World Bicycle Relief's #GivingTuesday Campaign Aims to Empower One Student Per Minute With Bicycles

CHICAGO - Nov. 16, 2017 - PRLog -- World Bicycle Relief, a global non-profit distributing high-quality bicycles in developing countries, announced its participation in this year's #GivingTuesday on November 28th with the goal of empowering 1,400 students in just 24 hours with bicycles – or one student per minute. #GivingTuesday is a global day of charitable giving and a collaborative effort to kick off the holidays in the true spirit of the season. It is also a charitable response to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and a special day to bring people together to amplify positive change.

World Bicycle Relief has participated in #GivingTuesday for the last three years- exceeding its fundraising and impact goals each year.

World Bicycle Relief has been highlighted as an organization that has successfully tapped into this new and powerful fundraising day. As cited by CauseVox, by coupling a fundraising goal with an impact goal, "World Bicycle Relief ended up blowing their impact goal out of the water." The USA Today also noted World Bicycle Relief's success on #GivingTuesday in large part due to the organization's "strong #GivingTuesday social media presence."

#GivingTuesday has had tremendous growth, catapulting from $45.6 million in online donations in 2014 to a staggering $177 million in 2016. Nonprofits around the world are taking advantage of this powerful fundraising opportunity and the growing popularity of #GivingTuesday.

This year's #GivingTuesday theme is Unity. World Bicycle Relief's year-end appeal campaign echoes this theme. World Bicycle Relief's campaign highlights Umoja Secondary School in Eldoret, Kenya, where students of Christian, Muslim and traditional African faiths study together and embody their motto- "Together We Rise." Umoja means unity in Swahili.

In 2016, 122 students at Umoja Secondary School received bicycles. But, Muslim girls in this area traditionally are not allowed to ride. A group of Muslim and Christian girls, together, chose to challenge the cultural expectations that confined them. This is what they had to say about their newfound freedom of riding a bike.

"Owning a bicycle has changed my life a lot. I have come to face the world. It has helped me be confident. We can be ourselves, not what people want us to be," said Ayan, 16 years old.

"It was so surprising to see the Muslim girls riding the bike. It changed my opinion because I now knew Muslim girls, they are just like us," said Kelly, 14 years old.

Over the past ten years, World Bicycle Relief has mobilized students who face long and often dangerous journeys to school. By providing a student a way to get to school safely, she's empowered to stay in school, get an education and break the cycle of poverty. World Bicycle Relief is confident that the power of bicycles can play an influential role in progress for all students, but especially girls, in developing countries around the world.

Through its 2017 #GivingTuesday campaign, World Bicycle Relief hopes to empower many more students like the ones at Umoja Secondary School to follow their educational dreams on two wheels.

On #GivingTuesday, join World Bicycle Relief in changing the future for thousands of bright, dedicated and passionate students by donating here:

https://worldbicyclerelief.org/en/

To access World Bicycle Relief's social media tools for fundraising, visit:

https://thesocialpresskit.com/together-we-rise

About World Bicycle Relief

Founded in 2005, World Bicycle Relief mobilizes people through The Power of Bicycles®. World Bicycle Relief accomplishes its mission by distributing specially designed, high quality bicycles through philanthropic and social enterprise programs. These purpose designed bicycles are built to withstand the challenging terrain and conditions in rural, developing areas. Entrepreneurs use the bicycles to increase productivity and profits. Students attend class more regularly and their academic performances improve. And, health care workers visit more patients in less time, providing better, more consistent care. World Bicycle Relief also promotes local economies and long-term sustainability by assembling bicycles locally and training field mechanics to service the bicycles. To date, World Bicycle Relief has delivered over 370,000 bicycles and trained over 1,800 field mechanics in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. World Bicycle Relief is a registered nonprofit in USA, Canada, U.K., Australia and Germany, and has assembly facilities in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Angola.

For more information, please visit: http://worldbicyclerelief.org Follow us @PowerOfBicycles and Like us at facebook.com/worldbicyclerelief

World Bicycle Relief Media Contact:

Brooke Slezak

brooke@brookeslezak.com

press@worldbicyclerelief.org

Mobile: 917.689.6024