Greetings! This update provides a summary of the spring meeting of the Board of Directors for the Mountain Retreat Association Inc. (MRA) held earlier this month.
Board Meeting Update
In addition to adopting a budget for the upcoming 25-26 fiscal year and hearing of our progress and challenges post-hurricane, this year’s spring Board meeting concluded with adoption of a new five-year plan for the Montreat Conference Center that focuses on five key areas:
Program: The conference center remains steadfast in its affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its commitment to existing programs that support denominational life. The current summer program schedule will be sustained, supporting our mission while responding to external realities affecting growth and participation. Over the past decade, Montreat has hosted conferences addressing key issues within the church, including membership decline, racial justice, financial sustainability, and church leadership support. These efforts, including our participation in the Lilly Foundation’s Thriving Congregations Initiative, will be sustained as well. In addition, increasing focus will be placed on engaging young adults, historically marginalized groups, and participants in recreation and arts programs. While these programs will serve the church, they will also attract a broader audience, fostering faith-based dialogue and engagement.
Financial Stability: Over the past ten years, Montreat has strengthened its financial foundations. With a steady commitment to increase reserves, we eliminated our need for seasonal borrowing and greatly reduced our dependence on advanced fees.
Making further gains will require one or more of the following:
- Program growth, which is most likely to come from objectives in education, recreation, and the arts and during the fall, winter, and spring seasons.
- Price increases, which must balance affordability with the need to address inflation.
- Expansion of hospitality services to enhance hosting capacity.
- Generating revenues from areas that have not generated revenue previously.
Philanthropic support has similarly increased over the past ten years, and we hope to sustain that trend. Goals include expanding our donor base, growing endowed and restricted funds, and increasing the Montreat Fund. Fundraising efforts will also support capital development.
As we invest in programs and facilities, we must also continue to prioritize increasing reserves and mitigating liability where we are able.
Improving Our Campus: If we are to increase our year-round programming, we must improve guest accessibility and comfort and upgrade lodging facilities. A key component of our strategic vision is the development of a new lodge, which is essential for expanding program capacity and accommodating guests. Some lodges will require renovations, and winterization to some facilities will be needed to support four-season programming.
Less exciting but essential, ongoing maintenance and deferred maintenance remain critical priorities to preserve our facilities and ensure operational efficiency and safety. We will also seek to sell, transfer, or acquire parcels that reduce liability, generate capital for maintenance, and/or protect wilderness areas from development. Any property sale must be judged to balance financial goals with preservation of Montreat’s natural environment.
Communications and Identity: To strengthen engagement, Montreat will seek to better communicate its organizational identity with clear and compelling messages that resonate both with long-time Montreaters and newcomers, with a goal of increasing constituent engagement. To begin, we must do our best to establish baseline metrics by which progress can be measured, no easy task. This analysis will inform our communications strategy and help to ensure consistency in our implementation.
Second, we will integrate our new missional language into marketing and outreach, highlighting how Montreat’s programs align with our core values, with a goal of helping YOU to articulate these connections clearly. Internally, staff development efforts will emphasize alignment with Montreat’s mission ensuring all employees understand and embrace their roles within the broader organizational vision. A staff recognition program will also be introduced to highlight and reward contributions that reflect Montreat’s mission and values.
Staff Community: In annual surveys, conference center staff consistently report high levels of job satisfaction. To maintain and strengthen this environment, we need to better understand why this is so. While staff are happy, we can do more to foster a cohesive, team-oriented workplace that enhances productivity and collaboration.
As the plan moves forward, our staffing must be equipped to do the work necessary to achieve our goals. Staffing resources should align with our objectives, while incentives need to be increased to reward high-performing employees. Professional development of full-time and part-time staff will increase in priority, with training opportunities tailored to specific roles. Additionally, all staff will be expected to uphold Montreat’s values, reinforcing mission alignment across departments and day-to-day operations.
Through these efforts, Montreat will continue to grow as a mission-driven organization, fostering a strong and engaged community while ensuring long-term sustainability.
Some further notes about process and expectations:
- Obviously, the plan’s objectives take into account not only our experience of progress and challenges over the past ten years but also assumptions about the world in which we will operate over the next five. These assumptions include financial projections, church trends, and local conditions like the cost of housing for guests and staff, among others. Taken as a whole, they suggest that we are sailing into some challenging headwinds.
- The plan is intended to be a working plan, iterative and continually adapted to meet changing conditions while maintaining a commitment to overall goals.
- Staff will report to the board at each meeting on progress in meeting the plan’s objectives through written and verbal reports to both board committees and to the board as a whole, as well as the president’s annual evaluation.
As has become a regular occurrence, board members also spent time in discussion on the lodge project. From staff and members of various committees, they heard that:
- The conference center has not heard from the North Carolina Court of Appeals on our appeal of the Superior Court decision to set aside the permit that had been granted by the Town of Montreat. Speculation at the previous board meeting in November that a decision was imminent turned out to be optimistic. (The court releases decisions on the first and third Wednesday of each month, so we could hear as early as next Wednesday.)
- Final demolition and removal of Galax, Chestnut Lodge, and Lord Apartments proceeded in late February. While we would have preferred to hear from the courts before demolition, taking them down prior to the summer season was deemed of critical importance. Though we had considered the possibility of a legal challenge, there was none.
- The board-appointed task force on building design is convening once again. Staff and committee members updated the board as they work through design issues and cost estimates.
While the timing of the demolition of the three lodges had nothing to do with the lodge project, it was noted that the demolition of the three outdated lodges should make obvious the reality that this site is going to be developed. Hopefully, acceptance of that fact will lead to new conversations.
Richard DuBose
President, Montreat Conference Center
The Mountain Retreat Association, operating under the name Montreat Conference Center, is guided by a Board of Directors. This board consists of 27 members, with 20 required to be ordained officers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).