Start a Team

Beneficiary Teams

Many Climate Ride beneficiaries form their own teams, who ride specifically to raise funds for that organization. Beneficiary teams are a great way to call attention to your cause, bring together your organization's staff and supporters, and of course a great way to raise money. If you are a beneficiary, and would like to set up a team, contact Caeli at caeli@climateride.org.

If you are interested in joining the team of one of the Climate Ride beneficiaries, you can view the list of beneficiary teams when you begin the registration process. The list will indicate whether they are open to the public. If a team is open, then you can click 'Join a Team' and continue with the registration process. If them team is open by invitation only, clicking ‘Join a Team’, will send an automatic email to the team captain for approval. Team rules are at the discretion of the team captain.

In registration, after you join a team, you're presented with a dropdown list of all the beneficiaries you can choose from. If you joined a beneficiary team, we suggest that you choose that beneficiary as your only beneficiary choice. Some beneficiary teams offer extra support, local rides, and fundraising incentives that they intend for riders who are fundraising primarily for their organization. If you join a beneficiary team and wish to select multiple beneficiaries, please email the team captain to inform them of your choice. The beneficiary team captain will determine if it is allowable.

Like any rider in Climate Ride, each individual on a beneficiary team must fulfill the $2,400 fundraising minimum to participate in Climate Ride (the minimum for 2014 events is $2,800). If you wish to change your team or remove yourself from a team, please contact us at info@climateride.org.

Have more questions about starting or joining a team? Check out our "Starting a Team" section on the FAQ page.

Corporate Teams

Forming a team to represent your company or organization is a great idea! Here's why:

1. Is your company or organization a sustainability leader? Showcase your sustainability or Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Your company can share and expand its CSR/sustainability success and leadership by joining the growing Climate Ride community. This grass-roots network includes hundreds of event participants, their supporters at home (more than 36,000 people have donated to Climate Ride), and expands beyond the actual event, with 18 million media hits in 2008, 20 million media in 2009, and an aggregated mailing list of over 3 million people.

2. Make a measurable difference in your CSR efforts. By partnering with Climate Ride, your company can not only measure the audiences reached (riders, donors, supporters), but can also directly point to the impact made by the funds raised, and the ways in which your company helped Climate Ride's non-profit beneficiaries make a lasting difference.

3. Be associated with the nation’s largest environmental charitable sporting event. In only three years, Climate Ride has become a premiere event in the eco-community. Supporting Climate Ride builds good will among a large audience of sustainably-minded individuals and businesses.

4. Keep content fresh and feature positive news. Keeping content current for the media and internal communications can be challenging. Climate Ride provides up-to-date and attention-grabbing content that team members can publish on your corporate blog, internal communications, Facebook, and Twitter to raise awareness of the team and share your dedication to CSR/sustainability. Through our personalized donation software and live online coverage of the rides, your team can be followed throughout the fundraising process, as well during the ride itself.

5. Build your fanbase through shared experiences. Climate Ride is an intimate adventure. Teams associated with Climate Ride have a chance to build lasting relationships during the experience of riding 300 miles in 5 days. The Climate Ride community and the Climate Ride organization choose to include and promote organizations that are environmentally-conscious, focused on sustainability, or making an honest effort to improve their corporate social responsibility. Your team can connect with other Climate Riders in meaningful and personal ways during the ride.

6. Increase team building among employees. Shared experiences work to the benefit of companies by increasing performance, wellness, and productivity among your team members, as well as their co-workers and supporters.

7. Give employees an opportunity to make a positive change toward a healthy lifestyle through cycling. Climate Ride is an exciting addition to employee wellness initiatives and programs. Cycling is not only a healthy and viable form of transportation, but it's also carbon-free!

8. Achieve increased visibility on both east and west coasts. Climate Ride NYC-DC travels 300 miles from NYC to DC via New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Climate Ride California travels 320 miles from Fortuna, CA along Highway 101, and then south athrough Ft Bragg, Guerneville, Sebastopol, San Anselmo, Corte Madera, Mill Valley, and San Francisco. A strong team with highly visible jerseys would not fail to make an impact as you travel these routes. Your employees and customers could also be recruited to cheer on the team along the route.

9. Partner with an organization that understands and matches your organization's vision to accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon economy. Climate Ride believes in changing companies from the inside through leadership in environmentally sustainable, socially responsible, and ethical business practices. Join the ride to learn best practices from other riders and raise the bar for all companies.

Have more questions about starting or joining a team? Check out our "Starting a Team" section on the FAQ page.