Are we already done with a third of 2023? Where did the time go?
We've been focused on working on bikes out in the community and in our shop, but that's not all we've been up to. For the first time ever, we enter the year with a draft budget, and a board-approved financial goal.
We've long been public about our annual bike donation goals, but volunteers and donors have asked for more visibility into our financial goals. And today, the board has a public statement as to its goals for the organization for 2023.
The goals still include ambitious bike donation and repair goals, although lower than our record-setting numbers from 2022. They also include an ambitious savings goal for 2023 that gets us a bit closer to the dream of owning a building.
The four-member board of Dave Fork, Jack Miller, Lucy Hsu and Roger Conley Smith approved the goals and have articulated the thought process below.
You can help us achieve any or all of these goals by picking the area that you're most passionate about. Come repair bikes for donation, at our offsite events, or work on a nice for-sale bike or help us with fundraising.
Thanks for reading and supporting BikeX!
Each year, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange Board approves a set of organizational goals that guide our programs and motivate all of us to work together as a part of the BikeX community. This year, we have three high-level goals for the 2023 calendar year:
- Repair and donate 800 used bicycles into our community
- Repair 200 bicycles belonging to members of the general public
- Save $100,000 dollars toward a permanent building
When we began thirty years ago, we typically donated ~100 bicycles per year. By 2018, this number had climbed to almost 700 bicycles per year. We continue this proud tradition of putting repaired used bicycles into the hands of people who would otherwise struggle to afford them.
Years ago, Dave and Jack began repairing bicycles for members of the public in conjunction with Bike to Work Day. By last year Andrew and Gregg had expanded this effort to include off-site repair events at venues including schools and parks. These offsite events enhance our visibility and offer a way to keep donated bikes (and others) running smoothly in the community.
Like many bike shops, BikeX is vulnerable to losing its home, just as our own Santa Cruz Bicycle Exchange lost its lease and folded during the pandemic. The most successful community bike shops secure buildings in desirable locations within their communities. This has been a long-term goal toward which we have been saving since we incorporated in 2013; over the years, we have made steady progress toward achieving this goal.
If you have ideas and want to get involved in promoting bicycling within the community, please reach out to us. BikeX is always looking for more interested folks to help our community through our mission of decreasing the waste stream, teaching bicycle repair, and providing transportation to our community.