Half a Million Dollars and Counting!

It’s been an amazing year so far for McLaren Bike Park. In January we learned we’d won the Community Opportunity Fund Grant for $249,835 to fund phase 1 of the MBP Project. This was our first major grant award and gave us some much needed momentum heading into the new year and other grant opportunities.

The COF Grant made us eligible for other grants, so shortly thereafter, we worked with SFRPD and Alpine Bike Parks to apply for a matching grant from The Land and Water Conservation Fund. The LWCF Program provides matching grants to States and local governments for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas.

In July we were awarded an LWCF grant for $249,835, bringing our total funds raised to almost half a million dollars!!! This allows us to expand the scope of phase 1 to include more than the originally proposed pumptrack. What phase 1 will include is still being discussed. If more funds are secured, more can be added to its scope.

Adding to the momentum, in September, over 300 racers participated in the McLaren Short Track Challenge at the SF Mountain Bike Festival where SFUR raised over $5000 for McLaren Bike Park. This event will be the premiere SFUR fundraising event each year, and will continue to grow and draw racers and bike lovers from all over the west coast.

Be on the lookout for a Kickstarter or Indie Go-Go campaign to raise up to another $100,000 for the project. Currently, the main hurdle is funding the completion of full construction documents for the project. The COF and LCWF grants can only be used for Construction costs and cannot be used for design and planning. So, to unlock those funds, we need to fund the final design process. In our estimation, this will cost from $75,000 to $100,000.

If we raise funds for the Construction documents by May of 2014, it’s likely the design development process could take the remainder of 2014 and we’d be breaking ground early in 2015. This seems like an eternity from now, but only a drop in the bucket when you consider SFUR has been working at this for almost five years!!!

In addition to the Kickstarter campaign, we’re working with SFRPD to identify other grant opportunities, and refine the first phase of the project. If you have a background in fundraising or grantwriting and want to help, give me a shout at dustin@sfurbanriders.org

If you’re interested in contributing personally, please contribute to the Founders Club. If you’re in a position to help with an industry Founder’s donation, please jump on board, or point those industry folks our way. COF grant funding must be put to work by January 2015 or SFUR will forfeit the grant funds and any other funding that was leveraged from its foundation… as it has a 24-month time frame. That time will fly by so we need to get our motor into drive mode!