You like to bike and contribute to your community. You’ve already signed up for Climate Ride or you’re thinking about it. Have you thought about getting your colleagues involved by starting a team?
Many companies offer matching grants and other ways to support their employees who are giving back to their communities. More than 40 companies have offered matching donations to their employees riding in Climate Ride! Furthermore, by engaging your colleagues, you’ll improve your own experience by having people to train with and share the Climate Ride experience.
Melissa from Team Clif Bar said it best: “After the ride, I went through Climate Ride withdrawals! It was an honor to spend 5 days riding and being so inspired by the Climate Ride community. Thank you Climate Ride for creating this multi-day experience with a powerful purpose, for finding the most beautiful routes, for scheduling so many interesting people to speak to us, and for making this memorable experience happen so smoothly. What an amazing time and group of people!”
If you have already signed up and wish to start a team, email us. If you are about to sign up, simply choose the ‘start a team’ option when you register!
We can help you with flyers, arranging a presentation about Climate Ride (during lunch or in the evening), and tips on how to captain a team.
Have more questions about starting or joining a team? Check out our “Starting a Team” section on the FAQ page.
Forming a team to represent your company or organization is a great idea! Here’s why:
1. Is your company or organization already a sustainability leader? This is a chance to share 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 (18 million media hits in 2008, 20 million media in 2009!)
2. Make a measurable difference in your CSR efforts. By partnering with Climate Ride, you and your company can 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. Climate Ride is the premiere sporting event for sustainability and bike advocacy. Climate Ride brings together a large audience of sustainably-minded individuals and businesses for a week of incredible cycling and networking.
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 company’s 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. 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.