FAQs and How to CONTRIBUTE
Your contribution, in any amount, will be appreciated. For FAQs, please scroll down.
1. Contribute via PayPal
To contribute by debit or credit card, via PayPal, click “Donate” button below.
2. Contribute by check
To contribute by check:
- make payable to “Mari Lynch, Bicycling Monterey”
- mail to Mari Lynch, Bicycling Monterey, PO Box 3041, Monterey, CA 93942-3041
Thank you.
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F A Q s
Feel free to phone anytime if you have other questions.
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“May I view the total amount of money contributed, and who has contributed?”
YES. See the Financial Contributors page (click here).
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“Can my contribution be listed as from Anonymous?”
YES. When making your contribution, simply indicate that preference.
If contributing via PayPal, there is an option to indicate a preference to be Anonymous.
If contributing by check, include a note: “List me as an Anonymous contributor.” -
“Will the amount of my individual contribution be displayed on the Bicycling Monterey website?”
NO. Your individual contribution made via PayPal or by check is simply included in the total contributions figure on the Bicycling Monterey website’s Financial Contributors page.
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“Will you send me a written acknowledgement of my contribution?”
If you provide your postal address, it’s a pleasure to send a written acknowledgement. If your email address is provided, an acknowledgement will be sent via email. In either case, your privacy is important, and your contact information will not be used for other purposes. Questions? Please phone Mari anytime.
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“May I set up an automatic monthly contribution?”
YES. PayPal has an option for setting up an automatic monthly contribution.
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“May I specify how I’d like my contribution to be used?”
YES. Contact Mari if you’d like it used for a specific Bicycling Monterey project.
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“What’s the best way to contribute so Bicycling Monterey receives the most benefit?”
Although contributing by either method—check or PayPal— is appreciated, you may wish to consider, especially if making a large contribution:-Contributing by check means 100% of your contribution goes to the Bicycling Monterey work.
-Contributing by PayPal means that a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents is charged to Bicycling Monterey. (No fee is charged to you as the contributor.)
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“Is Bicycling Monterey a business?”
NO.
Since founding Bicycling Monterey in May 2009, and still the case as the tenth year was completed, Bicycling Monterey’s founder, Mari Lynch, has done the work of this website and all other Bicycling Monterey projects entirely as an unpaid volunteer. For a brief history of Bicycling Monterey’s ten years of volunteerism, click here.
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“If Bicycling Monterey isn’t a business, why is the root URL for most post and pages marilynch.com/blog?”
As Kera Abraham reported in the Monterey County Weekly in May 2011: “What started as Dehmler’s [Bicycling Monterey founder Mari Lynch Dehmler’s] personal blog two years ago quickly evolved into an umbrella website for all things two-wheeled in Monterey County.” For additional details, see “Why is the root URL for Bicycling Monterey’s posts and pages marilynch.com/blog?”
When referring people to this site, simply refer them to the primary domain name, https://bikemonterey.org (or if you prefer, to any of the alternate domain names: http://bicyclingmonterey.com, http://bicyclingmonterey.org, http://tipsfortourists.com, or the original domain name, https://marilynch.com/blog).
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Why contribute
to Bicycling Monterey?
- See what people say.
- Since May 2009, Bicycling Monterey founder has donated well over 12,000 hours to this award-winning grassroots effort. She has provided this website and all other Bicycling Monterey projects as an unpaid volunteer since 2009—and that’s still the case as the 10th year of Bicycling Monterey was completed in May 2019.
- As of May 31, 2019, there is still not an official bicycle coalition for Monterey County, or for the Monterey Bay Tri-County Region. Bicycling Monterey serves as an Information Hub for Biking Monterey County and also provides a 33-section directory of Monterey County Bicycling Resources / Bike Community Leaders.
- Bicycling Monterey represents Monterey County and the Central Coast as a local partner of the California Bicycle Coalition.
- Bicycling Monterey serves as a bicycling information hub for Monterey County’s approximately 437,000 residents and its millions of visitors (an estimated 4.6 million overnight visitors annually, as well as millions of day visitors).
- Bicycling Monterey also provides resources and inspiration for people who bike anywhere, such as the riding skills and safety section (which also includes CA bike laws), the Spanish resources compilation, and much more.
Thank you, financial contributors!
To contribute project supplies or volunteer time, phone Bicycling Monterey.
Archived notes about crowdfunding platform and rewards program
- On December 22, 2015, ten women launched Bicycling Monterey’s first fundraising campaign, including a crowdfunding effort—Volunteering & Service Fundraising at https://gofundme.com/bikemonterey [“Mari Lynch Dehmler, Bicycling Monterey Site & Projects”]. That crowdfunding platform continued to be one of the options for making a contribution to Bicycling Monterey through the end of Bicycling Monterey’s 10th year, April 30, 2019. Beginning May 1, 2019, that payment option is no longer being recommended; contributing via Go Fund Me incurs a significant transaction fee (7.9% plus 30 cents) charged to Bicycling Monterey.
- As part of the crowdfunding effort, an optional rewards-for-contributors program ran from Feb 26-Dec 31, 2016. After 2016 the rewards program wasn’t continued, simply because it required far too many additional volunteer hours of Mari to be worthwhile. Nonetheless, the businesses that provided rewards in an effort to help were appreciated. To see who they were, click here.
