Formerly Thunderhead Alliance Learn More >
Sign up to receive Alliance news and updates.
| Training | Mutual Aid Calls | Leadership Retreat |
The Alliance offers yearly training opportunities including our signature Winning Campaigns© Training, which uses our custom, intense curriculum focused on the seven key skills of effective campaigners, in the context of organization-building. Alliance Trainings are intended for any potential campaign leader in your organization who would benefit from gaining the tools to craft and manage powerful advocacy campaigns.
Click on these upcoming trainings for more details or to register:
Find more information on our signature Winning Campaigns© Training.
For information and photos from past training, visit our trainings page.
The leaders of Alliance member organizations include many experts on various aspects of organizational development and bicycle and pedestrian advocacy. Alliance's Mutual Aid program connects leaders with each other either for personal sharing of expertise and insight or through the convening of conference calls to learn from experts in our own community. Alliance's Mutual Aid services are available free to leaders of Alliance member organizations. Whether you're a veteran advocate or just getting started we know that you'll have something to share and something to learn on any of our Mutual Aid conference calls. Click on the upcoming calls below for more details or to register:
There’s no doubt members bring money to your organization, but what else? On this Mutual Aid call we’ll explore how you can use members for more than money. Members are vital to growing your political clout, volunteer base, and your organization. Come hear from expert member organizers how they’re engaging their members in their work. Bring your questions, challenges, expertise, and ideas to share. Learn more
Bringing the parks to the streets with ciclovia (or car-free/Open Streets/Sunday Parkways) events is an emerging trend in cities across North America, in an effort to promote physical activity, livable streets, and vibrant communities. Ciclovia, a Spanish term meaning “bike path”, is a temporary closure of streets to cars, and opening of streets to people biking, walking, skating, etc. Do you organize a car-free event and want to elevate your event to a new level, or pick up some new ideas? Do you want to bring the ciclovia concept to your community? Come hear from an expert panel of car-free event organizers, get your questions answered, and share your experiences with others. Learn more
Members are an organization’s income, volunteer base, and political power. But if you are a startup organization, or your organization doesn’t currently have a membership program, where do you start? This call will cover the basics of starting a membership program including how to get organized, what to charge, how to get new members, and how to manage and engage members once you have them. Come hear from experts in membership programs, and leaders who have started from scratch on how they built a successful membership program. Bring your questions, challenges, expertise, and ideas to share. Learn more
Complete streets policies require that all street projects accommodate all users including cyclists, pedestrians, and people with disabilities. As advocates win complete streets policies across the nation, much has been learned about what makes a good policy and how to fight for and win complete streets. Are you engaged in a complete streets campaign or interested in winning complete streets for your state/province/community? Have you won a complete streets policy but want to learn more about the next crucial step – implementation? If so, this call is for you. Come learn from our panel of experts in winning and implementing complete streets policies. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Elected officials can play a key role in making communities better for biking and walking and grassroots advocacy organizations have tremendous potential to influence local elections. Do you want to get a bike/ped-friendly mayor, city councilmember, or other official in office? This call will cover both the basic rules of lobbying for non-profits, the differences between 501c3s and 501c4s, and will cover tips for how your organization can engage in local elections. Come here from an expert panel of Alliance leaders who have successfully supported candidates and influenced elections. Get your questions answered, and share your experiences with others. Learn more
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is sweeping the world and is a proven program that works and can attract new partners and funding opportunities for your organization. Are you starting a new SRTS program and seeking advice? Or do you wonder if SRTS is for your organization? Come hear from seasoned SRTS practitioners and Alliance leaders of how you can use SRTS to create a better community, strengthen and grow your organization, and impact the next generation. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Influencing public policy is a big part of what Alliance organizations do, and is crucial to winning better policies for biking and walking. But how does a grassroots advocacy organization navigate local politics? In this call you’ll hear from seasoned advocates who have successfully navigated city hall to win big victories for biking and walking. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Influencing public policy is a big part of what Alliance organizations do, and is crucial to winning better policies for biking and walking. But how does a advocacy organization navigate state politics? In this call you’ll hear from seasoned advocates who have successfully worked with/lobbied the State Legislatures to win big victories for biking and walking. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Whether art or science, some appeals work and some don’t! Individual donors and members are the most sustainable and most important funding source for Alliance organizations. On average one-third of the revenue of Alliance organizations comes from member and donor contributions. The most important key to success with donors: to ask!
Appeals are a way to regiment your development efforts and to ensure you are asking your supporters to donate at least once a year, if not more. But what are the most successful ways to tackle these important appeals? If you’re seeking advice on how to organize and manage annual or special appeals, what the best message is, and advice on follow through, this call is for you! Come hear from Alliance leaders who have had great success with appeals. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Your relationship with your member(s) of congress should not be limited to the once-a-year visit in dC at the national bike summit. In this call, we will discuss and share ways that you can build upon your expertise to develop a stronger relationship with congressional representation. We will hear from our panelists on successful strategies including in-district meetings, including your congressional member at the right events, and other ways to help engage your congressional member to be a champion for the bike/ped movement. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Learn more
Membership is a critical component to your overall fundraising strategy. How do you grow and retain your membership? How do you engage your membership in a meaningful way? What are other organizations doing to grow their membership? On this call we’ll discuss advanced membership development and retention strategies and will hear from Alliance leaders who are experts and recruiting and retaining members. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share.
This call is targeted to those organization leaders whose organization has a currently stable membership program. Specific topics will be determined one week before the call, based on registered participants feedback. Learn more
Membership is critical to growing your organization’s income, volunteer base, and political power. Any successful membership program starts with a plan. What are your goals for membership and how will you achieve them? This call will discuss how you create a membership plan that will grow your base of supporters, increase their contributions, and increase your overall impact. Come hear from experts in membership planning. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences to share. Participants will be asked to submit a rough draft of their organization's membership plan four days before the call to facilitate and guide the discussion Learn more
Visit our Mutual Aid page for a comprehensive list of past Mutual Aid call topics.
Alliance member organizations can access notes and recordings from past Mutual Aid calls in our Bike and Ped Resource Library
The Alliance for Biking & Walking was founded at our first retreat for bicycle advocacy leaders in 1996. Today, we continue the tradition of bringing together bicycle and pedestrian advocacy leaders from across the country for 3 days of networking, learning, and fun. At our biannual leadership retreats, expect hard work at professional and organizational advancement in interactive workshops and plenary sessions and be rewarded with lots of optional recreation, campfires, a grand finale party, and a big group bike ride to the ProWalk/ProBike conference on the final day. For all you do year-round as an advocate, you deserve the Alliance leadership retreat!
Invest in biking and walking advocacy where it matters most... on the ground!
Put the Benchmarking Report to Use for You --Call on March 18
Engaging Members in Your Work --Call on April 08
Winning Campaigns Training: New Orleans, LA
April 16 through April 18, 2010
03/12/2010 - Year End E-mail Appeal Sample 6: Transportation Alternatives
03/12/2010 - Year End E-mail Appeal Sample 5: Marin County Bicycle Coalition
03/12/2010 - Year End E-mail Appeal Sample 4: MassBike
Address: PO Box 65150, Washington, DC , 20035 Stop by the DC Office: 1612 K. Street, Suite 802, Washington, DC 20006P: (202) 449-9692 | F: (202) 223-3181
A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization | © Copyright 2009 Alliance for Biking & Walking Allright reserved | Web Design by Blue Water Media
