Do you volunteer on a regular basis with a registered charity? 

Did you know that many large companies are interested in contributing to the communities their employees live in? Research has shown that happy employees are loyal employees, so companies are heavily vested to retain their talented workforce.

Cyclist.ie, with Registered Charity Number 20102029,  is mostly run by volunteers, and the more funds we have, the more campaigns we can run, such as our Rothar Roads / Rural Vision campaign; and with more funding, we can run further campaigns to  promote and amplify cycling in Ireland!

So how does it work?

Some companies now offer programs like Benevity to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) requirements. The majority of the large IT / tech companies such as eBay, Paypal, Linkedin, Indeed, ServiceNow , Dropbox, Google and Salesforce operate a CSR program, so why not find out if your company operates one?

Ways to donate to Cyclist.ie with Benevity

Cyclist.ie / Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG (the same legal entity – see here) now has a presence on the Benevity platform, and we are delighted to see an increasing number of our supporters donating to us over the last year. This is beginning to make a real difference to us. 

If you are a new starter, typically there is a start amount of 20 US Dollars (USD) available for you to donate. Why not choose Cyclist.ie as your favourite charity to donate to?

Companies that operate a CSR program encourage their employees to volunteer in their community. Employees can track their volunteer efforts, up to 20 hours a year. Each hour represents €10 that gets donated to their favourite charity. At the start of the year, companies typically offer 200 USD (20 Volunteer Hours) in your Benevity account that you can donate to your favourite charity locally or internationally.

Any registered charity you donate to yourself via Benevity will get matched, so if you donate €20, your company will match the €20, and the charity gets €40. When you donate via the Benevity Platform it will show that the company qualifies and that they match the donation (see the screen shot below) . Search for “Cyclist.ie” to donate to as your favourite registered charity in Ireland. You can also set up recurring donations via Benevity, knowing that every donation you make gets matched! Simple!

Even if you didn’t donate via Benevity (let us say you donated to Cyclist.ie by direct debit, or by a direct donation on via the website) keep the receipt, and then upload it on Benevity, requesting a match. This takes a little bit longer as it needs to be double checked, but if all is ok, also here your donation gets matched. Typically there are a few promotions during the year, where your donation is doubled or even tripled. Check with your HR department what their CSR program is and how it works if you would like to donate to Cyclist.ie.

Lastly, you can also set up your own fundraiser internally where you peer match your peer’s contribution. Get your colleagues to donate to it and tell a story of your fundraiser! 

The author of this article, Katleen from Cyclist.ie’s Executive Committee (EC), works for ServiceNow, and so far she has logged various meetings as part of the EC work with the Irish Cycling Campaign and and also logged Cycle Training (as she is a qualified Cycle Right instructor). For Bike Week she gave a refresher course to 101 pupils before taking them on a cycle to nearby Coole Park via the Gort Mini-Greenway. As shown in the screen-shot below, so far she has donated 261.85 USD to the Irish Cycling Campaign and other charities.

Please consider donating to the Irish Cycling Campaign either via Benevity or directly on our website at Donate or include in your legacy. Thank you!