Bring the LBK DIY Bike Workshop Back to Life
Donation protected
Hey friends,
Jenni here, I set up the London Bike Kitchen in 2012 as a DIY workshop, and we taught tens of thousands of people how to fix their own bikes. In 2016 we crowdfunded to open a typical repair workshop, to create a second income stream. This ended up saving us throughout the Covid lockdowns and years that followed. We still lost 40% of our income. (╥﹏╥)
Fast forward to today: the cost of parts has doubled in the last year alone, and the manufactured 'cost of living crisis' has hurt everyday people and businesses alike. (≖_≖ )
However - this has also renewed interest in DIY bike maintenance. Could you save money by doing the small things that keep your bike happier for longer? And could there be a workshop space where you could rent a workstand, get access to tools & a parts washer, AND pick the brains of a mechanic?
The answer to both of these is YES. We want to resurrect the DIY workshop from the dead, like Jesus. (✿◠‿◠)
But we need your funds to do a massive clear out, clean up, fix up, and kit out:
- We need to hire a skip to clear out the accumulation of flotsam & jetsam
- We need new lighting installed so that people can actually see what they're doing
- We need a new gazebo/shed in the back to protect our 2nd hand parts bins and new bike wash station
- We need new tools as the previous ones are in danger of causing more damage than fixing things
- We need to redesign the website, the point of sale, the inventory listing, and the membership offering
- We need to pay our overheads for 1 month: rent, electricity, water, internet, overdraft, and workers
- Most of all, we need your funds to buy us TIME. At the moment we are fixing bikes for people in the repair workshop, but while we are wrenching, we can't work on the DIY space
The sooner we reach our goal, the sooner we can get started!
We are aiming to reach £15k by the 1st week of June, so that we can begin work the 2nd week of June. We estimate it will take us 1 month to get everything sorted out.
Your funds are supporting a different kind of workshop: One that has women and non-binary people in leadership positions, one that wants you to ask questions, one that’s going to help you take care of your own bike.
So please donate what you can. Only YOU can help us get the DIY workshop open again. We want you to get your hands dirty this time! ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ
Fundraising team (3)
Jennifer Gwiazdowski
Organizer
England
Amie Moss
Team member
Silvi VARGAS
Team member