Working Bikes

Working Bikes is a 501(c)3 organization started in 1999 by Lee Ravenscroft, Amy Little, and a group of volunteers dedicated to recycling bikes, helping local and international projects, and supporting bike culture. Since its inception, Working Bikes has collected over 200,000 bicycles via its donor network throughout Chicago and the Midwest and has redistributed them worldwide as tools for self-determination in local and global communities. A paid staff of full- and part-time employees and countless volunteers make this work possible. Working Bikes operates from its own warehouse at 24th Place and Western between Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village communities.

Countless bicycles are discarded, abandoned, or sit unused in basements or garages in the United States every year but, we believe that a bicycle can truly change the life of an individual, their family and their community. Bicycling is, of course, a form of transportation but in areas of low income with high levels of unemployment and lack of accessible transportation, a bicycle is much more and can provide access to jobs, education, health care and other resources to under-resourced populations. These bikes also provide livelihoods to the bike shops and mechanics who repair them and keep them maintained. Working Bikes donates over 9,000 bicycles each year to our international partners in Africa and Latin America including Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Lesotho, Tanzania, El Salvador, Guatemala, and many others. In addition, Working Bikes donates over 1,000 refurbished bicycles and another 500 “as is” bikes annually to recipients in the Chicago area through its Cycle of Peace and Cycle of Power programs. The organization also operates an extensive volunteer program in which volunteers support the mission while finding community and building bike know-how and mechanical skills, and it routinely sponsors internships and events that increase access to bikes and knowledge about how to maintain, repair and enjoy them safely. 

These efforts are funded, in part, by the sale of professionally refurbished bikes at below market prices, sales of parts and accessories, and contracted services such as our role in Bike Chicago, the City’s program to advance affordable and climate friendly mobility. Most of Working Bikes net operating budget comes from these revenues, making us a highly sustainable social enterprise.