With the arrival of 2016, that marks the close of the 7th annual Rappstar Charity Challenge for World Bicycle Relief. This year, we - and I want to emphasize that it is a collective effort by all of us - raised $72,124. In what I call "WBR Math," that's 491 bicycles into the field. And with the $-for-$ match at the end of the 2014, that's 982 bicycles. Wow. Thank you! Every year, I'm always a bit daunted by the task of trying to do this, and every year people have come through in bigger and better ways to help me. Amazing. I cannot think of a better way to both end 2015 and start 2016.
Some of you may wonder what happens now. Well, it takes me about a week or so to build a spreadsheet of names and donation amounts that I use to make draw prizes from. There's a bit of extra math for the extra chances for those who donated 7 or more bikes ($1,029+), but I suppose I better use that engineering degree for something useful. After that, I use Random.org to generate random (really, random enough) numbers. Then I contact folks by email. If somehow I can't get through on email, I've used Twitter and Facebook in the past to hunt people down as well. So keep your eyes and ears open. I'll also be following up this year with everyone to alert them as to how to take advantage of the Raymond James and Associates offer if they want it; remember there's a timeline on that opportunity.
One special thing we did in 2014 - and I sort of wish I had done it again, though something about doing it just once makes it special too - was ask people to speak about what this fundraiser and/or World Bicycle meant to them. Those videos were amazing and really made me feel incredibly good about the work that I feel privileged to do every year with this. While I didn't get a chance to put together another round of incredible videos, I thought it appropriate to wrap things up with a video myself. So here I am, thanking everyone for yet another amazing year supporting others through the power of mobility...
2015 has been another incredible year for World Bicycle Relief. They are closing in on 300,000 bicycles in the field (285,488). But to think about the impact that you all have made, over 1% of all of those bikes have come just from this fundraiser. Just us. 1% is a lot. That the team at World Bicycle Relief can count on this effort - because of people like you - year after year, that is an incredible difference maker. In the seven years that we have been doing this together, we've raised over $450,000. Wow again! In the past 11 years, World Bicycle Relief has grown from an idea into one of the most impactful and efficient and well respected philanthropic organizations in the world. So that was a powerful reminder of both the need and the impact of these efforts. It's a reminder of the Power of Bicycles! And a testament to the power of you!
So thank you for all that you have given. For what you all have the chance to get as thanks, or for those of you who want to see all of the prizes up for grabs, you can check that out at the Jackpot! page. Thank you again to all of those folks who chipped in (in alphabetical order): BoCo Gear, Chipotle, First Endurance, Louis Garneau, Ironman and the Ironman Foundation, Kiwami North America, Michellie Jones, NormaTec, Kevin Pollock, Quarq, Raymond James and Associates, ROKA, Silca, Specialized, SRAM, The Turbine, and Zipp.
Lastly, I'd also like to thank my colleagues at Slowtwitch, Dan Empfield and Herbert Krabel, who basically allow me to take over the site to leverage its reach and influence. Without the support of Slowtwitch, I wouldn't raise a fraction of what I do. So a big, big thank you to both of them.
And now, let's put a close on this year's fundraiser by looking ahead with the words of a wonderful African proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
