Support Your Favorite Cycling Charity on Giving Tuesday
Whether you took part in Thanksgiving, Black(top) Friday, or Cyber Monday, there’s still time to get into the holiday spirit of giving. Specifically, this Giving Tuesday, you can help people around the world know the joy and freedom that comes from riding bikes. Partake in the most practical sense by providing kids with bike transportation to schools; in a slightly-selfish sense, by supporting trail building in your area; or in a philosophical sense, by helping women fight for gender equality through bikes. Whatever your cause, support it today, and all year. Here are a few of our favorites:
Trips for Kids: Imagine if you didn’t have a bike as a kid, and never experienced the joy of two-wheeled liberty. So many children don’t get that opportunity, but you can help by supporting Trips for Kids, a charity that has introduced over 140,500 at-risk youth to cycling since 1988 through mountain bike rides and Earn-A-Bike programs.
International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA): If you love mountain bikes and riding sweet trails, donating to IMBA is a bit of a no-brainer. You can donate specifically to the Trail Fund, to support trail building and planning, or to the Annual Fund, to support IMBA’s rad programs like Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.
Wheels for Life: Founded by former mountain bike world champion Hans Rey, this charity seeks to provide bikes to people in developing countries. To date, it has delivered 7,854 bikes worldwide, and donations directly fund the bikes. People can apply for these bike donations, though at this point, the demand is so high that the site has temporarily stopped accepting applications.
People for Bikes: People for Bikes is one of the largest bike advocacy groups in the world, and the goal of the organization is simple: to get people on bikes by breaking down barriers to entry. It’s not focused on the hard-core riders—the organization wants everyone on bikes for any reason, from commuting to playing to racing. Your donation will go toward building more bike paths, lanes, and trails across the US; showcasing the business and economic benefits of bicycling; and getting more people riding bikes.
Related: 'Ride for Reading' Teaching Underprivileged Kids About Bikes, Books, and Life
World Bicycle Relief: World Bicycle Relief brings bikes to people in countries that are facing poverty and disaster. By providing bikes, the organization is providing access to healthcare and schools, as well as ways for small businesses to grow and prosper. The bikes are specifically designed and sourced for the different spots where the charity works, and the organizers teach locals basic mechanics to ensure proper bike maintenance.
Mountain2Mountain: If you believe in gender equality, pay attention to what a few girls and women in Afghanistan are doing. Every time they get on bikes, they’re at risk, but they keep riding. Why? For freedom, and for the love of the sport. The first Afghan National Women's Cycling Team formed in recent years thanks to Mountain2Mountain, which helped to get bikes and raise money for its budding cycling stars, outside of providing bikes to other women primarily in Afghanistan. They’re pedaling a revolution, and you can help.
Related: Mountain2Mountain: Empowering Women Through Cycling
Gearing Up: This Philadelphia-based nonprofit works to get women in transition from addiction, abuse, and incarceration onto bikes. The charity believes that cycling helps form a healthy lifestyle, develops feelings of belonging, and "creates community connections that support a holistic approach to the recovery and re-entry process.” Pretty rad.
National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) If you were a student-athlete, you know how important and formative those years were for your development as a person and as an athlete. If you were lucky enough to be at a school with a cycling program, even better! In recent years, NICA has started to implement more programs for high school and collegiate athletes who just want to race mountain bikes. Whether you just love school sports or you have a kid and hope one day she’ll be crushing it on a cycling team, NICA is a great cause.
Qhubeka: As an offshoot of World Bicycle Relief, Qhubeka is one of the best examples of how bikes can save the world. The word means ‘to progress’ in Nguni, and the group certainly has helped South Africa progress through biking. Since 2005, it has delivered more than 250,000 specially designed, locally assembled bicycles to South Africans in need.
Related: Advocate Cycles Makes Buying a Bike a Charitable Act
Bike Angels: This unique charity is a bit 'meta.' Instead of raising money for charity, members focus on lending bikes to people who want to do charity rides—and so far, it’s been a success! Thanks to bikes it has provided, Bicycle Angels has helped raise over $400,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Multiple Sclerosis Society, AIDS Lifecycle, Diabetes Society, Arthritis Foundation, and Crohn's and Colitis Foundation.
Donate a Bike: If you don’t have a ton of cash but you do have a bike (or two) lying around the house, consider donating to a place like the Community Cycling Center in Portland, Oregon, where your bike will go to a kid or adult who needs it. Do some research to see what’s in your area—often, you can find a home for old bikes and bike gear, whether it’s with an actual charity or just a developmental team that could use some extra clothing.
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