Personal impressions from San Francisco for Dublin Cycling Campaign Committee.

Dublin and San Francisco are similarly-sized cities with equally low modal share.  However the San Francisco Bicycle SFBC has 12,000 members and a full-time staff of 15, while Dublin Cycling Campaign has about 500 currently paid-up members, and less than one paid staff member.  I visited the SFBC to try to learn a bit more.

Why the SFBC? Our larger colleagues in VOCA, CTC and ECF are giving us plenty of precedents and comparison on their organisation and growth -Burkhard Horn’s recent talk is exemplary.  However I’ve personal experience of cycling in SF, the cities’ size, density and culture are comparable, and the growth and dynamism of the San Francisco Bicycle SFBC are certainly noteworthy.  So I hope there’s someting of interest to the Campaign here.  I’ve appended some notes on cycling in SF.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC).  Established 1971. See sfbike.org/?about

• Structure:
  • 15 Board Members (elected by members) set policy, ensure financial sustainability.  Bi-monthly meetings.
  • Full Member meetings twice yearly but attendance often less than 200
  • 15 full-time staff including Governance, Admin, Graphic Design, Fundraising and PRO –these entirely separate & distinct from Board
  • Priority is set by 5-year Action Plan, based on Membership meetings and setting goals for City e.g. ’Encourage increasede biking among San Franciscans under 18 with 5% biking frequently…’  Current Overall Goal of Strategy is, ‘By 2017, at least half of San Franciscans will bicycle occasionally, and at least one quarter will bicycle frequently or at least a few times per week’.
• Permanent office on 10th floor of downtown building.  Big kitchen, noticeboards, plenty of open-plan office space workspace for layout, computer room with several terminals (also contains storage for loaner trailers!)  See photos.
• The SFBC is active in many fields, most parallel to the Campaign’s work-
  • Infrastructure planning –the SFBC independently produced a plan for a network of bike-friendly routes (preference was to separate from motor traffic) called ‘Connecting the City’
  • Official/political and public advocacy, often using volunteers to contact politicians, demonstrate etc.
  • training for adults, families and kids including publication of how-to guides.  Contracts with City to provide school-based training, training for taxi and bus/tram drivers, valet parking at sports games, running bike to work day etc.
  • Emphasis on building separated bike lanes rather than taming motor vehicle use is different from the Campaign’s but SFBC arrived at this policy by consultation with both existing cyclists and non-cyclists.

 

Jodie Madeiros, the SFBC’s Development Director, kindly gave me almost two hours of her time and a tour of the SFBC’s offices on the 7th June.  Jodie deals with larger donors, developing networks of donors/sponsors, and fundraising events.  She joined the SFBC in 2005; she was the fourth professional staff member.

I asked Jodie about the SFBC’s growth, particularly in the early 2000’s when they underwent rapid membership expansion.  She said that the critical item was membership.  ‘Gain; engage; retain’ was the mantra.  This was a top priority- one of the first staff members to be employed was responsible for membership systems (database, renewals, membership benefits like bike shop discounts etc.).

The SFBC’s Annual Report for 2001 is available online.  That year, membership was 3,200, providing income of $104,326 out of a total income of about $300,000.  This total supported four full-time and two part-time staff.  There were four donations in the $10,000-and-above bracket.  About ten bike businesses made donations of between $1,000 and $2,500.  This might represent a medium-term goal for the Campaign.The SFBC’s 2004 Annual Report shows 4,500 members, and income of $452,000.

 

Membership-

As part of gaining new members, the SFBC does outreach programmes regularly.  These often consist of on-street public appearances where volunteers or staff engage cyclists and canvass for support –accompanied by the handing out of free items like coffee, bike services, or granola bars, and will be supported by sponsor businesses.  New members are offered discounts at over 60 bike businesses, free bike trailer/bike box rental, free entry to recreational rides and parties, a bike map, guide book, and quarterly newsletter.

Members are engaged by the weekly newsletter, by yearly meetings/election of Board members, by volunteer evenings (see below), by being asked to sign petitions, send postcards or demonstrate at City Hall for specific causes, e.g. bike lanes on particular streets.  Similar causes are supported by pre-written postcards to City officials which are enclosed in the seasonal newsletter ‘Tube Times’ for completion by members; delivery of the newsletter is by volunteer.  Survey rides –checking local bikeability and collating reports for officialdom- are also done by volunteers.

The SFBC retains members by managing renewals professionally, by keeping them well informed, and by putting much effort into getting them involved in campaigning or helping.  Jodie reckons that if still members after three years, members are much more likely to become ‘sticky’ i.e. keep renewing for the long term.

Volunteer evenings- These are held twice a month on a Wednesday evening.  On June 12th when I attended, volunteers were put to work personalising renewal notices for members, i.e. handwriting a ‘please renew’ message on printed renewal letters.  We then collated and envelope-stuffed a batch of ‘thank-you’ letters to financial donors, and finished up with hand-making collaged cards thanking the SF transport authority for creating new bike lanes on Market Street (I’d arrived at the SFBC office using these lanes).In addition, volunteers were asked during the evening to appear and testify at an upcoming hearing into new roads infrastructure, and to attend a course in what a Bike Share scheme is (one is proposed for SF) and how to promote  one.  A take-away Thai dinner ended a pleasant, very sociable couple of hours.

 

Finances-

SFBC Income breakdown. Total income for 2011 was $1.5 million.  Personnel costs account for 74%

Membership subscriptions	24%	Individual $35; other family member $15 etc.
Individual Contributions	20%	Vary from $250 to $25,000
Events, fundraisers and Benefits	19%	Bike ride with Gary Fisher $50; Golden Wheel gala $75 etc.
Contracts (often with City)	16%	For bike training, hosting bike-to-work day etc.
Foundation Grants	11%	Also $250 to $25,000+, from bike companies, legal firms etc.
Business partner supports	6%	In-kind supports eg refreshments at events, bike parts, prizes…
Program service fees	4%	?? possibly this is payment for training services etc?
	100%

 

For fundraising, as can be seen in the table, donations, fundraising and benefit events such as sponsored rides are important contributors.  Jodie described how the SFBC use their social and business networks e.g. Board members’ contacts to encourage potential donors, hosting network ‘Luncheons’ for example.  An existing sponsor will host lunch and the SFBC will make a presentation, asking the sponsor to follow up with communications to the guests.  This might focus on sponsorship for a specific event etc.

The City contracts the SFBC on a paid basis in several ways – Helping with bike to work day by providing volunteers to help man free-breakfast or coffee stations Manning bike services stations and training stations at Open Streets days (a regular occurrence in SF where a street (can be over a mile in length) will be opened to non-motorised traffic including stalls, performance, games etc.  and the SFBCs provide training for adults & kids as part of the festivities.  (This is in addition to the weekly Cyclo Via in Golden Gate Park).Running Safe Routes to School with other organisations.  Training for peds & Cyclists in schools.Training for taxi drivers and MUNI (bus and tram) drivers.The SFBC’s weekly newsletter (email only) has a 24,000-strong list, and a high 30% open rate.  This database includes political groups, transport groups etc. as well as members.

 

Summary notes-

Organisation-

SFBC’s five-year plan sets out its goals for city-wide cycling numbers, infrastructure roll-out etc., not just for internal Campaign accomplishments.  More ambitious than Campaign’s plans.Like the Campaign, the SFBC’s various departments each have a related five-year plan.The separated Board and Staff structure is different from Campaign’s integrated structure –not relevant at Campaign’s current size, but arguably logical to separate policy from administration.

Membership-

Offering concrete benefits could include retail discounts as we’re already planning, small handouts (donated by sponsors) like ‘spoke cards’ with cycling tips, lights; maps and guides (‘insider information’); cargo-bike loans; the weekly e-newsletter and quarterly magazineParticipation might be encouraged by using pre-printed postcards to enable lobbying on particular issues; volunteer evenings or similar, as well as social rides.The (rare and quite particular) culture of dissent and progressiveness of San Francisco assists organisations like the SFBC; Dublin civic culture may well be more conservative and by comparison.

Financing-

Professional advice on fundraising might be advisable –perhaps from Wheel or other voluntary source.The SFBC is –and I think was in the early 2000s- more business-like and hard-nosed than the Campaign.  Earning money for any productive work done is set as a priority.My impression is that the culture of bequests and donations –and the wealthy segment of population- is much smaller in Ireland.  But the Campaign might look at earning some funding from running public/cyclist-oriented events.Another source of funding is the cycling industry, e.g. the SFBC’s ‘valet parking’ service at major events was exclusively funded by a manufacturer.  The Campaign is already tapping this via the ECF and An Taisce.The SFBC’s example of contracting to give training and promotion for the City would also merit further study (Production of videos and individuals’ provision of training might be brought ‘in-house’ and administered by the Campaign).It seems the key to initial growth –from volunteer to professional status- is a skilled and dedicated staff member working on retaining, engaging and growing our membership numbers and engagement.

2013- July