20/21 social impact report

Social Impact Report 20/21

Warm welcome from our Communications Lead Fariha

I joined Bike for Good last December, after a hectic year of the full 2020 experience. I started right before the second lockdown, which proved to be challenging. It was quite difficult starting a new job with a bunch of colleagues I wouldn’t get to meet until months later; it was a while before I even met my manager! I come from a communications and equalities background. Prior to Bike for Good, I worked in events, interfaith relations, employability for Muslim women and stakeholder engagement in the public sector; all with aspects of communications, but not a bike in sight! I attended a women's interfaith cycling event hosted by Bike for Good in 2019, and it was my first time cycling on the roads in Glasgow. I loved the group cycle and it really unlocked something in me - I knew how to ride a bike but I wasn't much of a cyclist. Cycling was something I reserved for holidays but didn't do much of at home. Alongside all the social media, campaigns, websites, blogs and press releases I've been busy with, I've also been doing road-confidence lessons with a colleague. I think there's a misconception that you need to be a full-time cyclist to be in this line of work. Fariha Saeed

Bike sales & services

We provide the people of glasgow with access to low-cost quality bikes. Our team of mechanics refurbish over 1000 bikes a year, donated by the public. It's a cycle!

Our community outreach team deliver a series of projects and services to get people around glasgow cycling

Our impact themes

Health & Wellbeing

Active Travel

Skills & Development

Our mission is to change lives through cycling. We focus on these three key impacts. You'll see these three symbols throughout the report.

A healthy and inclusive environment where everyone in the community benefits from more people cycling

vision

We enable people to ride a bike - we believe that cycling is the most effective and sustainable form of transport, enhancing our chances for a healthy life and environment

mission

Highlights 20/21

61% of participants now cycle as their main mode of transport, an increase of 47% before engaging with us

2484 people engaged with our Community Outreach team this year across different projects

38% of these people were new to us. We adapted our services to deliver support to people affected by the pandemic

2096 bikes were donated to us, and we sold 987

Engagement in our services led to a 60% increase in bike access, through bike ownership and nextbike

798 donated bikes were stripped for parts, to be used by our teams and volunteers

Helping communities during Covid-19

Since the beginning of the pandemic, cycling has become a lifeline for many. Bike for Good played a key role in helping to facilitate this - just one week into the the first lockdown, we developed services and activities in partnership with our many community partners to support families, people shielding, as well as key workers who worked tirelessly to keep us safe.

Covid-19 response

Changing priorites

New priorities and social restrictions reflect the massive change in activities delivered compared to the previous year.

188

people given access to bikes

'Learn to ride' sessions such as 1-1 cycle training went up by 196%

294

people delivered food and medicine

food and care packages delivered to vulnerable and shielding people

1687

We only held 22% fewer Active Travel sessions because we adopted a more personal style of work with less of a group focus

We raised £12,555 through public donations! Click to read

Click to read about our pop-up Dr Bikes

Click to read about the bikes we provided to children

Click to read a Key Workers cycling story

Bike sales and repairs

We provide access to low-cost quality bikes, diverting tonnes of waste from landfills. We do this by taking public bike donations, refurbishing those bikes (or stripping them to use for parts), then re-selling them back to the public from both of our community hubs, Revolve certified. On average, our team of excellent mechanics refurbish 1000 bikes a year. We also offer bike maintenance and service repairs from both our hubs.

We limited our opening hours and changed the way we were operated to keep everyone safe. This approach was constantly adapted

We operated the "Cycle Repair Scheme" to provide free repairs & maintenance for those facing financial difficulty due to the pandemic.

Bike Donations

West Hub:1596 South Hub: 500

Bike Sales

West Hub:798 South Hub: 189

Bike Repairs

People: 374 Appointments: 417

Click the images above to read more

Volunteers

We sadly had to halt all of our volunteering activity at the start of the initial lockdown. However, before long our volunteers supported our food delivery programme. By Christmas, we had 30 return but we were unable to recruit any new volunteers, despite having a big waiting list.

1668

33

Volunteers engaged with us at both our hubs

Volunteering hours were spent, despite social restrictions

Click the image above to read Thomas and Martin's volunteer story

"My return to volunteering was everything I thought it would be - welcoming, friendly, fulfilling, and great to be challenged by oily bits of bikes." - Stuart Kerr

Online activity

Much of our activity and most of our events had to move online during 2020. We've grown our online audience, reaching 107515 unique website visitors and 1633553 hits. Our social media engagement has increased exponentially too, reaching 27375 people on average each month on Facebook. Over the last year we had:

.... We also send out a monthly newsletter to over 3,400 subscribers! Click the image below to sign up to our newsletter

279,648 reach

20,878 reach

198,804 reach

Active Travel

As part of our Active Travel theme , we encourage people to take up cycling for their commute and as their preferred mode of transport. We support many individuals through cycle training, youth engagement, equipment loans, climate change awareness and led rides.

We saw a 30% Increase in the number of people cycling as their main mode of travel, through:

747

people engaged with an active travel activity

Bike Loans

67%

of these people were new to us this year

Dr Bikes

click on each image to read their active travel story

Cycling Activities

24% of those are able to do so for leisure and 40% of them have the skills, confidence and knowledge to cycle on roads for active travel.

tons of CO2 emissions were saved by participants through their active travel journey!

86.6

Key Workers campaign

There was a massive surge in people cycling during the initial 2020 lockdown, all around the world! This spike slowed down as restrictions and weather changed. Glasgow was no exception to this, as people slowly started returning to previous forms of transport. We wanted to remind people locally that cycling was not just for lockdown and is something we should do all year round. We launched a campaign in January 2021 offering help to Key Workers, so they could use cycling to commute. Our billboard in the south-side had 72,000 impressions and we had an overall reach of about 32,145 on social media.

115

Key Workers were supported on their cycling journey through: 1-1 Cycle training Bike & equipment loans Road skills lessons

click image above for more on campaign

Health & Wellbeing

Our health & wellbeing focus is to promote the mental and physical benefits of cycling. We support organisations to create cycling hubs, delivering confidence-building sessions and increase bike access for those on low-income.

1065

People engaged with the health & wellbeing team. 89% of those were new and 482 were supported in response to the pandemic.

said their mental health improved

484

make more use of outdoor spaces

People were provided with a bike as part of Bikes for All

Click on each image to read their health & wellbeing story

said cycling activities helped them make new friends

Community Groups worked with and 6 of them set up cycling clubs

10

“When I cycle my body tries to catch up with my mind. it’s therapeutic” - MORE cycle club participant

Skills & Development

Our skills & development side of the organisation offers people a chance to enhance their skills and employability prospects. We offer a range of classes and courses, such as bike maintenance, Fix Your Own Bike, Build Your Own Bike and a cycle maintenance qualification. We got creative in our approach to restrictions, moving many of these services online.

672

People engaged with a skills & development class, programme or activity

Maintenance classes were particularly popular, delivered to

406

people

Said their course made them feel better about themselves

click on each image to read their skills & development story

Of participants are likely to seek further training, voluntary or paid work

Of participants believe their life chances and employability has improved

It's all about community!

The local Glasgow community helped us stay afloat during a challenging and difficult period at the start of the pandemic, and we did our best to give back both here and abroad.

• We provided bikes and transport poverty relief to 22 new scots
• We did a festive bike giveaway where we reburfbished 100 kids bikes for families around glasgow
• We sent a truck-load of bikes to friends of Wumenu Community Farm in Ghana.

Click on each image to find out more about our community work

New Scots project

Festive giveaway

Wumenu Community Farm

Diversity Working Group

We created a number of sub-groups that focus on:

• Training and Volunteering
• Communication and Language
• Disability Awareness & Accessibility

On 25th August 2020, we posted our diversity statement of intent, in which we stated our committment to address the unconscious racial biases and lack of diversity in Bike for Good.We then established our diversity working group that same month.

Since the group's inception, it has:

1. Established a ‘Glasgow Cycling Diversity Collective’ to work with other community cycling organisations
2. Coordinated a programme of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) training for the staff team
3. Designed a programme of training and volunteer opportunities for New Scots, following a series of consultation sessions with refugees and asylum seekers.
4. Continued expanding the programme for women & non-binary people
5. Made changes to our recruitment process and expanded where we advertise roles
6. Initiated a D&I Audit with Mor Diversity

We can't wait to see how the group grows and develops and anticipate many positive changes, both internally and across the wider Glasgow cycling community

The group currently has 17 members, including staff, trustees and volunteers

click on each image to meet members of the DWG

Shgufta

Robin

Scotland's first-ever bike subscription service!

In 2020, we set out to establish a socially driven bike share scheme. It is designed to break down access barriers to cycling while promoting a circular economy. The pilot kicked off in October 2020, where users paid a monthly £20 fee and were provided with a bike & all the equipment needed, along with a service of repair covering maintenance, breakdown and insurance. Most of our pilot participants are still subscribed to the service!

24 people took part in the pilot. From our findings:

92.9%

43% were using the bike 5-6 days a week

of participants were "very satisfied" with the scheme overall

“It is a quality I wouldn’t otherwise have access to.” “The subscription model works really well for me - I don’t know how to maintain bikes.” “I’m delighted with my Elephant bike, it has had a massive positive impact on my Independence.”

63% were using less public transport

Thanks to our supporters and funders

Looking Forward...

This year has certainly been a challenge but it has also highlighted how resilient we are at Bike for Good and how important it is to work collaboratively to overcome adversity. Looking forward to 2021-22, we are confident that we will emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever. To do this, we are launching several new partnership projects, services and even a new joint venture!

• Motion Forward: In June 2021 we will launch Motion Forward, in partnership with Vélogik - a fleet maintenance service provider which will generate an income to support Bike for Good’s charitable activities. Click the image to read more on our partnership and the services we will offer ➡️
• New Scots Project: To support refugees and asylum seekers living in Glasgow, from April 2021 we will offer bespoke volunteering and skills development activities along with Build Your Own Bike sessions.
• Glasgow Women on Wheels Cycle Festival (GWOW) - in September 2021, we are excited to launch our second GWOW festival to support and encourage women and non-binary people into cycling! Keep an eye on our socials for more info coming soon!

& finally, team Bike for Good want to say thanks to everyone that supported us through a challenging, yet rewarding year!