CROWDFUNDING INITIATIVE SEEKS $75,000 OF THE $400,000 NEEDED IN DONATIONS
By Asbury Park Sun
Second Life Bikes on Main Street has launched a crowdfunding campaign toward the purchase of the Asbury Park building in which it currently operates.
The non-profit organization, which offers a bike-earning program for children as well as affordable bike sales and repairs, seeks to raise a minimum of $75,000 through the crowdfunding effort. That will go toward the $400,000 in donations needed for the purchase of 21 Main Street, according to a news release from the group.
The building’s owner has offered to sell Second Life Bikes the property for $750,000, and the organization would borrow the final $350,000 if $400,000 toward the purchase can be raised, said Executive Director Kerri Martin [above, outside Second Life Bikes on Father’s Day in 2012].
The crowdfunding initiative has been launched on the RocketHub website. Click here to visit the Second Life Bikes donation page on RocketHub. Second Life Bikes has until January 31 to raise the funds.
The effort has already collected over $2,000 since it was launched late yesterday, Martin said.
Martin moved the organization into its current space in 2010, and since that time the proceeds from bike shop operations have grown over 1100 percent, according to the news release.
“The location is highly visible, and it’s right in the middle of Asbury Park making it very accessible to the people we serve,” she said.
Buying the building ensures that Second Life Bikes has a permanent home for its bike shop — which funds the youth program — and allows for the expansion of its community programs, according to Martin.
Second Life Bikes chose RocketHub as its crowdfunding platform due to the partnering and support offered, Martin said. For example, RocketHub’s partnership with A&E Network, called A&E Project Startup, offers an opportunity to share the Second Life Bikes story nationwide and boost fundraising efforts, she said.
Second Life Bikes has previously been featured on the CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning and the Today Show.
According to the news release, “Second Life Bikes is a biking community center in Asbury Park where people connect to each other, build skills, join group bike rides, learn bike safety, and create bike art and custom designs that can support new social enterprises. Its mission is to get more people [especially youth] on bikes, more often, while encouraging people to repurpose old bikes and bike parts, rather than discard them.”