World Bicycle Relief Nfp

“Governing body committees the board of directors shall have power to appoint committees for the purpose of conducting certain aspects of the corporate business not otherwise delegated. Committees may not act on behalf of the corporation unless such authority is specifically delegated to the committee, and if such corporate authority is so delegated, it shall be valid only as to a single issue and not in general terms. The board of directors may from time to time appoint advisory boards or special councils for specific purposes that do not require corporate action. The composition of such advisory groups may include persons with professional skills or special experience necessary to advise and inform the board of directors. Such advisory groups shall not have the authority to commit the corporation to any legal contracts or agreements whether or not related to the business of the corporation. The board of directors shall not lend apparent authority to such advisory groups and all related corporate resolutions shall expressly limit the groups' authority in this respect.”

“Business and family relationships board members stanley day and chairman frederick k.w. Day have a family relationship. Michael herr, stanley day, and frederick k.w. Day have a business relationship.”

“Form 990 review process the cfo, and treasurer reviewed a draft of the form 990 that was prepared by a third party tax preparer, grant thornton, based upon information wbr provided the preparer. Subsequent to their review, management and the full voting board received a copy of the draft return electronically. The board provided any questions or comments to the ceo and treasurer and the form 990 was revised, as necessary. The full voting board of directors received a copy of the form 990 prior to filing with the irs.”

“Conflict of interest policy monitoring & enforcement the responsibility for disclosing any known or reasonably foreseen actual or potential conflicts of interest shall be upon the interested party whose interests are or may appear to be in conflict. All interested parties are required to file a disclosure statement with wbr prior to such individual commencing his or her service with wbr and thereafter shall file with wbr an updated disclosure statement as may be required from time to time by the board of directors or its committee designee, and in no event less often than annually. The minutes shall reflect that the conflict of interest was disclosed and the interested person was not present during any discussion of the matter and did not vote on the matter in person or by proxy. When any such conflict of interest is relevant to a matter requiring action by the board of directors or any committee of the board, the interested person shall disclose such conflict to the board of directors or such committee; and shall not vote on the matter. Further, the interested person having a conflict shall retire from the room in which the board or the committee is meeting and shall not participate in any deliberation or decision regarding the matter under consideration. When there is a doubt as to whether a conflict of interest exists, the matter shall be resolved by a vote of the board of directors or the committee, as the case may be, excluding the interested person concerning whom the doubt has arisen. The board of directors, from time to time, shall report on its implementation of these guidelines and the status of any policy developments regarding compensation and conflicts of interest. Further, the board of directors shall report after having been alerted to specific instances when these guidelines have not been followed or any other issue regarding compensation or conflict of interest is determined to exist.”

“Compensation review wbr establishes a rebuttable presumption that the compensation paid to the ceo and other executives is reasonable. Wbr establishes a position by comparing the compensation of its ceo and other executives against 10 similar size nonprofits in wbr's peer group and third-party market data provided by grant thornton. The data used for the comparison is taken from the 990, annual report and audited financial statements from the 10 nonprofits and third-party data bases accessed by grant thornton. The final analysis is presented to the board of directors of wbr and salaries are approved yearly at the february board meeting. Compensation review by independent persons compensation is established for the ceo and treasurer by the board after a thorough salary/market review by a third party. This salary/market review process was completed in 2020 by grant thornton. Each year the board evaluates the ceo and treasurer's performance through an assessment process. The board uses this data to determine compensation. The senior staff has a comprehensive performance evaluation and compensation review done at the end of each calendar year. Salary is benchmarked regularly vis-a-vis other similar organizations using form 990 data. Documentation of the compensation review is contemporaneously documented in the human resources files.”

“Governing documents available to public the following documents are posted on the organization's website and available upon request: articles of incorporation, bylaws, conflict of interest policy, and audited financial statements.”

“We address the systemic challenges of distance and last mile mobility by manufacturing a bicycle specially designed from the ground up for rough roads and heavy loads for poor people in rural areas who cannot afford to buy bicycles and consumers. Rugged, affordable, long-lasting, and locally-assembled, wbr distributes the buffalo bicycle to healthcare service providers, students, farmers, and businesses, while building a sustainable bicycle mobility ecosystem to support end-users. By working with partners, training local bicycle mechanics, providing market-based access to spare parts, and nurturing community ownership of programming, we support community-based long-term impact and a vibrant mobility ecosystem. Since 2005, wbr has distributed 550,742 purpose-built bicycles (as of dec 2020), impacting an estimated 2.8 million individuals across 20 countries. We rigorously measure results, seek input from users and partners, and iterate the buffalo bicycle and our programs to maximize sustainable impact on those we serve. Illustrative results education: wbr's education and empowerment program continues to improve student attendance, punctuality and broader education outcomes, first demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial in 2017-2018. In 2019, two years after the start of the intervention, researchers followed up on the study and evaluated school administrative data related to attendance and dropouts for girl students at treatment and control schools. They found that the bicycle program continued to improve girls' attendance and had an effect on dropout rates. In 2020, zambia was affected by the global covid pandemic with primary and secondary schools closed from april 2020. When schools reopened in september 2020, researchers found the bicycle program intervention continued to improve girls' attendance, three years after program start, with a 29% reducton in absenteeism. Girls with bicycles attended an extra 2 days of school per term vs girls without bicycles. Girls with bicycles were 19% less likely to drop out of school vs girls without bicycles. Health: on two u.s. Agency for international development funded health focused activities, the projects found that with a buffalo bicycle, health workers with a buffalo bicycle in kenya increased their monthly patient visits 88%, boosted patient referrals up to 50%, and contributed to tuberculosis drug defaulter rates dropping to 0% in a sample of clinics. In zambia, where retaining volunteer health workers can be a major challenge, the project found that with a two-year service-to-own incentive agreement for a bicycle, health worker retention rates reached 95%. Livelihoods: through a partnership with a local zambian dairy cooperative providing milk to parmalat, wbr has been selling buffalo bicycles to small holder dairy farmers. With their bicycle, the cooperative's farmers increased their deliveries by 25% and income by 23%, while maintaining a 100% repayment rate. In support of a food and agriculture organization activity promoting conservation agriculture practices, lead farmers that were provided buffalo bicycles increased their follower farmer visits by 120%, 79% of lead farmers were able to visit more follower farmers per month, and time to market dropped by 45%, saving 3.5 hours per week while reducing post-harvest losses. The need according to the world bank, one billion people lack access to economic opportunities, markets, healthcare, and education due to distance. In africa alone, 70% of the rural population lack access to all season road and transport services, and primarily rely on walking. Rural households face several barriers preventing them from overcoming the challenge of distance. In sparsely populated geographies, national and local governments provide few public transport options. Personal transport assets, like bicycles and motorbikes, are relatively expensive for households living at the base of the economic pyramid, and rural households also have limited”

“Through partnerships with target communities, community members play a critical role in identifying and prioritizing high impact activities, with the ultimate goal of assisting communities to increase access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Working with local leaders and building local management capacity, our partner communities use sustainable bicycle transport to reduce their vulnerability, boost their independence, and ultimately thrive. Based on learnings and insights from previous activities, wbr's programming approach has continued to evolve. We operate both sector-specific activities focused on health, education, or livelihoods, while also launching a holistic multi-sector approach in defined geographies for a five+ year duration. Given that a bicycle is a household asset that men, women, boys, and girls use in many different ways, a holistic approach enables cost efficiencies and an even higher return on impact. Using a multi-sector approach in defined geographies with an upfront commitment to a multi-year engagement, wbr can best support sustainable bicycle use through our sustainable bicycle ecosystem, which includes our assembly and distribution facility, spare parts supply chain, trained local mechanics, social enterprise retail shops, and community ownership of programming. Our programming approach is informed by the sustainable livelihoods framework developed by the united kingdom's department of international development. The sustainable livelihoods approach looks holistically at poverty's causes and considers the assets that poor people need in order to sustain an adequate income to live, such as quality bicycles in areas where distance is a challenge. Our theory of change is based on the hypothesis that if communities help identify the distance barriers they face and co-design solutions, are supported to create local management structures, and are provided with high quality buffalo bicycles, supported by wbr-trained community mechanics and access to spare parts, then they will manage community bicycle programs and benefit from improved transportation to goods and services. That will result in improved household access to markets, community structures and services, girl and boy school attendance, maintained bicycles, and sustainable community owned bicycle programs. Over the long-term, our approach results in improved productivity, increased and diversified household incomes, improved education and healthcare, and other empowerment outcomes. These outcomes, supported by wbr's holistic bicycle ecosystem, will result in people and communities being independent and thriving.”

“Social enterprise sales typically account for 45% to 60% of wbr's total bicycles distributed in a given year. Since the launch of buffalo bicycle limited in 2008, our social enterprise has sold approximately 315,000 bicycles. Through buffalo bicycle limited, wbr multiplies our impact: we increase market access for the buffalo bicycle to individuals and organizations, expand wbr's funding base (reducing some need for philanthropic funding), nurture a market-based supply chain of spare parts, and leverage manufacturing economies of scale, which lowers the per unit cost of bicycles for wbr programs. World bicycle relief (wbr) supports the social enterprise program through shared leadership resources. Social enterprise sales from our wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, buffalo bicycles ltd., help fund our philanthropic programs and provide valuable data that aid us in developing economies of scale and other efficiencies. In an effort to create efficiencies in resources, a portion of time and resources from certain members of the leadership team are allocated to the running of buffalo bicycles. In doing so, wbr and buffalo bicycles maintain an aligned focus on the mission of the organization - to provide reliable, affordable transportation in developing countries.”

“That's why wbr's product development team constantly works to improve the bicycle and its spare parts: to help ensure the sustainability and advancement of all programs that use the buffalo bicycle. Wbr's guiding principle of all answers are found in the field means that design decisions are framed by the landscape of locally available spare parts, tools and repair expertise, as well as cultural considerations about how bikes are likely to be used and maintained. This often results in using unconventional components on the bikes. The coaster brake, for example, slows the rear wheel through a back-pedaling action. This seemingly antiquated design, now typically found only on children's bikes, requires no cables to operate. This may be a trivial consideration in the united states, where brake cables are easy to find. But as they are not commonly available in the countries in which wbr operates, the advantage of a cable-free brake is significant. Wbr's product development team aims to be considerate of the realities of where our bikes are used. However, wbr also feels it has a responsibility to improve the experience of owning and using a bicycle. Where the available spare parts are inadequate, wbr seeks to make better parts available. Where availability is limited, wbr seeks to improve distribution and access through its network of trained mechanics and growing network of local shops. The design of the bicycle is dynamic. The process is ongoing. As the organization grows, and annual volumes increase, wbr revisits earlier design decisions to continuously refine the bicycle.”

“Other changes in net assets or fund balances -9,698.”

“As covid-19 rapidly progressed into a global pandemic, localized lockdowns closed schools and forced world bicycle relief to pause planned bicycle distributions into education programs. With a quick pivot to obtain "essential services" status, the organization engaged local and regional partners in delivering bicycles to frontline health and agricultural workers. Rigorous health and safety measures were instituted to protect the assembly group and keep buffalo bicycle retail shops open for community access to spares and bicycles. Prioritizing the health of a global team and the organization's long-term stability in the face of uncertainty, world bicycle relief adopted a cautious and prudent spending approach throughout the year. Following local protocols, field engagements were reduced, and focus shifted to further developing field strategy, program design, and systems. As the crisis continues to evolve in 2021 and local restrictions ease, program operations have re-started with plans to scale as quickly and responsibly as possible toward a 2021 program bicycle distribution goal of +47% over 2019. Learn more about world bicycle relief's 2020 activities and impact, as well as the organization's strategy forward at worldbicyclerelief.org/2020-impact-report/.”