In-Kind Donations

A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. There are a few things that most community bicycle organizations hope to have donated: money, time, bikes & parts. Each type is essential to the organization and may require unique ways to encourage and process the donation.

Money

Whether it is for staff, rent, or just chain lube, it is challenging to operate an organization without it.

Grants

NOTE:

Why would a foundation want to give an organization money?

They are usually associated with family foundations collecting interest on existing funds (old money) or successful businesses that made a profit in that tax period (new money). Regardless, that money is taxable, so foundations have the choice of paying those taxes OR giving a portion of them away to a charity for a tax write-off. For this reason, most foundations offering larger grants will require an organization to be an official non-profit (501(c)(3) in the USA).

Again, foundations only have an interest in giving you some of their profit, so if they are going out of business or they didn't make any profits in that tax term -- they don't need your tax write-off.

Where can I find a list of foundations?

Foundation Center (http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/) is a great online resource, contact them and find out who in your area has an account -- make friends with that organization. You may realize it is your local Non-profit Association or local Library.