The Community Cycling Center, an institution in Portland’s nonprofit advocacy scene since it was founded on Northeast Alberta Street in 1994, is in a financial tailspin and its leader says they’ll be forced to close for good unless the community donates $115,000 in the next three weeks.
An email to members and supporters sent Saturday relayed the news: “The Community Cycling Center has been grappling with an escalating financial challenge over the past five years,” reads the email. “This issue has now reached a critical point, and without swift, decisive action and the support of our community, we face the very real possibility of shutting down by October 1st.”
They’ve launched a “Save the Community Cycling Center” fundraising campaign and say they must raise at least $349,000 by January 1st, 2025 to stay afloat.
The CCC celebrated its 30th anniversary at the end of July with a carnival at Alberta Park. That same month they hired a new executive director, Ruben Alvarado — their sixth leader in less than five years. That high turnover is one of several reasons cited in a document released by the organization today. I have an interview scheduled with Alvarado in a few hours to learn more. (I’ll share our conversation in a separate post.)
In an email to BikePortland over the weekend, Alvarado said,
“When I assumed the role of executive director in July, I was hopeful that our organization was on a path toward growth and innovation. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that the financial challenges accumulated over the past 4 years following the pandemic were far more severe than anticipated. Despite implementing immediate cost-saving measures, emphasizing transparency, and strengthening our community relationships, we find ourselves at a crossroads where the possibility of closing our doors is becoming a harsh reality.”
One recent budget bright spot for the CCC is over $700,000 in grants they’ve won since 2022 thanks to two separate awards from the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF). In 2022 the CCC won nearly $500,000 for a three-year grant that would fund 900 bikes and, “14,000 hours of staff time and provide stipends and logistical support to Black and Latinx community leaders so they can engage in transportation-related system improvement discussions.”
And just last week the organization won another PCEF grant for $443,000 over two years to, “increase access to cycling infrastructure and promote sustainable transportation in underserved communities.” (In documents shared at city council this week, PCEF said their financial vetting process invovles, “examining the past three years of financial documents and relevant narrative responses in the application to assess the organization’s financial health and governance.”)
But in a statement today, the CCC says this grant funding requires up-front reimbursements and costs the organization cannot afford because revenue from their programs and donors has dwindled in recent years.
The CCC says their financial challenges began in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. Adding to that are the issues of frequent executive director turnover, high administrative costs, and “challenges within our bike shop due to industry changes.”
In a document that provides an overview of reasons their financial crisis, the CCC says their “top heavy” org chart had too many leadership positions that could have been done by lower-paid workers. They also say keeping employees on year-round and providing them benefits and annual cost of living increases contributed to these high administrative costs. In April 2023, the CCC’s bike shop became the first in Portland to form a worker’s union.
In July 2023 we reported that the CCC closed their retail shop because it wasn’t creating enough revenue. In its place they offered just a few select parts and accessories and launched a new model that allows paid members the ability to work on their own bikes. “While this new model has potential,” the CCC shared in a statement. “It has not yet replaced the revenue lost from bike sales.”
One number that jumps out in recent financial records is the 14 percentage point drop in contributions from 2021 through this year. That shows fewer people are donating to the CCC and combined with the loss of income from the bike shop, further complicates their financial outlook.
All of these factors paint a bleak picture. The CCC says if they don’t meet four funding goals by January 1st, 2025 (including $115,000 by October 1st), “we will have to shut down our beloved organization.”
For more on this story see the CCC website and stay tuned later today when I share an interview with Alvarado.
See video below for interview recorded this morning with CCC Executive Director Ruben Alvarado (also available on our podcast feed):
