What time is it? It’s time for World Bicycle Relief (WBR)! If you’re not familiar with my favorite non-profit charity organization, click worldbicyclerelief.org to learn more. In a nutshell, they provide rugged, purpose-built bicycles to those in need, making a huge impact on recipients’ ability to travel to school, work, obtain food and water, and generally have a better life. Providing bicycles may seem like a simple mission, but it is simply powerful in providing a leg up for many around the world. For the past five years, World Bicycle Relief has aided me in running a Charity Challenge to raise money and subsequently buy bikes. For information on last year’s fundraiser, you can click on the article links at the bottom of this page. Since their founding in 2006, WBR has put over 280,000 bicycles into the field, mostly in Africa, but also in Sri Lanka (where the impetus from WBR came from after the tsunami there).
Being a professional athlete certainly requires a lot of ‘me’ time, and this event is one of my favorite ways to turn the tables and bring people together to give back to a very worthwhile cause. The Challenge ends at the end of the year - Dec. 31, 2015. Throughout the months of November and December, 100% of all donations to WBR will be matched by anonymous donors, meaning whatever we raise this year will be doubled. Last year, we raised well over $84,000 for WBR. Our total for the past six years is over $400,000, or over 2,700 bicycles! That’s a LOT of bikes, and deserves one heck of a pat on the back for everyone that contributed. Our lofty goal for this year is to raise another $100,000 (680 bicycles)!
As you will see in coming articles, many of my sponsors and other supporters have been VERY generous in donating several awards for the challenge. In the past, we listed a bunch of items in a few articles. Like last year, I pushed for bigger and even more awesome stuff, and each item will get its own page talking about what we've got on offer, though none will be quite as remarkable as the one I've posted here to inspire you to kick this off. This one is really special because it's all about what you give rather than what you get. The basic way the awards work remains the same, though. The challenge awards will be done electronically, on a roll-down system. The first winner will get first pick of awards, second place gets second choice, etc. We will roll out the awards in several waves over the coming weeks – stay tuned!
How does the Challenge work? Most of the basics remain the same as in previous years. You can donate ANY amount, but ONLY donations of $147 or more (the cost of one bicycle) will make you eligible to earn some of the great fundraising awards. For every multiple of $147 that you donate, you get another chance at an award. $294 earns you two chances, $441 earns you three, $588 earns you four, etc. Donations made on your behalf will also be tallied towards your total (and then divided by $147). If you get 10 people to donate $14.70 in honor/recognition of you, then that earns you another chance as well. Anyone donating for you must make a notation in the "Donor Info" section with your name - i.e. Name - "John Doe (for Jordan Rapp)".
If you've donated before, you may notice that the cost of a bicycle has gone up. Since I started this, we have always used WBR's own accounting for the cost of a bike. Since 2009, that has been $134/bike. But this past year, they undertook an accounting of how things have changed since 2006, when WBR was founded, and found that the cost of bikes (well, the whole bike+supply chain system) had increased slightly. Details on the accounting can be found here: http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/our-story/news/blog/644-design-components-results-building-a-better-bicycle-for-tomorrow
World Bicycle Relief still leads the way in terms of pass through, though, with over 70% of donations going directly into the field. That's amazing: http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/our-story/governance
This year we are again making a small tweak to honor those who have stepped up in a big way for us. This year, donations of 7 bikes ($1,029) or more will get an extra chance (so any donation of $1,029+ gets you one extra chance in honor of the 7th year of the fundraiser) for an award.
To enter the challenge, you can donate online at the URL below. Like last year, the Ironman Foundation has been very generous in hosting and handling the donation site for us (Thanks, IMF!). Link:
https://www.crowdrise.com/rappstarcharitychall/fundraiser/theironmanfoundation
You can also submit donations via traditional mail (make sure to make a note it is for the Rappstar Charity Challenge) at this address:
World Bicycle Relief
Attn: Development
1000 W Fulton Market
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60607
Award drawing tickets will be assigned automatically from the donations, so please make sure to give us an email or phone number (or both) where we can reach you. For my part, I have donated 10% of my prize money from Ironman Arizona. This year, with a 5th place (prize money of $3000), I donated 2 bikes ($294). 100% of your contributions are tax deductible and will be directed back to World Bicycle Relief.
Last year, there were a lot of questions about Crowdrise's "optional processing fee." This is set by default at $15. But you can change it to any amount, including $0. The processing fee helps Crowdrise continue to operate, but it's by no means required. You can choose to give it or not. We spoke with Crowdrise about asking them to make this zero by default, but - for understandable reasons - that's just not how they operate. Whether you choose to support Crowdrise or not does not affect the pass through to WBR. Really, this up to you. If you want to support Crowdrise - they are a great organization - go ahead. If not, that's no problem.
If you give a donation of $147, you are also able to request a formal printed "thank you" gift/donation cards that can be sent to you or to someone else. The cards are beautifully printed and feature an inspiring story of an actual recipient of a bicycle. Especially since this is the holiday season, we wanted to add something special to honor the momentous donations you all give. If you want a card, you can either contact WBR on their website - worldbicyclerelief.org/contact, or just make a note via Crowdrise ("I want a card") and we will contact you to make it happen.
Before you click through (or if you're back after clicking through) to the donation site, you may notice that the tally is really high for having just started. To kick this off, the WBR gang helped me organize an awesome dinner at The Pedaler's Fork, a local (to me), cycling-themed farm-to-table restaurant in Calabasas, CA benefitting WBR and kicking off this fundraiser in style. Thank you to everyone who supported that effort and gave us a great boost to kick this year off.
In rural communities around the world, distance is a barrier--time an enemy. But the talented and hardworking people of Palabana, Zambia are on the move. Watch WBR's new video below and see how bicycles make a difference to them. I hope it inspires you all to give again, give for the first time, or simply spread the word. Thanks for your support and commitment to WBR! The only thing more powerful than the power of bicycles is the power of people like you! Jordan "Rappstar" Rapp.
