In our experience, donations never slowed down. That said, here are some things we did to have a bit of control over the flow of donations:

advertising on Facebook and Instagram
putting our contact info on the city's website (or not) under the waste disposal section. We know people came to us through that channel.
asking for a picture of the bike before accepting the donation (this was a barrier that deterred some donations)
asking local organizations to take our refurbished bikes (like orgs that work with newcomers to Canada. We are in Regina, Saskatchewan.) The more we donated to actual organizations, the more the word got out that we take (took) unwanted bikes.
We have no experience with this, but Saskatoon (city 2h north of us and much more advanced in terms of biking) bike co-op had (has) a deal with the landfill. They go to the landfill once a week and pick up diverted bikes. So having a deal like that would effectively boost donations.

Those are my ideas for now.

Angèle

Bike Regina board member

BIKEREGINA

On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 9:31 AM Andy Ballentine via TheThinkTank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:

Hello, everyone --

Our operation, the Bicycle Co-Op of Williamsburg (Virginia) is nearly three years old. We receive donated bicycles, refurbish them, and sell them or (mostly!) give them away. We've been amazed at the number of bikes we receive! We've tracked the months when donations have been heavier (like early spring) and when they've been less so (like the winter months), but the donation stream has been surprisingly strong ever since we opened.

I have a question for others who receive bicycles by donation, and who have been in operation longer than we have. Does the time come when donations slow down? We're wanting to plan for that, if there's any way we can expect what might happen in the future.

Thanks!

Andy Ballentine
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