Tour d'Afrique Ltd.

Wheels of Africa

Congratulations to Dan Austin of Austin Lehman Adventures (ALA) for being chosen to receive the 2011 Global Vision Award from Travel and Leisure magazine for their work on Wheels of Change, an charity started by ALA to help ship used bikes to Africa.    Magnanimous as ever here’s what Dan had to say when he won the Award at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Chiapas Mexico on October 19th:

“This award is for everyone involved in Wheels of Change both in Montana and abroad where the tires ultimately hit the ground in Africa. We are honored and appreciative of the recognition but our work has just begun,” notes Dan Austin, director of Austin-Lehman Adventures and founder of Wheels of Change

How I know Dan:
I first met Dan as a result of our project to open a bike shop in Nairobi with our friends at Wheels of Africa.

A bit of history:
WoA’s dream was to open a bike shop in the Kibera slums to serve the local community. Prisca Oluch, director at WoA, and I worked together for months putting together a workable business plan and soliciting support from whomever we could get to listen.

The Tour d’Afrique Foundation had committed $3000 to the project to help with the start up costs of the shop and 2010 Tour d’Afrique Rider Gerald Coniel generously contributed another $2000 from his own pocket.

This money would cover the start up costs of the shop and the cost of transporting bikes from the port n Mombasa to Nairobi. But we still needed bikes and shipping a container of bikes to Mombasa from the US would cost another $8000.

Getting that cost covered was critical to the shops success. We contacted various organizations including Mike Linke at BEN Namibia who had some great advice for us and ultimately introduced us to Dan at Wheels of Change.

How Dan Saved our Project:
Dan came to our rescue in a big way. He quickly agreed to help and within a few months he and his team had collected 320 bikes and packed them into a container for shipping. Wheels of Change covered all the costs of packing and shipping the bikes to the port in Mombasa.

A Nairobi Bike Shop to Open Soon:
As we speak the bikes are on the open ocean and due to arrive on November 29th. Upon arrival WoA will bring them to Nairobi where they are working to build a bike shop and storage facility for the bikes. 100 bikes have already been pre-sold and demand for the others is high. We are all very excited to see the shop open when the 2012 Tour d’Afrique reaches Nairobi.    The success of the Tour d’Afrique Foundations efforts to encourage and improve access to sustainable forms of transportation in Africa hinges on working with professional, reliable and generous partners like Wheels of Change.    Congratulations again Dan, you deserve it. I look forward to working with you again in the future.

Paul paul @tourdafrique .com

Related Links:

Wheels of Change

Wheels of Change collects donated bicycles in the United States to be shipped overseas to Africa. They work closely and are a big supporter of BEN Namibia.

BEN Namibia

BEN Namibia aims to empower disadvantaged Namibians through provision of sustainable transport and bicycle-related income generation opportunities.

The Tour d ’Afrique Foundation

For 10 year the TdAF has been donating bikes to Health Workers in Africa so they can reach more patients and deliver care more effectively. In 2010 TdAf began supporting Wheels of Africa’s dream of opening a community bike shop in Nairobi.

Wheels of Africa

Wheels of Africa was formed in October 2008 as an organization to champion the culture of cycling in Africa. To date we have about 30 paid-up members from all walks of life ranging from casual riders, commuter cyclists, bicycle mechanics, competitive bike riders, para-cyclists and both young and older learners, learning to cycle. Wheels of Africa’s vision is to mainstream cycling as a lifestyle and an alternative mode of transport in Africa...

Posted November 10, 2011 by Paul McManus
Events | General

TDA Foundation Donation in Nairobi

On our rest day in Nairobi we held our third bike donation ceremony of the tour. Rebecca Cherono of the Great Rift Valley Development Agency (GRVDA) was there to help organize things. In total we donated 60 bikes to 3 different organizations around Nairobi. The GRVDA is a wonderful group of people whose main focus is educating people about the resources and services available to them from the government and helping them to understand the process to access those resources. The Kenyan Government earmarks money each year to be used for community development but it often goes unused and winds up being redirected towards other needs (or someone's pocket!). GRVDA is helping to change this through its education programs. Spend a few minutes with Rebecca and you'll be amazed at the way such a simple program has changed lives in Nairobi.

At the donation ceremony, twenty five bikes went to Arrow Web Hospital, represented at the ceremony by Bramuel S.J., Project coordinator for the hospital. Arrow Web is a small private hospital founded by Bramuel and two friends in 2005 to provide medical care and outreach services to the underserved populations in the Soweto/Kayole slums of Nairobi. This was the second time we've donated bikes to Arrow Web, who will give the bikes to health outreach volunteers who travel around the community providing health education and carrying medicine to those who can not travel to the hospital. The outreach volunteers also act as the eyes and ears of the hospital, watching for disease outbreaks and other health issues that may arise and reporting back to the staff at Arrow Web. I had the opportunity to visit the hospital this year and though there are very understaffed and under resourced, I was impressed at the level of care they are able to provide and the number of patients the see in a week (more that 1500!). More about my visit to Arrow web in another blog.

Twenty bikes went to Maji Mazuri School and Orphanage run by a small group of dedicated teachers and represented at the ceremony by Wanjiku Keronyo, program director for the school. I visited the school last year and was impressed at the work going on there. They house about 100 children and teach another 150 or so that walk to the school each day. The school is surrounded by gardens and fields growing much of the food served at the school. In the school barns are every kind of farm animal you can imagine: geese, rabbits, chickens, cows, horses etc... all providing valuable inputs to keep the school running. This year they've even added a biogas system do do the cooking in the kitchen! The bikes we donated to Maji Mazuri are used by the teacher for errands and travels back and forth from Nairobi (30 kms one way) and by the children to get to and from school. Even though close to Nairobi the school is in a rural area and transport is very difficult. The teachers are especially sensitive to the need for young girls to learn to cycle, something that is not too common in Kenya, so many of the bikes will go to the girls at the school.

The third group we donated to this year was Vijiji Children's Home. We donated 15 children’s bikes to the home. Some of the bikes were small bikes for very young children and others were for older kids.

The ceremony started with a some wonderful singing and dancing from the girls at Madji Mazuri. Traditional Maasai songs and poems about national pride and empowerment were recited. There were several riders present: Bram and Bram, Chris Fenar and Lindsey had all fundraised to make this donation possible and they did the official 'handing off' of the bikes. The ceremony closed with another round of songs from the girls. The event itself was short and sweet, but the impact of those bikes will be long lasting.

Posted March 28, 2011 by Paul McManus
Events

How to Green Up Your Bike Tour

Cobalt mining destroys children’s lives in the Congo, e-waste is polluting in India, bottled water consumes 10 times the resources of tap... the daily news is filled with stories about how our purchases have far reaching affects that go well beyond the lifespan of the products we buy and the resources we use. Unfortunately many of the externalities we create through our consumption affect people in the developing world the most. The irony that the very tours we run, partial proceeds from which go help people along our routes, are also creating issues for them is a little unsettling.

We want our tours to be as low impact and socially responsible as possible and we try hard every year to lessen our impact. It’s challenging. Our carbon footprint is a big issue and things like disposing of waste on tour also pose big challenges. I’ll discuss the things we do on tour to reduce our environmental footprint in another post but today I’d like to talk about some ways you can help us lower your impact as you prepare for your tour. Responsible travel, green travel, eco travel... what ever you want to call it starts from home, continues on tour and even after returning home. Here are a few things you can to before, during and after the tour to lessen your impact.

Before the Tour:

Buy used
Whenever appropriate, buy used items. A lot of things you bring on tour won’ t make it home anyway so why not start with a pre-owned tent, bike or laptop? You may be saving something from the landfill and you’ll be saving yourself some money. At the finish line of our tours we will collect any items you do not want to fly home with and donate them to appropriate groups.

Do without
The list of things we could do without is long. It’s a lesson that is illustrated everyday on our tours both by witnessing how simply people in developing countries can live and by realizing how narrow your wants and needs become on tour. Give your gear list a really good once over and think about what you can cross off the list before you buy it.

Buy Local
Visit your local bike shop and camp store instead of Amazon and Ebay. Not only will you get better advice and service but you’re supporting a neighbor and reducing shipping and transport externalities.

Shop Good:
When you need to shop online consider using Good search andGoodshop . Every search you do on good search donates 50% of the search revenue to the charity of your choice. For a small organization (I always prefer to support small organizations) that can mean up to $800 a year. It’s powered by yahoo so the search results are good.

Goodshop has partnered with popular retailers so that 1%-5% of profits from the items they sell go to your charity of choice. There’s long list of charities to choose from but I’d like to suggest you choose Amigos de Iracambi. They work to conserve the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil and create income opportunities for the surrounding community.

Borrow
I bet your friends have tents and sleeping bags etc... they could lend you. Sometimes they may have extras they don;t even want. My friend Cliff just gave me a $300 tent. He got married and needed a bigger one. Its several years old and not worth much on craigslist and he knows I’ll get a lot of utility out of it. Put the word out on Facebook or by email that you could use a few things for your tour and see if you can borrow them locally.

On Tour:

On tour you can do a lot to help us reduce the impact on the local environment on tour by helping us manage our waste diposal systems effectively.

The three bin system On tour we dispose of our waste using a 3 bin system. One bin for organics, one for Burnables and one for re-usables. Organics are buried every day, burnables like paper and cardboard are burned first and then buried with the organics. Re-usables are are reused in camp or given to local resident to reuse. Anything left over from the re-usables bin is disposed of in local trash pits or garbage cans.

The key to the 3 bin system is using it properly. When we get careless and throw organics into the burnables or forget to rinse a reusable container before we throw it in the bin the system breaks down. You are big part of the effectiveness of this system and your help is greatly appreciated.

Don’t buy bottled water!

Bottled water is terrible for the environment and costly. At times you may have no choice but to purchase bottled water but avoid it whenever you can by carrying a reusable drinking container and filling it from our water stores or clean local supply.

Poop right
Practice your squatting! Depending on the terrain, soil conditions and population density there are several ways we dispose of waste on tour. The most common systems will be pit toilets and what is commonly referred to as the cat method. We’ll discuss that in more detail on tour but for now just know that the more responsible you are in dealing with this on tour the healthier our environment will be.

After the tour:

Donate your stuff to us. At the finish line we’ll have donation boxes lined up for you to place your unwanted items in. Bike spare, clothing, tents... whatever you prefer not to carry back home. We’ll collect eveything and make sure it gets to an appropriate charity of group that will get some good use out of the items.

Please leave any of your own tips and advice in the comments. For more information about preparing for a tour you can visit our website: www .tourdafrique .com or follow us on Facebook .

Paul

Posted February 04, 2011 by Paul McManus
General

It's not about the Money| Fundraising tips part 4

So far in this series we have given you Fundraising Tips, Explained how to set up a Fundraising Blog and How to Write a Thank You Letter. Today I would like to discuss what makes a successful fundraising campaign and as the title suggests, you don’t have to raise a lot of money to be successful.

Most riders who fund raise for the Tour d’Afrique foundation will raise a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. I know we often celebrate the big success stories, riders who raise tens of thousands of dollars for a cause. That may skew your perception of what a successful fund raising campaign is. Really, it doesn’t matter if you raise $10 or $10,000, raising money is only one part of a successful campaign. Another important part is raising awareness and you can do that by telling stories about your tour and about your cause.

Let everyone know how incredibly friendly the people of Sudan are or that the coffee in Ethiopia is the best you’ve had anywhere in the world. Tell stories about the impact a bike has on a rural Kenyan’s life or how other seemingly small opportunities can have a life changing impact. By telling these stories and raising awareness about your cause you are successful. You’ll be helping people broaden their worldview and think outside their own lives and community.

Three Easy Ways to Promote your Cause:

Develop a Media List: What local papers or magazines are in your area? Does your industry have a trade magazine? Make a quick list of 3 to 5 publications and look up their contact information online. Send them a story idea or press release by email and suggest you can contribute regularly to a column from tour or that they can subscribe to your blog. You’d be surprised how receptive local papers are to ideas like this.

Contact your Alumni group Tell them what you are about to do and who you are fundraising for. Ask if you can send them periodic updates for their publications or email newsletter.

Tell your local bike clubs and running clubs Ask if you can email your blog updates to their members. Most clubs have an email group or monthly newsletter and are happy to share the adventures of a local resident.

Do you have any other tips to share? Please leave them in the comments. To find out more about the Tour d’Afrique Foundation you can visit us on our website: www.tourdafrique.com or join us on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/tourdafrique

Posted November 30, 2010 by Paul McManus
General

Saying Thank You | Fund Raising Tips Part 3

So far in this series we’ve talked about how to fund raise and How to build a blog to support your efforts. Today I’d like to talk about what happens when you start receiving donations. I’ve included a sample thank you letter at the bottom of the page for your reference.

There are a few things you should do when you receive a donation.

● Thank the donor

● Add them to your mailing list

● Create a schedule for periodic correspondence.

If you are fundraising for the Tour d’Afrique Foundation and have set up your donations to be sent to our Paypal account we will take care of a lot of this for you. We automatically send thank you emails and letters to all our donors. And we post regular updates to our blog and Facebook page.

I’d still encourage you to send personal correspondence from tour. Or if you prefer you can provide our staff on tour with updates and we’ll include them in our newsletter.

If you’re collecting funds on your own here is what I suggest:

Thank everyone who sends you a donation. Even if it’s your mom or spouse. Send them an email and follow up with a handwritten note. Everyone likes to be thanked and writing a thank you note gives you a chance to reflect on your cause and why your doing all this.

In your thank you, remind them about what they have just contributed to and ask them to follow your blog or on Facebook. Let them know you will email them occasionally with updates and that they can opt out of this if they like.

Create a schedule to update your donors via email. Once a month should be plenty, especially if they are already following your blog or on Facebook. In each email remind them of what they have contributed to and update them on your fund raising progress. Ask them to share your story with friends or on Facebook so others can contribute. Include pictures and a personal story about your experiences. You can do this from your email provider or use a free service like Mailchimp that a can help you create professional looking campaigns.

You can choose to send a mass email to all you donors and you may have to if there are too many. But consider sending individual emails or group them and send out two or three different versions. An email update to family members could have a very different tone than one sent to your co workers or your riding buddies for example. A post card from tour would be a great way to show someone your appreciation of their contribution.

If you’d like to see an example of a thank you letter that we send out you can view one by visiting here: http ://www .scribd .com /full /43801526?access _key =key -111 q 10 obpip 1 oywmmbtk

As always if you’d have any tips of your own you’d like to share you can leave them in the comments. For more information about the Tour d’Afrique Foundation you can visit our website: www .tourdafrique .com or join our facebook page and leave us a note.

Paul

Posted November 26, 2010 by Paul McManus
Events

Create a Donate Button with Chipin

Last week I wrote a post about creating a blog to support your fundraising efforts. In that post I outlined how you can add a donate button to you blog using Paypal. A few days ago someone shared with me another way to add a dontate button that has some added benefits. It a free service called Chipin, http://www.chipin.com/ .

Chipin is a free service that will create a donate button and fundraising counter for you in a few easy steps. You can also create a widget to allow you to promote your cause on your favorite social network.

So if you’re still working on that blog or have the time to swap out your donate buttons give Chipin a try. I think the extra features might make it worthwhile.

Have some fundraising tips of your own to share? Leave them in the comments or head over to our Facebook Page and let us know under discussions.

Paul

Posted November 23, 2010 by Paul McManus
General

Four Steps to Start your Fundraising Blog | part 2

In this post I’ll discuss setting up a blog to help you raise money for the Tour d ’Afrique Foundation although many of these tips will apply to any kind of blog. Having a place online that provides people information about your fundraising efforts is an important part of the fundraising process. If set up properly it shouldn’t take too long nor should it require too much work to maintain.

If you have any questions about setting up a blog or preparing for your tour you can find helpful tips and answers in a discussion forum on our Facebook Page .

Step 1: Pick a Platform

First you need to choose a blog platform. There are a lot of options but I recommend sticking with a simple one. I’m going to show you how to create a blog using Blogger, but there are many other popular blog platforms. Navigate over to the blogger home page and click on the ‘Get Started’ link. You’ll be prompted to create a google account, if you don’t have one. After that you’ll need to choose a title for your blog and ta da! You have a blog. Now let’s make it look and function like you want it to.

Step 2: Title, Description and other settings

Click on the ‘settings’ tab to customize your blog. You can edit your title if you like and add a description. In your description state your fundraising goal. Stating your goal as the number of bikes you would like to donate, instead of a dollar amount is recommended.

A few other things to do under settings:

- Choose who can leave comments on your blog posts.

- Add the email addresses of people you would like to be automatically notified whenever there is a new blog post

- Set up blogger so you can post stories by email (a nice feature to use while you are travelling through countries with less than stellar internet connections).

Step 3: Design Your Blog Elements or ‘Gadgets’

Under ‘Page elements’ Blogger lets you customize the layout of your blog using gadgets. Click on ‘add a gadget’ and you’ll see a list of possibilities. You can drag and drop any gadget on the screen to move it around.

Here’s a short list of gadgets I think you should use:

About Me:

This is a default gadget on Blogger. I like to have it right at the top in the right hand collumn. Add your picture and a brief description of yourself.

Donate Button (via paypal).

Paypal makes adding a donate button very easy. Just follow these steps:

1) First, head over to this page on the Paypal website: https ://www .paypal .com /us /cgi -bin /?&cmd =_donate -intro -outside and follow the instructions to get the html code for a donate button.

When asked for the Paypal address to send donations to you can enter: info @tourdafrique .com for payments to go directly to the Tour d’Afrique Foundation. Be sure to enter your name in the Donation ID box so we’ll know it’s from you. Alternatively you can enter your Paypal address, collect all your donations and then send them to us at regular intervals.

If you choose to have donations sent directly to us we will send out a handwritten thank you note for every donation we receive and send a follow up report about our bike donations.

2) Once you’ve copied the html code from Paypal go back to blogger and click on the ‘add a gadget’ link. Choose the ‘html / java’ gadget.

Add a title to the gadget and then paste the html code from Paypal. Click save and then preview to see you blog. You’ll see your fancy new Donate button!

Exit preview and you can drag and drop the new gadget anywhere on the page you like. I like to have it at the top, right below the ‘About Me’ box.

Text Block:

I like to add a text gadget underneath the donate button to describe what you are fundraising for. Just click on ‘add a gadget’, choose the text gadget and enter your text. My text box says the following:

“When a Community Health Worker (CHW) in Africa uses a bicycle to visit patients they are three time as effective in treating patients and providing much needed medicine to children. A bicycle allows them to increase their coverage area, reach patients faster in an emergency and get to nearby hospitals more regularly to re-stock their medical supplies.

Most CHWs in Africa are volunteers living in very remote areas. They work closely with the Rural Health Center to provide outreach services to the surrounding community. They are a vital part of the health care structure and through the simple donation of a bicycle you can help them prevent more disease and save more lives. The average cost of a bike is $150. Please click on the Donate button above and help us improve rural medical services in Africa.”

Link List

The link list gadget allows you to post a list of relevant links for people to visit. In my blog I’ve added the link for the Tour d’Afrique Foundation under the title “Find out more”. You could also include links to reports about Community Health Workers in Africa or the websites of our partners: Africycle, BEN Nambia and Zambikes.

After following the steps above this is what my new blog looks like:

Your blog will of course look a bit different depending on the theme you choose. There are lots of additional gadgets you can add. Personally, I like to keep my blog simple so people can focus on my daily posts and the cause I am fund raising for.

Step 4: Get Writing!

That’s all there is to it. You now have an effective fundraising blog format and all you need is content (easy right?). Good content is of course very important. When you are on tour you’ll have tons of great stories to tell and hundreds of unique photos. But what about now? Here are a few suggestions for blogs you can start writing today to build an audience.

The Foundation:

Write about the Tour d’Afrique Foundation and what we do. If you need help with this post you’ll find lots of information on our website or you can contact me: paul@tourdafrique.com.

A Health Workers Story:

If you’ve never been to Africa you might find it hard to understand what it’s like to live and work in a rural village a 20 km walk from you nearest health clinic. Write a blog to help people understand. If you like we can connect you with some of our recipients who can do a ‘interview’ with you via email for your story.

Preparations:

It might seem boring to you but preparing for tour, your packing list and training routine are interesting to people who follow your blog. It’s the beginning of the 12,000 km story that you are about to tell.

Regular donation updates:

Be sure to write regular updates about how the fund raising is going. Describe the activities and events you’ve undertaken to raise money. Thank everyone who has donated show you’re progress towards your goal.

Special Fundraising events:

You may choose to host a fundraising dinner, or a screening of the documentary about our 2008 tour called ‘Where are you go?’ or other events. Be sure to take pictures and report these events on your blog.

Got some blogging or fundraising tips of your own? Leave them in the comments or head over to the discussion forum on our Facebook Page and start a discussion there.

For fundraising tips from former riders check out two recent posts by fundraising superstars Gerald Coniel and Jen Crake .

Posted November 17, 2010 by Paul McManus
General

13 Fundraising tips from Gerald

Gerald Coniel was another fundraising superstar on the 2010 tour. Many of you may have followed Gerald's daily blog on tour. In even the most remote conditions he was able to find an internet connection to send his updates. I remember in Yabello, where everyone guaranteed us there was no internet to be had, Gerald searched and searched and finally tracked down a local priest who happened to have a 3G modem in his house! That kind of energy and tenacity I'm sure were big factors in his success fundraising. Thanks to Gerald for providing us with these techniques. For fundraising tips or to find out more about the Tour d'Afrique Foundation visit our website at http://www.tourdafrique.com

Hello Everyone!

I managed to collect over 120 bikes during my fund raising initiative for the 2010 race.Here are a few tips that I feel are important for future fund raisers.
1) Best results were achieved by contacting family friends and colleagues. Businesses were difficult and slow, they take forever to decide and often it is negative.
2) Prepare the fund raising initiative well before approaching anybody A nice looking blog with a special section on the TDA bike donation is an absolute must. Most people feel they need something they can read and be referred to. I also wrote a letter and approached everybody via e-mail first with a link to my blog and a link to the TDA web site.
3) Take the time to personalise the email, do not send a mass email to all in one shot. I sent about 200 emails and wrote something different to each one just to personalise the text. It is time consuming but the results were there. You can copy and pace the general info, but always start your email with a few personalised sentences.
4) In my email, I would never ask for money, but for the donation of a bike. I would then mention the cost of one bike (100 euro), but never asked for money directly. Funny enough, many people liked the idea to donate a bike more than to donate money. This point is very important! I always talked of donating bicycles, not donating money...
5) Then another successful argument that I put forward in my letter and when talking to people was that they would be informed about when and where the bikes they were donating would go. That was an excellent point which motivated many to join. I used my blog again there to remind people they would be able to follow the bike donation live on my site.
6) During the tour, I actually made sure to write about each donation and put plenty of pictures on line. Everybody could then see how their bikes were making a difference in Africa. I technically acted as my donator’s ambassador.... They loved it. 7) When you sell something, one of the key to success is to show success... So, what I did was to run a counter right on top of my blog showing how many bikes had been donated already. People are natural followers, if you show them that others have already purchased bikes, they will follow... but show them!

I had a few “dead certain” people that I used as my first bikes to get the counter ticking. Then I would use round numbers to motivate people, when I got close to 50, it was easy to say “come on, help me break the 50 marks...” and so on.... funny enough when I hit 100, the next 10 came in 24 hours... People are followers... 8) When contacting friends who did not have much money, I suggested they got together with other friends and offered one bike together. This worked really well. The 100 euro should not frighten away smaller donators. I had a lot of people donating 25 euro for a quarter of a bike, the nice thing was that they would look themselves for people to join them for more “bike shares”...

9) I did two rounds of mailing, the first round was in October and the second round in December. Many people had shown interest in October, but most would commit in December. I also gave a deadline, because if people don’t have a deadline, they keep on delaying, so I first made end of December my official donation deadline... Eventually, I would “reopen” donations during the race as many new blog followers would ask how they could contribute... 10) As soon as people showed interest, I would follow up with a phone call restating all the important points about the race and the incredible impact these bikes had on the communities we would hand them to. My best argument was: “This is the best 100 euro you will ever spend! There is no better way to have so much impact with so little money!”

11) The TDA web site is full of good example and I found it extremely useful. People would ask very technical questions such as what kind of bikes, where were they made, how would they be transported and delivered, and so on. I made sure I had all the answers before and spoke with TDA staff before starting my campaign, so I knew what I was talking about, a very important thing when you start picking up the phone...

12) I also made sure people could pay in any way they felt comfortable, many did not use paypal or did not want to pay on line, so I offered to collect cash, cheques, etc and kept a very clear transaction sheet. I would then do a global transfer to the TDA foundation. Each time I got a new bike, I would of course also contact the donator and thank him or her personally and mention what was the new total number with their own donation. I would then immediately update the counter clock on the blog.

13) And lastly, if you believe in this, you should lead by example and donate some bikes yourself as well. My suggestion to my family was that my Christmas presents should be bikes. If your birthday happens to be around at that time, take it as a perfect opportunity to get your bike counter rolling...

I donated a total of 142 bikes in 2010 and with making the race EFI, it is a life achievement I am most proud off!

Gerald

Posted November 09, 2010 by Paul McManus
General

How to Raise $35,000 for Charity in 3 months

You may not realize it, but what you are about to do is inspiring. You are undertaking a journey that many people can only dream about being a part of. Many riders choose to raise money for the Tour d'Afrique Foundation or other charity in conjunction with their tour. In this way not only do they raise money for a worthwhile cause but they also give people a chance to be a part of their adventure.

Over the years our clients have inspired people to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to support worthy causes all over the world. On the 2010 Cairo to Cape Town tour we had two superstar fundraisers, Jennifer Crake and Gerald Coniel. Both have recently shared their fundraising strategies with us so that other might benefit from their experience.

In todays post I'm going to share with your Jennifer's approach to fundraising. Next week I'll share with you Gerald's approach.

If you are, or are considering raising funds for a charity, or for the Tour d'Afrique Foundation as part of your tour and would like some assistance with your fundraising please contact us at info(at)tourdafrique.com. We can offer advice and help you promote your cause.

Here is Jennifer's post:

The Tour d’Afrique (TDA) is the longest, toughest bicycle race/expedition in the world, and it is also an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about international issues and collect much needed funds for worthwhile causes.
Have you considered fundraising before you head off on your Africa adventure? It is not too late! From September 2009 to January 2010, before flying to Cairo to begin the TDA 2010, I raised $35,000 for a charity that supports grassroots organizations in Africa. As a participant in the Tour d’Afrique 2011, you are about do to something incredibly challenging and special, and you are in a unique position to draw attention to the very issues that affect the lives of people you will cycle past on the roads of Ethiopia, Malawi or any of the 10 countries you will be visiting next year. If you aren’t sure how to get started or how to make the most of your current fundraising efforts - here are some simple things you can do to get people excited about your cause and reach your fundraising goal.
Get organized!
Pick a cause that you are passionate about and a charity that deals with the issues that interest you. Read about the TDA, talk to past participants and learn a bit about your African route, as these will be the things that friends, family and prospective donors will want to talk about when you approach them about your fundraising initiative. The TDA is a great platform for introducing issues about Africa and relating them to your charity.
Make contact with your charity and do your homework!
Reputable charities all have a community organizer or liaison and they will be happy to talk about the charity and provide you with all the tools you need to educate yourself about the issues. Take advantage of your relationship with the staff at the organization and ask lots of questions about the work they do, ask for details about how donation money is spent and find out exactly how much of every dollar goes to administration costs. This kind of information will be invaluable when you start fundraising and will prove to potential donors that you not only believe in the charity but that you also have a vested interest in how donation money is being spent.
Set up a personal fundraising page and gather resources
Most charitable organizations have a website that will allow you to set up your own personal fundraising page and this is a great way to monitor your fundraising and collect funds. Personal fundraising pages allow you to post a profile about yourself, set a fundraising goal and will encourage visitors to your page to donate online. A fundraising page is an easy and secure way for individuals to donate what they want - when they want. Charities often have online resources and information that you can use and share with donors. Read as much as you can about the issues – once you start fundraising you become a representative for the charity and it is your responsibility to know the facts.
Make a BIG first impression!
Pedalling your way through 10 African countries is no easy feat and by talking up the ride you also get to talk up your charity. Start with an email or a message via a social network site and send out a well crafted, thoughtful newsletter style note about the TDA and your charity. The first message you send about your decision to participate in the TDA and your reasons for fundraising will be one of the most important – it must be concise and include all relevant information – details about your ride and your charity, your fundraising goal and should include a direct link to your fundraising page, as well as a list of upcoming fundraising events.
Get planning and start fundraising!
The initial message you send you will draw people to your fundraising page but you should try to think of other ways to raise funds and target various social groups. Part of the fun of fundraising is brainstorming ideas. Imagine all the ways that you can raise funds and write them down. Make a list of everyone you know, put them into groups and think carefully about the kinds of events you can hold to maximize donations from those particular social groups.
The Older Generation – this group consists of your parents and their friends. This group is often retired and already has a long list of charities they support. This is your opportunity to introduce them to the TDA and possibly a new charitable organization or cause. Invite them to a cocktail party or dinner. Advise them they can donate at the door or set an amount for the evening. Prepare a short introduction to your charity and spend the evening talking about both your ride and the charity. Bring any resources supplied by your charity – including donor forms as many people in this group will donate by cheque or cash and not online.
Siblings – this group includes your brothers and sisters and their friends. Encourage your siblings to get involved! They will be inspired by what you are doing and will want to help. Ask your family to send your original message to their friends and to post it on their social networking sites. Events such as BBQs, dinners and parties are the best way to get individuals to commit to a donation and these types of events will introduce you to a new donor base. Ask you brothers or sisters to host an event and to tell their friends to bring their cheque books and/or cash!
Colleagues – this group includes anyone and everyone at your workplace. If you have already announced your plan to traverse Africa by bicycle chances are your fellow colleagues are excited for you and want to somehow be involved in your great adventure. Investigate ways to get your company to support your charity and/or host an event at work. Bake Sales might sound old fashioned but my sister raised over $400 in one morning at her work for my charity. In my office, I asked people to throw their pocket change into a bowl and after just 2 months I rolled over $200 in coins. Small ideas add up!
Friends – this is the most important group of all. They will not only donate funds but they will also be willing to help at events and spread the word about your cause. This social group is perfect for a big party or larger event. Canvas local bars and venues and find a sympathetic owner who will donate the space for an evening. Consider the skills of your friends – they can help you promote the event, enlist the support of a DJ or band, and host a silent auction. Ask for donations at the door and invite a representative from your charity to speak at the event as this will give the evening a sense of purpose. Hosting a party with music and a silent auction can be one of the best ways to raise funds and it is also a great way to involve your local community.
Strangers – friends of friends of friends. Once you start talking up the TDA in conjunction with your charity the interest will spread far beyond your own social circles. Friends have friends on social networking sites and if you make yourself available online and in person you can raise a lot of funds from people you don’t even know. Offer to speak to them on the phone or meet with them in person. These one-to-one connections can be very valuable and lead to large donations. For example, one lunch meeting and one dinner with friends of friends lead to $10,000 in donations towards my fundraising initiative. If people show interest be sure make the effort to meet them and share your passion about your cause - it could pay off!
Follow up!
Follow up on every donation no matter how big or small – it adds a personal touch and can lead to more donations. Keep track of every donation - if someone donates online thank them with a personal email and if you receive cash or a cheque at an event or funds in the mail - send a thank you card to the donor via the post. Fundraising is time consuming and it is work but it is work of the most rewarding kind.
If you decide to fundraise before you travel, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment but once you are on two wheels and experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of Africa, you will feel a wonderful connection to the people and all your hard work and efforts at home will be even more satisfying!
If you are interested in fundraising, need other ideas or would like to the TDA, please feel free to contact me.
Jennifer Crake – TDA 2010 – jennifer.crake (at) rogers.com

Posted November 03, 2010 by Paul McManus

Resources to help you Vote

Get out and Vote ! (please)
Tuesday November 2nd is election day here in the USA. Voter turn out for mid term elections is often low, people don’t seen to care as much about elections if the presidency is not at stake.

I like mid term elections because it’s easier to focus on local issues without the distraction of a big Presidential campaign. And local elections are what have the most impact on bicycle and pedestrian issues.

You can find your local polling places here: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=find+local+polling+place

And find out who your local officials are and what cycling issues there are in your community at the League of American Cyclists website here: http://capwiz.com/lab/home/

Get out the vote and make a difference in your community.

Posted October 31, 2010 by Paul McManus
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