average numerical response were as follows:
  • “How would you rate your overall experience?”: 4.9 (same as 2019)
  • “How would you rate the credibility, communication skills, and professionalism of the volunteer staff?”: 4.9 (same as 2019)
  • “What do you think about the value of the class given the ticket price?”: 4.9 (same as 2019)
  • “How effective was the marksmanship program at improving your skills?”: 4.8 (up from 4.7 in 2019)
  • “How effective was the civic engagement component of the event at motivating you to be involved in your community?”: 4.7 (up from 4.6 in 2019)
  • “How effective was the history presentation at connecting you to shared American heritage?”: 4.8 (same as 2019)
• Financials: approximately $40k in revenue, $3.9k in grants and donations and $23k in expenses leaving an approximately $20k operating reserve.
• Cash on Hand: our cash reserves at the end of 2020 stand at just over $42k, another increase from our position at the end of 2019.
• Social Media:
  • Facebook: 1,433 followers (up from 1,364)
  • Twitter: 19 followers (up from 16)
  • YouTube: 22 subscribers (up from 19)
  • Instagram: 105 followers (up from 97)
• Website: our website continues to evolve with ever increasing information available to both our members and the general public.
  • we continue to build-out our automated emails for members as well as those who purchase event tickets
  • we continue to add products to our online store that our instructors and volunteers have found to be useful, durable and cost effective
• Elections: elections were held late in 2020 for President and Vice President in accordance with our By-Laws. Bruce Williams was elected to another term as President and Guy Relford stepped up to fill the Vice-President position.
• Board of Directors: Guy Relford transitioned from At-Large member of the Board of Directors to Vice-President.
• Marty Brown Memorial: in 2020, we continued our Marty Brown Memorial series of events to raise donations for Ovar’coming Together (a 501(c)3 dedicated to ovarian cancer awareness and support services). The Marty Brown Memorial Open events were shortened to two 1-day events (one dedicated to pistol and the other to rifle) in the hopes of increased participation. With nearly $14,500 raised we handily surpassed the 2019 total of just under $12,000. Given that COVID-19 prevented many from attending events with even modest participants such as our Marty Brown Memorial series of events, this was a resounding success.

2021 Plans

2021 NRA Annual Meeting

Revere’s Riders is planning to attend the 2021 NRA Annual Meeting in Houston, TX but we have not committed to renting booth space at this time. For anyone attending the 2021 NRA Annual Meeting, we hope to see you there and, if you would like to arrange a meet-up of some kind, contact us via any of the avenues on our Contact Information page and we will try to arrange something.

Marty Brown Memorial Events

Our Marty Brown Memorial series of events will return in 2021 and will likely retain the format of two 1-day events for the Marty Brown Memorial Open that proved successful in 2020. As with last year, our goal is to increase interest in the event as well as surpass our fund-raising from last year.

New and Resurrected Events

In 2021, we plan to run the following new or resurrected events:

• Shotgun 116 (Introduction to Sporting Shotgun)—our development of this new shotgun course is continuing and we hope to field an event for the general public in 2021. This course will focus on introducing participants to trap, skeet and sporting clays.
• Revere’s Riders Rifle Qualification Test—given the scarcity and cost of ammunition these days, we will be resurrecting the “Grinder” event from years past (most likely with a new name as “Grinder” did not really reflect the intent of the event). The resurrected event will be a ½-day of nothing but Revere’s Riders Rifle Qualification Tests (“R3QT”) so those that have taken Rifle 125 can practice their skills. Rimfire rifles (such as the Ruger 10/22) are well-suited to the R3QT and will minimize ammunition costs.
• Camp Atterbury Pistol “Pop-Up” Target—we will also be running one or more events at the Camp Atterbury “pop-up” target ranges used to run the US Army Combat Pistol Qualification Test. These ranges are on the military side of Camp Atterbury (not accessible to the general public) and have computer-controlled targets that rise from behind berms on a 30-yard pistol range. This is some of the most realistic pistol shooting experiences you can get in the state of Indiana.

How Can You Help?

If you would like to be part of our growing organization, there are several ways you can do so:

Attend an Upcoming Event

Attend one of our upcoming events, get some fantastic firearms training and learn some Revolutionary War history. Better yet, bring a friend with you!

Volunteer

Revere’s Riders is always looking for people to assist with our mission, including:

• firearms instructors (if you already have certifications with another organization, chances are we can quickly get you up to speed with our methods of instruction)
• club officers (there are usually some openings for club officers)
• general volunteers (we can always use general help at events beyond firearms instruction and running the organization as a whole)

If you would like to volunteer some of your time to Revere’s Riders, please fill out our Volunteer Application and will get back to you as soon as we can.

Donate

Revere’s Riders is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and your cash donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. 100% of your donation goes towards supporting our programs as we are an all volunteer organization.

Sponsor

We have several ways for your business to partner with Revere’s Riders and support our programs. Additionally, if your organization would like to donate services, materials, etc. to Revere’s Riders, please contact us to discuss potential opportunities.

I invite everyone to learn more about our organization either by attending one of our events or by committing to help our mission as a volunteer. You won’t regret it!