My last day at Bikemore, my parting ask to you

Today is my last day as Bikemore’s Executive Director.

Feeling nostalgic, I went through my old files and found my original offer letter dated March 29, 2015. Completely unplanned and immensely poetic, I’m leaving on the exact date I accepted the position six years ago.

The recognition Bikemore has received over the past six years has been humbling and something I take deep pride in. From our influence on policy, opportunities to travel, and national awards, these experiences were wild and always felt outsized for what was supposed to be a small local bike advocacy organization, one where I began as the sole employee.

My story at Bikemore turned out to be much bigger. There was tragedy. In the past six years I have mourned the loss of six people killed while riding their bike. There was joy. Celebrating the completion of the Maryland Avenue Cycletrack and the Big Jump--both award winning infrastructure projects. There were major wins. The drama that ensued in the fight to keep the Potomac Street bike lane is the stuff of legends. Complete Streets becoming law will transform Baltimore’s streets far into the future.

I’m grateful for all of the support these past six years. I’m awestruck and indebted to Bikemore’s talented staff. I am especially grateful for Jed Weeks, who has been more like a compatriot than a coworker and who will be taking on the important role of Interim Executive Director while Bikemore launches a national search for my replacement.

Bikemore’s future success depends on all of us chipping in, so this is my final ask to you: help me shore up my legacy and sign up for a monthly donation right now.

This forms makes a donation to our 501(c)(4), our greatest need. To donate to our 501(c)(3), donate on this page.

Over 100 people already give monthly. If we were to get just 400 more, a third of Bikemore’s operations would be fully funded. So $5, $10, or $20 a month is all it takes.

We even made a cool animation to demonstrate how these donations add up:

Thank you for giving. Thank you for a wonderful six years. Bike people are the best people.

Liz Cornish

Race Pace is Matching Donations!

Baltimore is lucky to have an amazing community of local bike shops that help to make biking in Baltimore fun, safe, and accessible. Whether you're training for your next race, looking to hit the trails, or are just biking around the neighborhood--supporting your local shop means that your dollars support businesses that invest in Baltimore. 

One way that local shops invest in Baltimore is through supporting our work. Race Pace is matching all donations through November 19th up to a total of $2,500. So whether you're learning about our work for the first time, or wanting to make this month's donation go a little further be sure to donate through this link so we can credit your donation towards Race Pace's generous $2,500 matching gift. Thanks for your support! 

#GivingTuesday 2015

A few weeks ago, during the launch of our #IBikeIVote Campaign, in front of 20 candidates for office and 200 Bikemore members we announced an exciting challenge from Bikemore board member Tim Adams. Last year, Tim was in a serious bike crash that left him with eighteen pieces of titanium in his body to repair his injuries. He credits the bicycling community in Baltimore for giving his family the emotional support they needed to recover from such a traumatic event. Eighteen is now Tim's lucky number, and the inspiration for his challenge to match up to $9K in individual donations through the end of the year--yielding $18K in operating support for Bikemore. We're asking our supporters to give generously on 12/1, knowing that their donations will be doubled! That is twice as many resources to build a force for biking in Baltimore.

This year Bikemore: 

• Hired a full time Executive Director and secured enough funding to hire a second part time staff member. 
• Advocated for the creation of the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Commission 
• Hosted 5 community bike rides attracting over 200 attendees. 
• Launched a successful #ibikeivote campaign with 20 candidates and over 200 attendees at our kick off event to encourage candidates to make active transportation a top campaign priority. 
• Partnered with Rails to Trails to bring $140K in capacity building dollars to Baltimore City to advocate for better and more connected trail systems. 
• Advocated for the installation of the Roland Avenue Cycletrack 
• Saw an increase in bike parking, with over 30 city racks installed this fall. 

Next year we plan to do EVEN MORE with YOUR HELP! CLICK HERE to make a donation or become a member today! 

So please share with others why you support better biking in Baltimore, and join us next Tuesday, 12/1 to help us raise $9K in end of year individual donations.