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PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST
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| Name: | Pedals for Progress |
| Founded: | 1991 |
| President: | David Schweidenback |
| Address: | Box 312, High Bridge NJ 08829-0312 |
| Phone: | 908.638.4811 |
| E-mail: | pdls4prgrss@worldnet.att.net |
| URL: | http://www.p4p.org/ |
| Mission: | Pedals for Progress rescues bicycles destined for America's landfills and puts them to productive use overseas, where they provide affordable transport to low-income workers and students. |
| Background: | As a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, Pedals for Progress founder Dave Schweidenback witnessed first-hand the importance of affordable transportation in the efforts of poor working people to increase their incomes, access health and education services, and become more productive. Many years later, while living in New Jersey, Schweidenback observed a large number of repairable bicycles being trucked to a local landfill. From that juxtaposition, Pedals for Progress was born. Since 1991, the organization has shipped more than 40,000 bicycles and $6 million in spare parts and accessories to private non-profit agencies providing small business, education, health, and other services to low-income communities in 20 developing countries. Currently, some 150 congregations, schools, service clubs, environmental groups, scout troops, and businesses in the United States collect bicycles, raise funds, and donate in-kind services to help Pedals for Progress meet the growing demand for affordable, two-wheeled transportation from overseas groups. |
| Current Programs: | The organization's principal program involves the collecting, storage, and shipment of bicycles and bicycle parts to its partner agencies overseas. The objective of the program is to generate local employment through the reconditioning of used bicycles, and to distribute those bicycles to the poor in order to facilitate their access to jobs, markets, and/or services, and to generate income for community development programs. Some partners use a percentage of the bicycles directly, providing their staff with affordable transportation so that they can provide health care, literacy, or agricultural extension services to the poor. PfP donates 100 percent of the bicycles and bicycle parts it collects, shipping them in cargo ship containers holding 450-500 bikes, plus parts, with a value of $20,000-$30,000. In addition, PfP generally donates the freight charges and forgives its modest administrative fee for the initial container to a new partner. If additional shipments are desired, the partner agency must pay subsequent shipping costs and PfP's fee (currently $1,500/container). |
| Recent Successes: | PfP currently ships to 17 partner agencies in 13 countries. Ten of these organizations have paid for and received subsequent shipments — a testament to the growing demand for PfP's services — and are considered to be financially sustainable without further external subsidy. During 1999, Pedals for Progress shipped more than 7,000 bicycles overseas, and is on a pace to ship nearly 10,000 this year.
Over the last year, PfP has partnered with affiliates of established international small business and education programs, including the Salesian Missions, Junior Achievement, Rotary International, and Goodwill. It has also teamed up with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Secure the Future program to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Based on its achievements, Pedals for Progress and its founder have won numerous national and international awards in recent years, including the National Peace Corps Association's Shriver Award for Humanitarian Service (1997), Bicycling Magazine's Environmental Award in the Recycling Category (1998), and a Rolex Laureate Award for Enterprise (2000). |
| Web Site: | The Pedals for Progress Web site (www.p4p.org) provides information on the organization's programs and the programs it supports overseas, as well as information on how to apply for PfP support and locations where the public can donate bicycles. Further information on PfP can be found at www.rolexawards.com. |
| Funding Needs: | PfP derives its operating income from three principal and approximately equal sources. First, each donor of a bicycle is asked to contribute $10 to defray shipping and overhead. Most do. The practice has twin virtues, compelling PfP to clearly communicate its mission and performance, while persuading the public to donate, on average, more valuable bicycles than it might otherwise. Second, each overseas partner agency must pay a portion of shipping and administration costs for supplemental shipments of bicycles and bicyle parts. Again, this seems to have a positive impact, in that it makes partner organizations more efficient while encouraging PfP to ship higher-value product. Individual and institutional donors provide the remaining third in the form of grants. As the program grows, grant funding is particularly needed to subsidize initial shipments to new partner organizations.
Other funding needs include special projects to increase the ability of the program to provide environmental and development education to the American public. Of particular importance is the preparation and distribution of service-learning materials to teachers who want to integrate a Pedals for Progress event into their social studies, environmental, public policy, or related curricula at the middle and high school levels.
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Last Week Research Foundation for Prevention of Complications Associated with Health Care
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Every week, the "Spotlight" highlights the activities of a different U.S. nonprofit organization; periodically, the spotlight shifts to an NGO in a country other than the U.S. The selection of organizations for the "Spotlight" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size to ensure the broadest possible representation of the nonprofit sector, both in the U.S. and abroad.
If you'd like to see your NPO or NGO in the "Spotlight," e-mail a description of your organization, following the above format, to spotlight@fdncenter.org, or send a hard copy via snail mail to: NPO SpotlightThe editors of Philanthropy News Digest reserve the right to edit submissions. |
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