Cycling Organizations to Merge with Oncoming…. Cycling Organizations?!

There was big news in the non-profit, “everyone should be a cyclist, respect the road, bicycle-friendly,” organizational world last week. And it’s big news if you like cycling or you don’t, so listen up. The following organizations have made barely a splash in the headlines recently; but I say, it should have been more like, a thunderous can-opener delivered upon an unsuspecting crush at the local pool. In the following paragraph, organizations are in bold and their missions in italics.

Bikes Belong (put more people on bicycles more often), the League of American Bicyclists (promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America), and Alliance for Biking and Walking (create, strengthen and unite advocacy leaders who are transforming their communities into great places to bike and walk) have issued a joint statement announcing their intentions to combine into “one effective, powerful organization with a clear, integrated structure and a single voice.”

Well sure, with a statement like that, how can you not be on board? They go on to describe in their statement, utilizing their nature to effortlessly deliver positive verbiage, that they can “transform communities across the United States”, “accelerate the creation of a more bicycle-friendly America” and use their “enthusiasm to take this momentous step for the movement (cycling).” Bicycle power!

We at Biking for Baseball, of course, see this as a great sign of things to come in America. As we are about to embark on our first trip across the country, we are going to learn first-hand how unbelievably amazing (or, hopefully not, the contrary) America’s roads are for its cyclists.

But enough about us, I believe the real winner here is the future of non-profit organizations.

You know how many registered non-profit organizations there are in the U.S.? dah-duh-duh-duh-dah-dah-duh-duh-…. and I’m bored. More than 1.5 million. That’s a lot. To curb the “problem,” in 2010, the IRS began revoking tax-exempt status of organizations that have failed to file Form 990 (would be a 990-N for B4B) for three consecutive years.

So, how is this a good thing? Read those missions again. I keep trying to search for a difference but that little voice in my head, that I can ignore most of the time, keeps reading over me, “We want people to bike more.” Which leads to the question, can you find anything categorically separate from those three organizations? Answer: Un pequito.

It’s because many non-profits do not perform the same thorough analysis of the competitive landscape that, say, a for-profit corporation would. This results in a layering of non-profit organizations that serve a slightly different, but basically the same, mission. This division and competition over minimal policy, serves as a detractor from the overall growth these organizations seek, which in turn, proves difficult to push policy development within their sector.

The merging of these three “giants” in the bicycling non-profit world, is a step in the right direction. A unified and collaborative voice that can demonstrate to its government that we are all on the same page, will provide a quicker and more clear solution to the development of bicycle infrastructure in America for years to come! B4B has a future! I knew it!

Not only this, but all non-profit sectors should take note. To really make a change in this world, we need to join together, not just the cycling community. Find missing connections to be made between non-profits or join an existing non-profit that is already carrying out your idea. It’s easier and more fun to “Be the change you wish to see in the world” if you can tag team it.