A big success for us in generating money is t-shirts. They look really sharp with our logo on the front. Most people don't want to just hand over money but are more than willing to purchase something to support you. Lot's of folks buy one to give to a friend that rides even if they don't themselves. We screen-print the shirts at a cost of around 3.50 and sell for 10. Or you can find someone in your area to do it for cheap too. The shirts work two ways, we make some money to support parts/tools/space and also get great advertising whenever someone wears a shirt.

A note on memberships...We won't be offering these until we have a space for people to go. It's hard to sell memberships for people to work in my living room :-). Investigate to see what works best for you.

A nice way to get donations is to set up a workstand and offer free safety checks at events. That way people can actually see your organization making a difference right then and there. Just put out a donation jar that says something like "Help us set up shop!". Make sure people know that you are all volunteers who love what you do.

My two (or three) cents,

Brian Windle Urban Bike Project of Wilmington

On 9/21/07, Gary Gingras bouldergary@yahoo.com wrote:

GLAd to see your starting up a bike co-op

best thought i might have for you is plug memberships. Have info available on what you are planning/ already have. Get some membership cards for the folks and try to get them to support and drive home the memberships early on.

get some local bike shops/businesses giving discounts to your members

once you have tools and such explain your members will be allowed to use the tools and shop space as well as pick your brains for instruction.

Get some schwag to give a way from local business. bike shops/ make some key chains from old chains, anything random you cam make to give away that is bikey. IF you can get a nice item for free to give a way/raffle you could sell tix at 2-$5 a piece)becarefull with raffle lays but doing waht your doing most likely will have no problem).

three fold board, sandwich sign with INFO! pics of things you may have done- as small or large as that may be at this time and what you plan to do. get memberships.

it;s not easy to get started - one foot in front of the other after that keep pluggin it will happen.

good luck

--- Jake Liefer jakeliefer@gmail.com wrote:

...

Myself and several students from the local college are starting up a bike co-op in our town and are looking to raise funds to buy tools and acquire space. The college's homecoming event is next week and we were able to get a vendor booth for free. While we primarly want to get the word out about what we're doing and get some bikes, this seems like an excellent opportunity to raise some funds. There will be several other vendors there selling coffee, drinks, and food. Do you guys have any ideas about what we can sell that will set us apart from the others? We are not limited to food, so if you have any non-food ideas that would be great too!

Thanks, Jake The Hub - Beaver Falls, PA _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

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...

Gary Gingras Community Cycles Assistant Director http://CommunityCycles.org 2805 Wilderness Place Suite 1000 Boulder CO, 80301 720-565-6019

---

Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

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Hey Y'all, so in case you have not heard, the 2008 Bike-Bike Conference is going to be heald in Central California!!! Bike-Bike is a gathering of community bike shops from all over North America. Folks from these projects get together to hold workshops, skillshares, tell stories and have a great time building bridges within the bike movement. The 2007 conference was in Pittsburgh, PA. Organizers did a great job of drawing folks from all over the continent to present about their projects and they threw a really great party... Check out www.bikebike.org for more info.

Those of us representing bike projects in Central California (Bike Church in Santa Cruz, Cycles for Change in the East Bay, Bike Kitchen in SF) were inspired to host the next conference here!!! Our tentative date is the Columbus/Colonist/Indigenous Peoples' Day Weekend in October 2008. So this gives us a year to plan, organize and show how rad our projects are!!!

Some ideas that have surfaced so far are... Workshops on aspects of running a community shop Skillshare on advanced mechanics/welding/trailer constuction/wood working.. Huge bike party!!! Radical History Bike Tours Group Campout/ Bike Trip..... Youth-Lead workshops

We need to have a community meeting to start organizing such a wonderous event. We want to put the call out to projects in SF, East Bay, Santa Cruz and all over our region. The proposed meeting time is the weekend of the October 20th-21st, 2007. This broad time is meant to be flexable so all interested can attend. That weekend the Bike Kitchen is hosting 2 shows from 7-10PM on Saturday and Sunday so it will be a great weekend to be in the city.

Please forward this email to all who may be interested in getting involved. Please RSVP with the best time for you to meet on that weekend.

Thanx,

Justin Valone (415)850-1584 (415)752-0647 wind@riseup.net

---

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RAFFLES: In Colorado I believe you are required to have a special permit to do so. I bet this applies to other states as well. Check with your local government before you do a raffle, or your local government will be checking with you (and possibly checking you in). Careful and good luck. Bruce

Kim Jensen kimonabike@gmail.com wrote: HI JAKE,

I suggest a bike raffle or two or three- build up some bikes that represent the aesthetic and types of bike you guys roll and raffle- not a dollar- like $10 and maybe a super duper bike for $20 tickets and include a complimentary membership with the bike.

Maybe you could sell bike horns and people could use them at the game..? I don't know but raffles are my vote.

Ride on! Kimchi

The BICYCLE KITCHEN L.A. 323 NO CARRO www.bicyclekitchen.com

On 9/20/07, Jake Liefer wrote:

Myself and several students from the local college are starting up a bike co-op in our town and are looking to raise funds to buy tools and acquire space. The college's homecoming event is next week and we were able to get a vendor booth for free. While we primarly want to get the word out about what we're doing and get some bikes, this seems like an excellent opportunity to raise some funds. There will be several other vendors there selling coffee, drinks, and food. Do you guys have any ideas about what we can sell that will set us apart from the others? We are not limited to food, so if you have any non-food ideas that would be great too!

Thanks, Jake The Hub - Beaver Falls, PA _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...