![\"SFBC](\"http:\/\/www.sfbike.org\/img\/mood\/2012_web_header_690x120.gif\" "\\"SFBC")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy 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\u2019s recent talk is exemplary.\u00a0 However I\u2019ve personal experience of cycling in SF, the cities\u2019 size, density and culture are comparable, and the growth and dynamism of the San Francisco Bicycle SFBC are certainly noteworthy.\u00a0 So I hope there\u2019s someting of interest to the Campaign here. \u00a0I\u2019ve appended some notes on cycling in SF.<\/p>\n
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC).\u00a0 Established 1971. <\/strong>See sfbike.org\/?about<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jodie Madeiros, the SFBC\u2019s Development Director, kindly gave me almost two hours of her time and a tour of the SFBC\u2019s offices on the 7th June. \u00a0Jodie deals with larger donors, developing networks of donors\/sponsors, and fundraising events. \u00a0She joined the SFBC in 2005; she was the fourth professional staff member.<\/p>\n I asked Jodie about the SFBC\u2019s growth, particularly in the early 2000\u2019s when they underwent rapid membership expansion. \u00a0She said that the critical item was membership. \u00a0\u2018Gain; engage; retain\u2019 was the mantra. \u00a0This 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.).<\/p>\n The SFBC\u2019s Annual Report for 2001 is available online. \u00a0That year, membership was 3,200, providing income of $104,326 out of a total income of about $300,000. \u00a0This total supported four full-time and two part-time staff. \u00a0There were four donations in the $10,000-and-above bracket. \u00a0About ten bike businesses made donations of between $1,000 and $2,500. \u00a0This might represent a medium-term goal for the Campaign.The SFBC\u2019s 2004 Annual Report shows 4,500 members, and income of $452,000.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As part of gaining new members, the SFBC does outreach programmes regularly. \u00a0These often consist of on-street public appearances where volunteers or staff engage cyclists and canvass for support \u2013accompanied by the handing out of free items like coffee, bike services, or granola bars, and will be supported by sponsor businesses. \u00a0New 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.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0Similar causes are supported by pre-written postcards to City officials which are enclosed in the seasonal newsletter \u2018Tube Times\u2019 for completion by members; delivery of the newsletter is by volunteer. \u00a0Survey rides \u2013checking local bikeability and collating reports for officialdom- are also done by volunteers.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0Jodie reckons that if still members after three years, members are much more likely to become \u2018sticky\u2019 i.e. keep renewing for the long term.<\/p>\n Volunteer evenings- These are held twice a month on a Wednesday evening. \u00a0On June 12th when I attended, volunteers were put to work personalising renewal notices for members, i.e. handwriting a \u2018please renew\u2019 message on printed renewal letters. \u00a0We then collated and envelope-stuffed a batch of \u2018thank-you\u2019 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\u2019d 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 \u00a0one. \u00a0A take-away Thai dinner ended a pleasant, very sociable couple of hours.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SFBC Income breakdown. <\/strong>Total income for 2011 was $1.5 million.\u00a0 Personnel costs account for 74%<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For fundraising, as can be seen in the table, donations, fundraising and benefit events such as sponsored rides are important contributors. \u00a0Jodie described how the SFBC use their social and business networks e.g. Board members\u2019 contacts to encourage potential donors, hosting network ‘Luncheons’ for example. \u00a0An existing sponsor will host lunch and the SFBC will make a presentation, asking the sponsor to follow up with communications to the guests. \u00a0This might focus on sponsorship for a specific event etc.<\/p>\n The City contracts the SFBC on a paid basis in several ways \u2013\u00a0Helping with bike to work day by providing volunteers to help man free-breakfast or coffee stations\u00a0Manning 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. \u00a0and the SFBCs provide training for adults & kids as part of the festivities. \u00a0(This is in addition to the weekly Cyclo Via in Golden Gate Park).Running Safe Routes to School with other organisations. \u00a0Training for peds & Cyclists in schools.Training for taxi drivers and MUNI (bus and tram) drivers.The SFBC\u2019s weekly newsletter (email only) has a 24,000-strong list, and a high 30% open rate. \u00a0This database includes political groups, transport groups etc. as well as members.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Organisation-<\/strong><\/p>\n SFBC\u2019s five-year plan sets out its goals for city-wide cycling numbers, infrastructure roll-out etc., not just for internal Campaign accomplishments. \u00a0More ambitious than Campaign\u2019s plans.Like the Campaign, the SFBC\u2019s various departments each have a related five-year plan.The separated Board and Staff structure is different from Campaign\u2019s integrated structure \u2013not relevant at Campaign\u2019s current size, but arguably logical to separate policy from administration.<\/p>\n Membership-<\/strong><\/p>\n Offering concrete benefits could include retail discounts as we\u2019re already planning, small handouts (donated by sponsors) like \u2018spoke cards\u2019 with cycling tips, lights; maps and guides (\u2018insider information\u2019); 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.<\/p>\n Financing-<\/strong><\/p>\n Professional advice on fundraising might be advisable \u2013perhaps from Wheel or other voluntary source.The SFBC is \u2013and I think was in the early 2000s- more business-like and hard-nosed than the Campaign. \u00a0Earning money for any productive work done is set as a priority.My impression is that the culture of bequests and donations \u2013and the wealthy segment of population- is much smaller in Ireland. \u00a0But 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\u2019s \u2018valet parking\u2019 service at major events was exclusively funded by a manufacturer. \u00a0The Campaign is already tapping this via the ECF and An Taisce.The SFBC\u2019s example of contracting to give training and promotion for the City would also merit further study (Production of videos and individuals\u2019 provision of training might be brought \u2018in-house\u2019 and administered by the Campaign).It seems the key to initial growth \u2013from volunteer to professional status- is a skilled and dedicated staff member working on retaining, engaging and growing our membership numbers and engagement.<\/p>\n 2013- July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Personal impressions from San Francisco for Dublin Cycling Campaign Committee. Dublin and San Francisco are similarly-sized cities with equally low modal share. \u00a0However 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. \u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,22,5,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2544"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5048,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544\/revisions\/5048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.willandrewsdesign.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Membership-<\/h3>\n
Finances-<\/h3>\n
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\n Membership subscriptions<\/td>\n 24%<\/td>\n Individual $35; other family member $15 etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Individual Contributions<\/td>\n 20%<\/td>\n Vary from $250 to $25,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Events, fundraisers and Benefits<\/td>\n 19%<\/td>\n Bike ride with Gary Fisher $50; Golden Wheel gala $75 etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Contracts (often with City)<\/td>\n 16%<\/td>\n For bike training, hosting bike-to-work day etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Foundation Grants<\/td>\n 11%<\/td>\n Also $250 to $25,000+, from bike companies, legal firms etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Business partner supports<\/td>\n 6%<\/td>\n In-kind supports eg refreshments at events, bike parts, prizes\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Program service fees<\/td>\n 4%<\/td>\n ?? possibly this is payment for training services etc?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n 100%<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Summary notes-<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/willandrewsdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/SFBCofficeHallLo.jpg\" "\\"SFBCofficeHallLo\\"")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/willandrewsdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/SFBCpostersLoanTrailers.jpg\" "\\"SFBCposters,LoanTrailers\\"")