Corporate Behaviour Programs & Cycling

A number of Canadian corporations are basing philanthropy and community investment decisions on the outcome of customer voting competitions. FuellingChange and Aviva Insurance are two prominent examples. Riding the Road for Clean Air (www.http://fuellingchange.com/main/project/459/Riding-the-Road-for-Clean-Air) is the Tour de Nuit Societys submission that is meant as an experiential exercise to reacquaint the general public with their bicycles. Setting aside the fact that it is gasoline purchases that generate additional votes, we are attempting to use the six-month voting period as a means for cyclists in Canada to identify and associate with a national project. The program will provide us with the marketing budget to support our key public activity.
Our organizations focus is regional and English Canada characterized by a number of autonomous small cycling organizations with no capacity for policy development and knowledge transfer. (A nascent nation cycling promotion group was launched at Velo-City Global in Vancouver but is unfunded to date. Some of you will be familiar with the influential VeloQuebec which operates in French Canada.) It is our expectation that a successful outcome for the Riding the Road project will generate corporate interest in addition bike projects in future rounds of Shell Canadas program potentially worth in excess of two million dollars.
Is this practice found in other countries?
Has anyone had any experience with marketing-based corporate community investment of this nature?
Of course it goes without saying that if you are a resident of Canada we would appreciate your support for cycling on that rarest of times you are not riding your bike or taking public transit.


Gary Beaton
Calgary tour de nuit Society
Canada
www.morepeoplecycling.ca