A fundraising planning tool and an urban bike-sharing system were the startups at this week’s 1 Million Cups presentation at the Kauffman Foundation, which drew a standing-room-only crowd of close to 300.
The first pitch was given by Steve Byers, founder of OnTrack Fundraising Software.
“Everyone knows that random acts of kindness are good, but random acts of fundraising—not so much,” said Byers, a veteran fundraiser and fundraising consultant, whose company’s software was designed to help nonprofit organizations better manage the complicated process of development.
Byers said that his cloud-based product is primarily aimed at chief development officers at smaller nonprofit organizations, who can use it to track their group’s goals and action steps, including deadlines and accountabilities viewable on a timeline. While a stand-alone product for now, Byers said, “ultimately, I’d like to see this stand alongside an integrated suite of products” devoted to making life easier for professional fundraisers.
Five organizations are currently using OnTrack Fundraising Software, Byers said. Yearly subscriptions start at $349, with a free 30-day trial available.
Sarah Shipley of Kansas City B-cycle brought a bicycle onstage for her second presentation in a year at 1 Million Cups.
Currently, Kansas City B-cycle’s “Bike Share KC” program has 12 bike stations in the city that make available a total of 90 bikes. The program, which receives funding from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, gives participating bike sharers the choice of paying an annual subscription of $65 or renting a bike by the hour or by the day.
“It’s like a Redbox for bicycles,” Shipley said, although the system isn’t cheap. Each bike costs $2,400 and each station $50,000.
Kansas City B-cycle has gotten as far as it has, Shipley said, “without a bicycle infrastructure, because someone had to go first.” The goal, she said, is to utilize each specialized bike’s built-in GPS device to keep track of where riders travel, and then share that data with the city, which in turn can build an expanding bike transportation infrastructure to benefit everyone.
Although helmets aren’t legally required of bike riders in Missouri, she highly recommended their use, humorously adding: “I believe helmet hair is very, very sexy.”
On a serious note, Shipley said that the biggest obstacle to increasing bike riding in Kansas City was changing the way people think about—or don’t think about—bike riding in Kansas City.
“Culture change is one of our biggest problems,” she said. “More bike racks outside of businesses would be wonderful.”
