Hello Emory and ThinkTankers - I really appreciate the posting by Emory and I would like to offer a few thoughts. Before I do that, I want to acknowledge, as Luke Box did, the valuable content and work represented here in the ThinkTank. Since the time I founded a small community bike shop in Coos Bay, Or. (2018), I have paid close attention to the content of exchanges here. I have participated in the virtual BikeBike and I look forward to an in-person BikeBike sometime soon. Thank you ThinkTank for all the resource you provide - I find it very valuable. Cheers to all those who have put effort into it over the years.
The major urban centers of Oregon (Portland, Salem, Hillsboro, Corvallis, Eugene) all have large and well established 'community' bike shops. Oregon has smaller communities that also have community bike shops. Like Coos Bay and Waldport (others?). I am interested in Emory's posting because in Coos Bay we are finding it difficult to sustain volunteer effort to operate the various programs needed in our community. We don't generate enough revenue (sales & service) to support paid staff and, while we have had some success with grant applications, our experience is that implementing grant programs with all volunteer effort is challenging. We also struggle with basic business admin functions. I definitely appreciate the comment from Geofry Smart about merging of groups can result in loss of values and perhaps other important facets of community-based operation (autonomy for example). However, burnout is hitting our small operation pretty hard these days. We are on an unsustainable volunteer path. In the pacific northwest, there is currently a developing 'umbrella' non-profit organization that is intended to support a consortium of regional community bike shops. I don't know a lot about it at this time but I am interested to learn more.
Laura Brooke - thank you for the reference to the Vermont group. I will be reaching out to the "Old Spokes Home" (love the name!)
Eric Clough Front Street Community Bike Works Park Your Car - Ride Your Bike!