Thanks all for the info so far!

I work for a City government in the US. Yes, I was thinking of recommending an annual allocation that could be used for operations. Each Council district gets $4000 in discretionary funds each year that can be spent on public projects or non-profit organizations in the district, but there is no guarantee the bike shop would receive any of that money. But if the City's funding to nonprofits could some day be expanded, I think this bike shop would be an obvious choice for annual funding (because they are the only community bike shop in town and thus provide a unique service that contributes to the City's goals of helping people access jobs, etc.). Therefore, I wanted to get a sense of how common it is for local governments to fund their bike shops, to lend support to a recommendation for funding them. The creation of City-administered competitive grants that are relevant to a bike shop's mission (such as environmental innovation grants) would be another way to provide additional funding opportunities, so I am interested in those as well.


On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 4:35 PM Sunny Nestler <programs@bikecoop.ca> wrote:
Hi friends, 

I'm the programs manager at the Bike Kitchen (Vancouver) and can confirm that we have received city funds through the competitive "Greenest City Grant," last year for the annual amount of $45,000 to be split between our three shops here. These funds are tied to very specific activities (we used them to build our recycling initiatives), and although they can be used to pay for admin, wages and any other kinds of expenses, they are based on the concept that we are constantly "innovating" which means we have to rethink the funded activities each time we apply. It's not so bad though since we are always doing that anyway! 

More ideally would be an "operating grant" type arrangement with renewable annual funds from the city, but I'm not sure exactly how that would happen, maybe that is what Gemma is trying to do? Gemma do you work for a local gov or a university? We also receive operations funding from a campus body at the University of British Columbia, for which we maintain a healthy relationship with representatives from their group, submit annual reports, run a few programs on their behalf, etc. I think at this point it is generally understood that if folks are running a community bike shop, what they really need is operational funds to pay rent and staff, and to supply their shops with consumables and a modest selection of new parts to keep programs running. 

As JF said we also get wage subsidy funding through CSJ, UNAC (united nations canada) and CPRA (parks and rec), however those are federal funds that can only be used to reimburse wages up to 50%. 




Sunny Nestler, Programs Manager
AMS Bike Co-op + Bike Kitchen
University of British Columbia
604-822-2453 | bikecoop.ca | @BikeKitchenUBC


On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 9:24 AM Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 11:16 AM Gemma Tierney <gtierney@udel.edu> wrote:
Hi,

I work in local government and am working on a bike plan. I was wondering if folks who run community bike shops that receive funding from their local or county (or even state/provincial) government could tell me about those funding mechanisms? I would like to address the possibility of funding our local community bike shop in the plan, but wanted more info on how or to what extent it occurs elsewhere.

For instance, what types of funds are provided (capital or operational or other), are the funds accessed through a competitive grant application, discretionary funds, or some other type of budget allocation, and how much has been received?

My friend already provided me with the following examples (and recommended I reach out to this mailing list for more info):

I know that a group of Bike shops in Vancouver created a successful group application for Vancouver's "greenest city fund" based around recycling bike parts and collecting and rebuilding abandoned bikes, with an educational component worked in. As far as I know, they received the grant two years in a row. The Bike shop in Peterborough, Ontario (B!ke) looks like they have somewhat consistent city funding. There is a tiny bit more info in their annual report here. 

Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks all!!
-Gemma
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