Today is the day our Pledge Me campaign officially launches. We need your support, please.
And since we want your money, we’ll have a go at guessing your questions and answering them.
Why are you crowd-funding?
We are not a kindy or a football team, so grant funding has been hard to come by. Also when you’re new some funders won’t consider your applications. Crowd-Funding is a way to engage with people who believe in what we are doing, and if everyone contributes just a little, we will get there. More on this.
What is the money for?
Our Pledge Me page gives a detailed run down on what we want the money for. To start with it is to design and print stickers for businesses who have registered as ‘Bikes Welcome Businesses’ to display at their premises. A bit more will fund invitations to encourage businesses to become ‘Bikes Welcome businesses’ and if we raise enough money we’ll be able to do more, in particular, improve this very average website and make it great, including an online directory of Bikes Welcome Businesses. Have a look at our campaign video too – it’s on our Pledge Me page.
Who/where will benefit?
Initially we’d like to roll out in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Lower Hutt. But that really depends on what we raise and where we get support from. We have some grant funding to do a limited ‘invite and sticker’ program in Wellington and Lower Hutt. The incremental costs to go national are not huge, and it is definitely something we want to do. So if you aren’t in one of the main centres it is still worth you supporting us! This is a national project, it just has to start somewhere….
Why focus on bike parking? Isn’t it bike lanes that we need?
Yes we absolutely need bike lanes – done well they make biking safer. But what do you do with your bike when you get there? Great bike parking will encourage more people to bike: seeing bikes (used or parked) plants the seed – ‘yes, I could bike here’. More on ‘why bike parking’.
How does it work?
You make a pledge via our Pledge Me page. Here’s how. You can opt for a reward, or just make a pledge out of the goodness of your heart. Keep in mind that when you pledge on a project the amount is not immediately debited from your credit card. Your pledge is only charged when the project is successful (our target met) and is charged approximately 24-48 hours after the campaign deadline. In the weeks that follow the campaign deadline we’ll get the rewards sorted and sent.
What if you raise more than the target?
Our initial target is $3000 and that will get us started. To fully realise the Bikes Welcome vision and implement the Bikes Welcome Way we need more:
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If we can raise a total of: |
Then we can do this: |
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$3,000 |
We can design, print and post window stickers out to Bikes Welcome Businesses |
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$4,150 |
As well as the business window stickers, we can design and print postcards for bike users to handout to businesses, inviting them to find out more about the why, what and how of bike-using customers and bike parking. |
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$4,600 |
We can spread the word further and wider with posters and marketing material to enlist more bike users to be Bikes Welcome ambassadors |
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$11,310 |
We can get a hugely better website up and running, including a searchable on-line directory of bikes welcome businesses and an electronic ‘invitation’ to businesses |
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$13,670 |
We do all of the above plus we can produce a short video helping businesses recognise the value of bike using customers and the business benefits of becoming a BikesWelcome business. |
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These totals include the Pledge Me campaign overheads
What’s in it for me?
As well as the chance to get better bike parking, and be valued as a bike-using customer, we have some great rewards to select from. You’ll also be the first to know when BikesWelcome are up and running, and the option to be among the first to use the ‘two minute advocacy’ approach.
How do we know we can trust you?
We are registered as a charitable trust (which involved some hoop jumping) and have an incorporated Charitable Trust Board. I’ve put in a huge number of hours and met all the costs so far, so this is not about funding my next holiday (or bike). I’m doing it because my personal values include championing sustainability, healthy physical activity, and community. I’m happy to be completely transparent and share details of budgets, quotes, plans etc with anyone who wants to see them. Besides, no one in their right mind would go grocery shopping in a Wonder Woman costume unless they really really believed in what they are setting out to achieve.
Has this got anything to do with the footpath campaign?
No, the two things are totally and utterly separate. You can support the Pledge Me campaign even if you are totally against the bikes on the footpath campaign, as they have nothing whatsoever to do with one another.
I’m not in New Zealand, or I don’t bike, so why support Bikes Welcome?
If you believe in sustainability, active transport or the beauty and potential of New Zealand you have your reasons right there! Change starts with individuals making better choices and that’s what Bikes Welcome wants to champion. Right now kiwi’s are hooked on cars, and that’s a pity because it is choking our towns and cities, costing us heaps and making us unhealthy. Thanks to e-bikes and attitude we don’t need to let hills or weather get in our way. We just need to see that there is another way to get around and that it is kind of cool. We need to see beyond the lycra and the stereotypes and do what we can to build the momentum of change that is starting to occur.
bikeswelcome.org 
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