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Entries tagged: Fundraising

Imagine pedaling through dense stands of towering redwoods; cruising along a dramatic, rocky coastline; stopping next to lush vineyards and taking a sun-drenched ride over the Golden Gate Bridge.

It’s not a dream. It’s not a luxury vacation. It’s the Climate Ride — a 320-mile bicycle adventure that raised $300,000 for nonprofits like the Alliance for Biking & Walking.

Now in its fourth year, the Climate Ride was created by Geraldine Carter and Caeli Quinn as a means to leverage their decades of professional experience leading high-end bike trips to raise awareness and funds for climate protection. Since 2008, the ride has engaged hundreds of riders from across the nation who, instead of simply opening their wallets, raise money from friends and colleagues, which is directed to a number of nonprofit groups that work on renewable energy and active transportation issues.

As a participant in the 2011 California Climate Ride this month, I was impressed from the second I showed up in the parking lot to catch the shuttle from San Francisco up to the start of the ride in Fortuna. The riders were a diverse group — from restaurant owners to NRDC attorneys, people who work in greening the music business to a singer who had only ridden a bike 25 times before she got off the plane. But they sure had one thing in common: They were all fired up to pedal a stretch of the most scenic landscape in the U.S. and, along the way, talk shop about how, in our diverse capacities, we can build a more sustainable energy future.

First of all, even for someone who lived and traveled in California as a kid, I was constantly speechless at the incredible beauty of the route:

• The first day we rode through the redwoods, stopping for lunch among the thousand-year-old trees and writing postcards to President Obama under the canopy of the giants.
  
• On day two, we braved a driving rain, conquered the legendary Leggett Hill — a five-mile ascent — and were rewarded with views of the foggy, frothy waves of the Pacific.
  
• On the third day, the route snaked through eucalyptus trees as it hugged the coastline and more than two dozen Climate Riders completed the optional century ride — some tackling the mileage for the first time.
  
• By day four, a mere 50 miles seemed like child’s play, so many lingered amongst the vineyards, sipping the sweet stuff (at 10 a.m.!) at a sustainable winery and sampling oysters beach-side near the entrance to Point Reyes National Seashore.
  
• And on day five, the rain cleared just in time for us to glide over the Golden Gate Bridge with stunning views of the Bay and roll into San Francisco in our matching jersey’s, chanting Climate Ride all the way to city hall.

But the route was really just the sugar on top. The substance of the ride was also about networking and knowledge sharing. All along the way, as we stopped for snacks or relaxed over dinner, I got to know about the personal and professional efforts of countless climate and bicycle advocates. I rode down the Avenue of Giants with a gentleman who rode across the country on an electric-assist recumbent. I listened to an IT consultant talk about Richmond Spokes, a new community bike shop and education space, as we dodged cow patties on a steep ascent through a stretch of farmland. I took every opportunity I could to glean insight from the communications director for 350.org and the media team from Mighty Bytes in Chicago over breakfast and dinner.

Geraldine and crew made that resource sharing and relationship building even easier with evening sessions that allowed riders and supporters to share their work in a more formal setting. We got an insider look at the growth of 1% for the Planet; we got an author’s reading from Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, a book penned by one of the wonderful riders from Team Clif Bar; we even got an intimate concert from singer and ukulele player Victoria Vox, who played on even as a blustery storm blew her tent away out in the campground.

Yes, it rained. A lot. But that just made the enthusiasm, professionalism and — there’s just no other word for it — awesome-ness of the support crew all the more apparent. From Blake and Geraldine — the ride directors — to the van drivers, bike mechanics and other volunteers, we were showered (sorry, bad pun) with humor, joy and energy even when we awoke to soaked tents and gloomy forecasts. And they didn’t just keep us well-fed and wrenched up: When I tweaked my knee on day two, just about everyone on the crew kept checking in the rest of the week to make sure I was feeling strong and taking my Vitamin I (ibuprofen).

Best of all, this incredible experience will have a lasting impact, even beyond our collective memories and photo collections. The ride raised more than $300,000 for a variety of nonprofits, including the Alliance and member organizations like the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. A special THANK YOU to everyone who chose the Alliance as one of their beneficiaries — your dollars will help build the capacity of advocate leaders across North America. And, thank you, of course, to Geraldine, Caeli and Blake for putting together such an ingenious fundraising initiative and putting on such a phenomenal event.

Want to participate in the next Climate Ride? Registration is already open for the 2012 New York City to Washington, DC ride. Learn more here.

• This week, America Bikes released a new study that proves building bicycle and pedestrian facilities creates significantly more jobs (46 percent) than road-only projects. With the debate on a federal transportation bill imminent, this report provides valuable insight about the important economic benefits of biking and walking. It’s a (quick) must-read; download it here.

• Another new resource out this week came from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. Their Safe Routes to School Local Policy Guide highlights numerous and diverse local policies that support SRTS programs by encouraging safe walking and bicycling and physical activity by children. (Want to learn more about local SRTS policies? Join us for a Mutual Aid Call on July 27.)

• The advocates at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition debuted another video associated with their Connecting the City campaign, which envisions 100 miles of separated bike facilities in the heart of the city. Check out “Stephanie’s Story” and “Crosstown Bikeways for Everyone!” here.

• Bike share systems are spreading quickly across North America. The AP profiled the trend in a great piece this week. Watch it here.

• For statewide organizations, a specialty license plate can be a significant and sustainable source of funding. If you missed our Mutual Aid Call with Robin Stallings of BikeTexas, Nancy Tibbett of Bicycle Indiana and Tim Bustos of the Florida Bicycle Association, click here to listen to the recording and download the Tip Sheet.

• Speaking of funding: Want a glimpse into the process of grantmakers and foundations? Check out this interesting article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review on “The Elusive Craft of Evaluating Advocacy.”

• As I’ve mentioned in past weeks, we’re working hard to update, improve and add to the Alliance Resource Library. This week we got help from…
  • The Safe Routes to School National Partnership, which helped us fill out our SRTS Program Resources section with a number of helpful reports, presentations and curricula
    
  • The League of Michigan Bicyclists, which shared a handful of materials related to fundraising rides, like a route marking guideline sample and contract forms.

As always, we’re eager to share your best practices and model resources for the benefit of all Alliance members. Contact Carolyn@PeoplePoweredMovement.org if you can help!

New this week in the Alliance’s Online Resource Library…

• Allison Mannos of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition worked with Adrian Leung in writing an insightful article on “Bicycling is for Everyone: Connections Between Cycling in Developing Countries and Low-Income Cyclists of Color in the U.S.” for Streetsblog. Definitely required reading for organizations looking to expand their advocacy efforts to underserved communities.

• Yes, it’s dense (and 200 pages!) but AASHTO and the National Conference of State Legislatures just released an information-packed report that offers an overview of state transportation governance and financing in all 50 states and provides a “rich diversity of approaches… to address states’ transportation challenges and effectively serve the public good within what often are complex intergovernmental arrangements.”

• Many members of Congress understand that America is dangerously addicted to oil. A House task force on livable communities just published a short paper that highlights the importance of sustainable transportation for America’s future and includes Safe Routes to School and Complete Streets as policy solutions.

• If you couldn’t attend our Mutual Aid Call on “Bringing More Women into the Movement” last week, you missed a great discussion. But don’t worry: Click here for a handy Tip Sheet and call recording (to be uploaded shortly).

• Bike sharing is all the rage and cities across North America are excited about bringing Bixi and B-cycle to their communities. Check out this positive analysis from the National League of Cities.

• Love ‘em or hate ‘em, PETA knows how to get attention for its campaigns. Get some insight into their strategies — for better or worse — in their handbook on Effective Advocacy.

• Many advocacy organizations — the Alliance included — print plenty of materials to promote events and trainings. Here’s a short list of eco- and employee-conscious online printers courtesy of Progressive Exchange in Washington, DC.

• Have you donated to the Alliance 15th Anniversary Campaign yet? We joined other organizations, like Adventure Cycling and the Palmetto Cycling Coalition, in using Razoo for our online fundraising effort — a site that just happens to be listed on the “Top 12 Online Fundraising Platforms for Donors & Non-Profits” from Mashable.com

• Skittish about an upcoming interview? Never been on the radio before? Listen to this podcast from ThirdCoast featuring Kevin Hardman, the executive director of the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation, who’s cool, calm and collected as he gives a great overview of his group’s advocacy efforts.

If you have resources to share with other Alliance members, please e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Have a great weekend!

It’s been a big week with Bike to Work events and news of legislative victories in a number of states, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busily uploading the latest research and exemplary materials from Alliance member organizations to the Resource Library. Here’s the latest…

• Transportation Alternatives in New York City put together a best practices guide for its innovative Play Streets initiative — which we wrote about on the People Powered Blog back in November.

• Lisa Quinn at Feet First got us psyched about her participation in our upcoming Mutual Aid Call on “Cultivating an Active, Involved Membership” by sharing these great videos about the group’s popular Walk and Talk events.

• We received in the mail (Hint: We love getting mail!) a sleek, eye-catching tip sheet from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition on “5 Easy Ways to Inspire your Employees to Bike To Work,” which the organization used in its mailing to potential business supporters and participants for its Bike to Work Day on May 12.

• Speaking of Bike to Work Day, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition created an artsy postcard promoting its CycleMAYnia events, with a listing of events and link to a one-stop website for all the festivities.

• And another tool for Bike to Work Day: The League of American Bicyclists debuted a quick, convenient online tool that provides bicycle commuting statistics by city, based on data from the 2009 American Community Survey.

• Bike Pittsburgh also launched a fun, new tool — unveiling its Car Free Calculator, which allows cyclists to enter their miles traveled and keep track of their calories burned, dollars saved and carbon dioxide reduced. (p.s. Brought to you, in part, by funding from the Advocacy Advance grant program!)

• Brighid O’Keane, our Advocacy Advance Program Manager, put together a helpful overview that covers funding sources for bike/ped organizations, including grants, government funding, grassroots fundraising, and other resources.

• A (relatively) new study out of Oregon dispels some myths about active transportation in the suburbs.

• And another report finds that traffic crashes are more strongly correlated to the built environment itself rather than random driver error.

Did you know there are more than 900 resources in the Alliance’s online library? And that we’re adding new items almost every day?

We hope the Resource Library is your first stop when you’re looking for tips and templates to grow your organization, advance your campaigns or find the latest research on bike/ped topics. But we’re in the midst of making it even better, by editing, adding and updating many of the items and categories. To keep you posted, each week on the blog we’ll round up some of the recent additions.

Here’s this Friday’s hit list:

• Need stats on bicycling mode share, demographics, infrastructure or just about any other metric? You’ll likely find the data you’re looking for in the latest paper from John Pucher (Rutgers University) and Ralph Buehler (Virginia Tech): “Analysis of Bicycling Trends and Policies in Large North American Cities”

• A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in the “Women Can Change the World Through Cycling” webinar presented by APBP, which marked the release of new materials from the Women’s Cycling Survey. Click here to read the survey results, watch the webinar and check out the new analysis of three open-ended questions from the survey, including “What would cause you to start or increase your cycling?”

• If you weren’t able to attend the Alliance’s “Fundraising Fundamentals” Mutual Aid Call this month (and even if you did attend), check out a wealth of resources and templates shared by our expert panelist Andy Robinson, including a fundraising menu for your board and an income diversification form.

• We know many of you are preparing your applications for Advocacy Advance Grants. For inspiration, see what some of our past grant recipients have been able to develop and share with other member organizations, including a variety of resources from the League of Illinois Bicyclists on their incredibly successful Bicycle Planning Workshops.

• New proof Americans also want more livable communities: A survey from the National Association of Realtors revealed that 56 percent of respondents preferred smart growth neighborhoods over neighborhoods that require more driving between home, work and recreation.

• May is just a few weeks away; check out this sample Bike Month proclamation/resolution created by the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation and tailor it for your mayor or city council.

• Are you ready to work with the media for your Bike to Work events? Make sure you’ve got a helpful one-page press primer, like this one from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland.

Stay tuned for another installment next Friday!

You may think you’re not a fundraiser. You may be daunted by the task of asking for money. You haven’t met Andy Robinson.

Having spent years as a successful fundraiser himself and now an expert consultant on the topic, Robinson will explain the nuts and bolts of raising money during our “Fundraising Fundamentals” Mutual Aid Call this Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern. Learn where the majority of dollars come from and how to build a fundraising program that honors your mission. Get insight from Robinson on why people give; how to identify prospective donors; how to choose from a variety of fundraising strategies and how to get other people to help. And, of course, come prepared with your questions for this national expert.

Register now!

The sixth annual Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin fundraising gala raised $100,000 despite the challenging economy.  The October 9th event included 400 guests whose generous support will fund a variety of Bike Fed programs across the state. “Our supporters came out and proved their confidence in us through an evening of tremendous giving,” says Kevin Hardman, Executive Director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. Gayle Stallings, the professional auctioneer of FUNauctions (and an Alliance leader) led the bidding to frenzy. The crowd was also joined by several celebrities including Taylor Phinney, Axel Merckx, Gary Fisher, and local political leaders.

For more information visit: http://www.bfw.org/events/index.php?category_id=3896