Pedals for Progress, a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, empowers sustainable economic development by recycling bicycles and sewing machines from the U.S. and shipping them to motivated people in the developing world. Pedals for Progress (P4P) is a nonprofit charity incorporated under the laws of New Jersey, and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code (EIN: 22-3122003). An eleven-member unpaid board of trustees oversees a paid staff of 2 and a network of hundreds of volunteers.

2023 HIGHLIGHTS

Pedals for Progress shipped 5 containers and 3 LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments for a total of 2,161 bicycles, and 417 sewing machines, to 5 nonprofit agency partners in 5 developing countries. This brings cumulative donations shipped since 1991 to 164,932 bicycles, 6,173 sewing machines.

We concentrated our collection operations within the New York City and Philadelphia suburbs increasing our efficiency. Our bicycle and sewing machine collections were sponsored by 32 community partners in four states.

2023 Shipments

Recipients of Fiscal 2023 Bicycle Container Shipments

1. Association Défi et Révolution de la Vie Rural (DRVR), Togo (381 bicycles and 100 sewing machines)
2. Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Oriente (FIDESMA), San Andres Ixtapa, Guatemala (913 bikes and 35 sewing machines in two shipments)
3. P4P/Belize, Belize (867 bicycles and 120 sewing machines in two shipments)

Started the year 10/1/22 with 646 bicycles in inventory.

Ended the year 9/30/23 with 320 bicycles remaining in inventory.

2023 Total Shipped: 2,161, Total Collected: 1,835

Bicycle Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2023	Fiscal 2022
Africa	18%	60%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	82%	40%
Eastern Europe	0%	0%

Recipients of Fiscal 2023 Sewing Machine LCL Shipments

1. Norbert and Friends Missions, Tanzania (72 sewing machines)
2. Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Uganda (90 sewing machines)

Started the year 10/1/22 with 220 sewing machines in inventory.

Ended the year 9/30/23 with 221 sewing machines in inventory.

2023 Total Shipped: 417, 2023 Total Collected: 418

Sewing Machines Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2023	Fiscal 2022
Africa	63%	78%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	37%	22%
Eastern Europe	0%	0%

OVERSEAS PARTNERS

During the year, Pedals for Progress focused on a small number of reliable partners for the majority of our shipments.

The most critical factors in creating a sustainable, self-financing partnership are shipping costs and effective administration by our overseas partners. We currently consider 3 partnerships as sustainable, i.e., capable of paying for successive shipments. Experience has proven that when the shipping costs are at or below $15 per bike or $10 per sewing machine, with good management, this cost is low enough to sustain a self-financing partnership. Without charitable donations, grants or other funding, Pedals for Progress is limited to working primarily in Central America and the Caribbean, while Africa and Eastern Europe require subsidies to pay their higher shipping costs. Overseas distribution success is determined by per unit cost. Landlocked countries remain beyond our reach due to excessive inland transportation costs. Domestic shipping is also expensive; our domestic inland trucking costs to get shipments to port have more than doubled in the last five years.

While our primary goal is to supply environmentally sound transportation to communities and stimulate the greater movement of goods and services, our partners often generate extra funds from the bikes we ship them. These windfall funds, in turn, finance a breadth of community development activities.

Still, we are hopeful that other partner organizations, including some that did not receive bikes in 2023, will pay all or most expenses for new shipments in fiscal 2024, or subsidies will be found to initiate new programs.

Continuing Partners

• Guatemala: Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Oriente (FIDESMA), San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango
• Tanzania: The Norbert and Friends Foundation, Arusha
• Togo: Association Défi et Révolution de la Vie Rurale (DRVR), Vogan
• Uganda: The Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Mityana
• Belize: P4P/Belize, Belize City

New Partners 2023

There were no new partners to report in fiscal year 23. Special attention was given to maintain current partnerships that needed increased focus to help them regroup costs due to ripple effects of the pandemic. We are planning to open new international partnerships in fiscal year 24.

FINANCES

2023 was a good year for Pedals for Progress finances. We started fiscal 2023 in a strong financial position with a strong balance sheet. Our operating income relies on four primary income streams: cash donations with bikes and sewing machines, cash donations from the twice-annual solicitation, corporate donations, and revolving funds and fees from our international partners. Solicitations were better than previous year, with larger donations from a couple long-term supporters helping us meet our solicitation goals. Direct corporate donations have been decreasing over the past twenty years due to a focus on employee matching programs. Our sustaining international partners are expected to reimburse Pedals for Progress for the cost of containers or LCL shipments. These are categorized as “revolving funds”: the partners save income to pay for successive shipments. This category met expectations as the number of containers shipped to sustaining partners met the plan. Overall, 2023 operating income exceeded budget.

Operating expenses include four large categories: employee and officers’ compensation, shipping and packing, collections expenses, and office rent. Shipping and packing expenses were higher than expected largely due to the increased cost of shipping and fuel. Collection expenses, office rent, and all remaining minor expenses categories met expectations.

P4P in 2023 had a few extraordinary items. P4P has a conservative investment policy. 2023 was a good period for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds as they generally increased in value. These generated other income for P4P as did some of the stock donations.

Overall, 2023 exceeded financial expectations for P4P.

Balance sheet and profit and loss statements are attached.

CORPORATE DONORS

FedEx continues to deliver to New Jersey, at no cost, the bicycles collected by the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, based in Burlington, Vermont.

General Pallet, at no cost, supplies the specialized pallets required for international shipping of SP sewing machines.

Berna Construction, donated construction time of a safety railing at our new loading dock.

Davara Industrial successfully donated costs of moving our storage containers.

Kent Bikes donated bicycle parts at no cost.

Thank you to the many corporations that participate through matching gifts.

We are very thankful for the support of these organizations and the recognition they have given us.

KEY VOLUNTEERS

Pedals for Progress depends on the efforts of volunteers, several hundred of them, to publicize and work collections, prep bikes for shipping, help us warehouse bikes, and eventually load them into containers bound for our partner agencies overseas.

We would like to thank Daryl Detrick with the Warren Hills Regional HS Computer Science Club for all of their volunteer hours helping to pack outgoing shipments. A special thanks to Michael Sabrio for managing at bike collections and taking over the Webmaster duties. We thank our Tinkerers Dennis Smyth, Paul Lemaire and Mary O’Brien for their excellent work refurbishing many of the sewing machines we shipped.

We especially thank these collectors:

• Anne Fitzgerald with Memorial United Methodist Church: 163 bikes and 83 sewing machines and for her time spent on the Board of Trustees
• Christine Potts with St. John’s Episcopal Church: 196 bikes and 27 sewing machines
• Jerry Agasar with the Newtown Rotary Club: 158 bikes and 30 sewing machines
• Daryl Detrick with the Warren Hills HS Computer Science Club: 101 bikes and 39 sewing machines
• Casey Walsh with Faith Lutheran Church: 94 bikes and 18 sewing machines
• Martha Clarvoe and the Otsego ReUse Center: 72 bikes and 29 sewing machines and making arrangements for domestic trucking

2023 COLLECTION SPONSORS

• First United Methodist Church Somerville, NJ
• Westfield Rotary Club
• St. John’s Episcopal Church
• Livingston Rotary Club
• Vineland Rotary Club
• Grace Episcopal Church
• Chester Co. Solid Waste Authority
• Newtown Rotary Club
• Ostego ReUse Center
• Women’s Club of Paramus
• Piscataway Magnet School
• Monmouth Social Club
• Rotary Club of the Rockaways
• Blair Academy
• Colts Neck Reformed Church
• Deleware Recreation Commission
• Bernardsville United Methodist Church
• Warren Hills HS Computer Sci Club
• Fair Lawn Rotary Club
• Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Long Island
• Rotary Club of Norristown
• Passaic Co. Office of Solid Waste
• Clinton Presbyterian Church
• Rotary Club of the Palisades
• Doylestown United Methodist Church
• Faith Lutheran Church
• Pedals for Progress
• Rotary Club of Branchburg
• Memorial United Methodist Church
• New Dover United Methodist Church
• First United Methodist Church
• St. Stephens United Church of Christ

PROGRAM CHALLENGES

Pedals for Progress began the year on a strong and positive note and we were able to maintain strong financial standing. We still faced challenges stemming from rippling effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, inflation, and increased prices of gasoline and shipping.

The planned action to elect Alan Schultz as President in August 2022 to take over operations from founder David Schweidenback has been completed and Mr. Schultz was able to maintain FY23 finances, budget, and collection efforts. The burdensome salary line from FY22 has subsided and leveled out to become manageable in FY23.

The bicycles collected this year continue to be the highest quality bikes that we have ever collected. The most common brand name was Trek and we collected over 80% mountain bikes in the adult bike category. The vast majority of bikes we collected were originally sold in a bike shop for a relatively high price. P4P collected almost no lesser quality mass merchandise bikes that are sold at big box stores like Walmart. Though the quality of bikes was higher than ever, our volume was significantly down due to the pandemic. The fall collection season was successful and helped us ship the majority of our five containers for the 2023 fiscal year. Spring collections were down compared to our history but improved from the year before. As we are reliant on the success of collections to keep us financially active, we had to rely heavily on our summer solicitation to help us keep up with our added salary line and general operations.

The summer solicitation was successful, and these donations allowed us to finish off the year on a positive note and remain cash positive.

Pedals for Progress developed partnerships worldwide to diversify relationships and reduce the risk of events in one country or region negatively affecting our operations. Since reduction of transportation costs is doubtful, we are seeking sponsorships to supplement our African and other high cost partnerships. Partner programs in Central America, which have a landed cost of under $15 per bike, are successful financially and require no further subsidies to continue shipments. P4P inland partners in Eastern Europe and Africa will fail without financial support. International shipping costs in these regions run from $16 per bike on the coast to as high as $38 inland (Uganda).

Shipping the sewing machines within bicycles shipments makes the delivery of these heavy objects affordable. However, our bicycle partners need relatively few sewing machines. The challenge is to find the funding to deliver machines to small sewing programs like the Mityana Open Troop Foundation in Uganda or to get them delivered very inexpensively. Most new sewing projects require only two pallets of machines. Due to that low volume, initial shipments were previously shipped via air freight, which is very expensive. P4P developed in 2013 the capacity to ship by boat individual pallets of sewing machines at a very reasonable cost. This low-cost shipping allows us to expand our small standalone sewing machine projects globally.

GOALS FOR 2024

During fiscal 2024, Pedals for Progress plans to ship approximately 3,600 bicycles and 600 sewing machines. Collection sites where we send our personnel will be limited to the greater suburbs of New York and Philadelphia. Bicycles collected outside this region need to be delivered to our New Jersey warehouse by the collection sponsors.
Pedals for Progress challenges are financial, not supply-side driven. With more funding, we can collect significantly more bikes within our current footprint and initiate more programs internationally. Increasing production requires more staff for attending potential collections and more vehicles on the road. The operational costs of producing the bicycles and sewing machines are significant. P4P is unable to accept bicycles without an accompanying cash donation; this limits production. Most large charities do not like to give money for operational expenses, but in our case, it is the collection efforts that produce the product we deliver. In many ways, you can think of P4P as a trucking company. Every trip in the truck produces more bicycles and sewing machines, our products. These products make the difference globally by helping people in need help themselves.

2023 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

• Jamie Acosta
• Jerry Agasar
• John Alexander, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
• Daryl Detrick
• Ann Fitzgerald
• Richard Millhiser, Chair
• David Schweidenback, treasurer and VP, International Programs
• Casey Walsh
• Andrew Williams

STAFF

• Alan Schultz, President
• David Schweidenback, Vice President, International Programs and Founder
• Michael Sabrio, Webmaster
• Robert Delghiaccio, Warehouseman
• Otto Hintz, Warehouseman
• Evan Vaccarella, Warehouseman
• Joel Ortega. Warehouseman
• Max Von Orman, Warehouseman

Further information about Pedals for Progress is available at www.p4p.org. This includes our financial statements, IRS Form 990s, and information about our 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status.

To receive our newsletters or information on how to collect bikes and/or sewing machines, contact alan@p4p.org. To request a donation of a container of bicycles or sewing machines, contact Dave at dschweidenback@gmail.com

Vector Global Logistics is an international shipping consolidator. They have handled the booking and logistics for our container shipments for over five years. They have long-term contracts with shipping lines that afford us very competitive pricing. They are very supportive of our mission and whenever possible find P4P discounts in the shipping costs.

In October 2021 Vector Global Logistics hosted Dave Schweidenback for an hour-long podcast. Dave talks about his childhood, his Peace Corps experience that inspired P4P, P4P’s early days and explosive growth, and lots more. Here are two versions of the podcast: (1) audio only and (2) audio and video.

Spring 2023

Dear Donors, Friends, and Supporters of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace,

Receiving this letter, you have supported Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace in some form and have aided us in providing people in developing countries with access to reliable transportation and economic opportunity. It is always exciting to know that the work we do in small parking lots in New Jersey and the surrounding areas, is all worth it knowing that the items we collect find new homes with people that need a helping hand.

Last fall, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated collection sponsors and the generosity of donors like you, we were able to ship three containers of bikes and sewing machines to Belize, Guatemala, and Togo. The impact of these donations has been truly incredible, from helping to provide economic opportunities to remote villagers to supporting local feeding programs and mobile medical aid distribution centers. Check out our Spring 2023 Newsletter to read more about these programs.

The spring collection season is always a special one. Shaking off the cold weather fills me with energy and motivation to continue our cause and build on the success we have achieved so far. With your support, we can continue to collect bicycles and sewing machines and provide people with the economic aid they need to build better lives for themselves and their families.

Our fundraising goal for this season is $30,000, which will carry us into the fall and allow us to collect and ship hundreds of bikes and sewing machines to communities in need around the world. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a difference and brings us closer to achieving our goal.

I encourage you to donate today by visiting the Donate page on our website. Your support will help us continue to supply bikes and sewing machines to our range of programs, so that we can continue the positive impact we are having on our neighbors abroad.

Sincerely,

Alan Schultz, President, P4P/SP
Pedals for Progress is a New Jersey 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Pedals for Progress, a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, empowers sustainable economic development by recycling bicycles and sewing machines from the U.S. and shipping them to motivated people in the developing world. Pedals for Progress (P4P) is a nonprofit charity incorporated under the laws of New Jersey, and registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code (EIN: 22-3122003). An eleven-member unpaid board of trustees oversees a paid staff of 4 and a network of hundreds of volunteers.

2022 Highlights

Pedals for Progress shipped 5 containers and 3 LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments for a total of 2,322 bicycles, and 514 sewing machines, to 7 nonprofit agency partners in 7 developing countries. This brings cumulative donations shipped since 1991 to 166,006 bicycles, 6,043 sewing machines.

We concentrated our collection operations in New Jersey and in the New York City and Philadelphia suburbs increasing our efficiency. Our bicycle and sewing machine collections were sponsored by 26 community partners in four states.

New Leadership

P4p has a new president. At their 14 August 2022 meeting, the P4P Board of Trustees approved the transition plan that’s been in the works since 2021. David Schweidenback, founder and President from 1991 until now, is now Vice President, International Programs. Alan Schultz is our new President.

2022 Shipments

Recipients of Fiscal 2022 Bicycle Container Shipments

1. Association Défi et Révolution de la Vie Rural (DRVR), Togo (927 bicycles and 123 sewing machines in two shipments)
2. Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Oriente (FIDESMA), San Andres Ixtapa, Guatemala (470 bikes and 15 sewing machines)
3. P4P/Belize, Belize (473 bicycles and 100 sewing machines)
4. Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (452 bicycles and 60 sewing machines)

Started the year 10/1/21 with 315 bicycles in inventory.
Ended the year 9/30/22 with 646 bicycles remaining in inventory.
2022 Total Shipped 2,322, Total Collected 2,503

Bicycle Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2022	Fiscal 2021
Africa	60%	68%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	40%	15%
Eastern Europe	0%	17%

Recipients of Fiscal 2022 Sewing Machine LCL Shipments

1. Rising Hope Foundation for Change, Cameroon (72 sewing machines)
2. Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Uganda (72 sewing machines)
3. Hiran Youth Council, Somalia (72 sewing machines)

Started the year 10/1/21 with 73 sewing machines in inventory.
Ended the year 9/30/22 with 220 sewing machines in inventory.
2022 Total Shipped 514, Total Collected 617

Sewing Machines Shipments by Region

	Fiscal 2022	Fiscal 2021
Africa	78%	81%
Asia	0%	0%
Central America	22%	7%
Eastern Europe	0%	12%

Overseas Partners

During the year, Pedals for Progress focused on a small number of reliable partners for the majority of our shipments.

The most critical factors in creating a sustainable, self-financing partnership are shipping costs and effective administration by our overseas partners. Experience has proven that when the shipping costs are at or below $15 per bike or $10 per sewing machine, with good management, this cost is low enough to sustain a self-financing partnership. Without charitable donations, grants or other funding, Pedals for Progress is limited to working primarily in Central America and the Caribbean, while Africa and Eastern Europe require subsidies to pay their higher shipping costs. Overseas distribution success is determined by per unit cost. Landlocked countries remain beyond our reach due to excessive inland transportation costs. Domestic shipping is also expensive; our domestic inland trucking costs to get shipments to port have more than doubled in the last five years.

While our primary goal is to supply environmentally sound transportation to communities and stimulate the greater movement of goods and services, our partners often generate extra funds from the bikes we ship them. These windfall funds, in turn, finance a breadth of community development activities.

Still, we are hopeful that other partner organizations, including some that did not receive bikes in 2022, will pay all or most expenses for new shipments in fiscal 2023, or subsidies will be found to initiate new programs.

Continuing Partners

• Cameroon: Rising Hope for Change, Limbe
• Guatemala: Fundación Integral de Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Oriente (FIDESMA), San Andrés Itzapa, Chimaltenango
• Rwanda: Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, Kigali
• Tanzania: The Norbert and Friends Foundation, Arusha
• Togo: Association Défi et Révolution de la Vie Rurale (DRVR), Vogan
• Uganda: The Mityana Open Troop Foundation, Mityana
• Belize: P4P/Belize, Belize City
• Somalia: Hiran Youth Council, Mogadishu

New Partners 2022

P4P/Belize, Belize City, Belize. We shipped a container of 473 bicycles and 100 sewing machines.

 

 

Hiran Youth Council, Mogadishu, Somalia. We shipped 72 sewing machines.

Finances

2022 was a turbulent but good year for Pedals for Progress finances. We started fiscal 2022 in a strong financial position with a strong balance sheet. Our operating income relies on four primary income streams: cash donations with bikes and sewing machines, cash donations from the twice-annual solicitation, corporate donations, and revolving funds and fees from our international partners. Solicitations were not as positive as years prior, but larger donations from a few long-term supporters helped us meet our solicitation goals. Direct corporate donations have been decreasing over the past twenty years due to a focus on employee matching programs. As a category, corporate donations also exceeded budget expectations largely due to David’s efforts with a historic donor. Our sustaining international partners are expected to reimburse Pedals for Progress for the cost of containers or LCL shipments. These are categorized as “revolving funds”: the partners save income to pay for successive shipments. This category met expectations as the number of containers shipped to sustaining partners met the plan. Overall, 2022 operating income exceeded budget.

Operating expenses include four large categories: employee and officers compensation, shipping and packing, collections expenses, and office rent. In 2022, employee and officer’s compensation exceeded budget largely due to the addition of the Vice President of Operation. Shipping and packing expenses were higher than expected largely due to the increased cost of shipping and fuel. Collection expenses, office rent, and all remaining minor expenses categories met expectations.

P4P in 2022 had a few extraordinary items. P4P has a conservative investment policy. 2022 was a good period for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds as they generally increased in value. These generated other income for P4P as did some of the stock donations.

Overall, 2022 exceeded financial expectations for P4P.

Balance sheet and profit and loss statements are attached.

Corporate Donors

FedEx continues to deliver to New Jersey, at no cost, the bicycles collected by the Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, based in Burlington, Vermont.

General Pallet, at no cost, supplies the specialized pallets required for international shipping of SP sewing machines.

Thank you to the many corporations that participate through matching gifts.

We are very thankful for the support of these organizations and the recognition they have given us.

Key Volunteers

Pedals for Progress depends on the efforts of volunteers, several hundred of them, to publicize and work collections, prep bikes for shipping, help us warehouse bikes, and eventually load them into containers bound for our partner agencies overseas.

We would like to thank Daryl Detrick with the Warren Hills Regional HS Computer Science Club for all of their volunteer hours helping to pack outgoing shipments. A special thanks to Michael Sabrio for managing at bike collections and taking over the Webmaster duties. We thank our Tinkerers Dennis Smyth and Mary O’Brien for their excellent work refurbishing many of the sewing machines we shipped.

We especially thank these collectors:

• Jerry Agasar with the Newtown, PA, Rotary Club: 159 bikes and 21 sewing machines
• Casey Walsh with Faith Lutheran Church: 116 bikes and 5 sewing machines
• Joanne Heidkamp with the Green Mountain RPCVs: 249 bikes and 155 sewing machines
• Christine Potts with St. John’s Episcopal Church: 165 bikes and 24 sewing machines
• Daryl Detrick with the Warren Hills HS Computer Science Club: 153 bikes and 53 sewing machines

2022 Collection Sponsors

Bernardsville United Methodist Church
Blooming Glen Mennonite Church
Chester County Solid Waste Authority
Clinton Presbyterian Church
Emmanuel Bible Church
Episcopal Church of St. James
Faith Lutheran Church
Green Mountain Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Long Island Returned Peace Corps Volunteers with Youth of Ethical Societies
New Dover United Methodist Church
Passaic County Office of Solid Waste & Recycling
Patriots’ Path Council – Raritan Valley District with Troop 14
Rotary Club of Branchburg
Rotary Club of Fair Lawn
Rotary Club of Flemington
Rotary Club of Newtown, Pennsylvania
Rotary Club of Norristown, Pennsylvania
Rotary Club of The Palisades
Rotary Club of Westfield
Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
St. John’s Episcopal Church
Warren Hills Regional High School Computer Science Club
Washington Alliance Church
Will and Tyler Sussis
Woman’s Club of Paramus

Program Challenges

Pedals for Progress faced several challenges in our fiscal 2022 year but ended the year on a strong and positive note. Most of these challenges stem from rippling effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, inflation, and increased prices of gasoline and shipping.

Internally, the organization had to take on a larger budget than usual to ensure an effective transition to our new leadership. As we planned in 2021, Alan Schultz was elected President in August 2022 and founder David Schweidenback became Vice President of International Programs. The internal transition proved to be effective, but the added salary was burdensome.

The bicycles collected this year continue to be the highest quality bikes that we have ever collected. The most common brand name was Trek and we collected over 80% mountain bikes in the adult bike category. The vast majority of bikes we collected were originally sold in a bike shop for a relatively high price. P4P collected almost no lesser quality mass merchandise bikes that are sold at big box stores like Walmart.

Though the quality of bikes was higher than ever, our volume was significantly down due to the pandemic. The fall collection season was successful and helped us ship the majority of our five containers for the 2022 fiscal year. However, spring collections were down significantly as the average number of bikes was lower than years prior. As we are reliant on the success of collections to keep us financially active, we had to rely heavily on our summer solicitation to help us keep up with our added salary line and general operations.

The summer solicitation was not as successful as we would like but by the end of August, we were able to rebound thanks to several large donations from some long-time supporters. These donations allowed us to finish off the year on a positive note and remain cash positive.

Pedals for Progress developed partnerships worldwide to diversify relationships and reduce the risk of events in one country or region negatively affecting our operations. Since reduction of transportation costs is doubtful, we are seeking sponsorships to supplement our African and other high cost partnerships. Partner programs in Central America, which have a landed cost of under $15 per bike, are successful financially and require no further subsidies to continue shipments. P4P inland partners in Eastern Europe and Africa will fail without financial support. International shipping costs in these regions run from $16 per bike on the coast to as high as $38 inland (Uganda).

Shipping the sewing machines within bicycles shipments makes the delivery of these heavy objects affordable. However, our bicycle partners need relatively few sewing machines. The challenge is to find the funding to deliver machines to small sewing programs like the Mityana Open Troop Foundation in Uganda or to get them delivered very inexpensively. Most new sewing projects require only two pallets of machines; we pack 36 machines on a pallet. Due to that low volume, we previously shipped via air freight, which is very expensive. P4P developed in 2013 the capacity to ship by boat individual pallets of sewing machines at a very reasonable cost. This low-cost shipping allows us to expand our small standalone sewing machine projects globally.

Goals for 2023

During fiscal 2023, Pedals for Progress plans to ship approximately 3,600 bicycles and 600 sewing machines. Collection sites where we send our personnel will be limited to New Jersey and the greater suburbs of New York and Philadelphia. Bicycles collected outside this region need to be delivered to our New Jersey warehouse by the collection sponsors.

Pedals for Progress challenges are financial, not supply-side driven. With more funding, we can collect significantly more bikes within our current footprint and initiate more programs internationally. Increasing production requires more staff for attending potential collections and more vehicles on the road. The operational costs of producing the bicycles and sewing machines are significant. P4P is unable to accept bicycles without an accompanying cash donation; this limits production. Most large charities do not like to give money for operational expenses, but in our case, it is the collection efforts that produce the product we deliver. In many ways, you can think of P4P as a trucking company. Every trip in the truck produces more bicycles and sewing machines, our products. These products make the difference globally by helping people in need help themselves.

2022 Board of Trustees

Jamie Acosta
Jerry Agasar
John Alexander, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
Daryl Detrick
Ann Fitzgerald
Sarah Jannsch
Richard Millhiser, Chair
David Schweidenback, Treasurer and VP, International Programs
Casey Walsh
Andrew Williams
Bob Zeh

Staff

Alan Schultz, President
David Schweidenback, VP, International Programs and Founder
Michael Sabrio, Webmaster
Gary Michel, VP,  In-kind donations
Robert Delghiaccio, Warehouseman
Lori Smith, Office Manager

Further information about Pedals for Progress is available at www.p4p.org. This includes our financial statements, IRS Form 990s, and information about our 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt status.

To receive our newsletters or information on how to collect bikes and/or sewing machines, contact alan@p4p.org. To request a donation of a container of bicycles or sewing machines, contact Dave at dschweidenback@gmail.com.

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Fall 2022

Dear Donors, Friends, and Supporters of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace,

Our fall collection season started off with a bang with our first shipment of sewing machines to Somalia! We sent 72 sewing machines to Mogadishu, Somalia with the Hiran Youth Council, that were accompanied by other used goods being sent by the organization. With these machines, the Council will open a sewing school to teach young people of Mogadishu the vocation, giving them the necessary skills to develop their own small businesses. We are very excited to have this new partnership in an area of the world that desperately needs economic assistance.

With this new beginning, we would also like to report on the success of the Mityana Open Troop Foundation. Located in Mityana, Uganda, their operation has humble beginnings starting as a community-based organization led by a group of Boy Scouts in 1997, who had been affected by the overreaching socio-economic issues of the area exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. From there, the Mityana Open Troop Foundation has developed from a small training operation to a full-on economic enterprise that now has the capacity to import sewing machines from India to further fund their community outreach efforts. This is a textbook example of what Sewing Peace and Pedals for Progress wishes to achieve with our efforts. It is a success story of a small organization that grew to a commercial enterprise. We encourage you to read more about this story. It is in the latest issue of our InGear/InStitch newsletter.

These stories do not happen overnight. The success of our partners overseas relies on the work we do here in the United States. Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace is grassroots – we rely on the commitment of locals willing to donate their items rain or shine; the groups, Rotary clubs, and religious organizations that sponsor our events; and the generosity of our donors located in and far beyond the tree-state area of New Jersey. Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace is a network of people that want to help families in developing countries by giving them a fair shot at life. I would like to ask for your continued support and to please donate today. Thank you!

Alan Schultz, President, P4P/SP

July 2022

Dear Friends of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace,

Our spring collection season has ended. Thank you to everyone who donated! We’ve shipped two containers so far this year:

• 473 bikes and 100 sewing machines to our new partner in Belize
• 463 bikes and 61 sewing machines to our partner in Togo

If you missed us in the spring, hold onto those bikes and sewing machines until we resume collecting — we already have a handful of collections in our Fall 2022 schedule.

We’ve just published our latest newsletter with the usual mix of inspiring stories, hopeful plans, and formidable challenges.

Please consider a donation to help us start our fall season in full stride!

Have a happy summer.

Spring 2022

Dear Donors and Friends of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace,

It’s that time of year again: there is a brand-new newsletter on our website with great stories from Tanzania, Belize, Guatemala, Kosovo, and the distant hills of Warren County, New Jersey. This year we are excited to be breaking ground with new partners, further cementing fresh relationships, and maintaining programs with old friends.

We have had a great spring, collecting lots of bikes and sewing machines, but it has been challenging. This spring the cost of ocean freight is up 18%. Beyond that, Tanzania has temporarily closed its ports to new bookings due to the ripple effects of Covid-19 and intense congestion at its ports. Some of our containers sent in the fall arrived months later than originally anticipated. Our bicycles and sewing machines have been taking quite the journey!

As for the large gas-guzzling truck we drive around to pick up the bikes, you are all probably quite aware of the challenges of buying gasoline for a small nonprofit. This, paired with a 35% increase in the rental rate for the truck has made us a bit more reliant on successful collections and the generosity of our donors.

Other than dealing with price increases on nearly everything, we are having a fantastic collection season. Because our collection partners are ready to hold public events, we have doubled the number of collections from last spring. These strange and expensive times give us more motivation to continue our mission — now, more than ever, our neighbors overseas need bicycles and sewing machines.

We have a special offer for this solicitation period._ For every donation of $100 or more we will send you a P4P T-shirt. (Please indicate your size!) We really do need your financial help. There are a lot of costs associated with getting thousands of bicycles halfway around the world, but when successful we permanently lift people out of poverty. Your donation will change a life. Please donate today!

Sincerely,

David Schweidenback and Alan Schultz
Outgoing and Incoming Presidents, P4P/SP

It has been such a tumultuous year. Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace have been working within our pandemic limitations. It is hard to sum it all up. Maybe it should be “the mission continues”. In our fiscal 2021 we got back to our 2019 production levels. 2022 should be even better.

P4P became 30 years old this year. I have had the immense pleasure of being President of P4P for 30 years. Parts of the job that require physical ability I can no longer have. Over the last 10 years I’ve gotten a lot of help from younger folks but it is time to start a transition to a new team with a much younger, more vibrant President. We have completed three decades but we now must plan for the next few.

Alan Schultz loaded containers all through high school. Went off and got a Masters degree and graduated into the teeth of a pandemic. For over a year he has been managing the loading of the containers: five men, four hours, 20,000 pounds. I was impressed with his management skills with those work crews.

I asked him this spring if he would like a greater role in the organization and he said yes, what would it be, and I suggested it be President. You have seen from the newsletters his excellent writing skills. Another important element of the job is public speaking; his public speaking is as good as if not better than his writing skills. I’ve already mentioned his exceptional skill managing a work crew.

We plan an 18-month transition period that started in April 2021. Alan has been my shadow since then. This fall he’ll follow Gary Michel, going to collections with Gary. We always need multiple people to run collections and no one will teach him how to run collections better than Gary.

Alan has been watching the international shipping arrangements, but I will involve him more in the actual Magic of having a 40-foot container arrive at our loading dock and then reappear halfway around the world, somehow getting through customs in a partner country. In the spring of 2022 he will start moving the paperwork for the containers and I will be his shadow.

Then in the fall of 2022 he’ll begin all the messy details of running a business: insurance companies, bookkeepers, budgets, accountants, federal and state tax authorities, state registrations, commonwealth registrations, bank accounts, …

In December 2022 Alan will be the president. I am still on the board of trustees. I don’t plan on going anywhere and I only live four houses up the street from Alan so he can involve me in whichever way he wishes. It will be a decision the new president has to make but I will be here to help in any way I can.

Pedals for Progress should have been cash positive in fiscal 2021 but we were slightly in the red because we have been carrying an extra payroll burden for 8 months. This is the cost of a succession plan. For fiscal 2022, for the first time ever, our budget shows a −$18,000. P4P is quite self-sufficient but really can’t afford an extra salary spot. Yet that is the cost to continue for decades more. For the next 12 months we are just going to have to accept that added payroll cost so that we can have a smooth transition into the future.

I had not planned on retiring, in part because I didn’t think there was any possibility of anyone else taking on the job. I had assumed we would just fold the organization at some point. When I realized that there was an alternative and a potential candidate who could keep P4P going, it was an opportunity too good to miss.

I want to express my personal deep gratitude for all the support you have given P4P over the years. I want to assure you that the mission has not changed. Alan will continue this vital work for decades to come. Please support him and the organization in the future.

From the beginning of the pandemic I was pretty sure our goal post was going to be April 2021. Of course we collected nothing in spring 2020 but did moderately well in the fall. We really expected a great spring 2021 season. Unfortunately most of our spring collectors are with churches and public schools, most of which were closed because of the pandemic. So rather than 30 spring collections, we had only seven. That moved our goal post to September 2021. In late August or September we will really be able to open up and collect a lot of bikes.

A funny thing happened last year. Our production totals in fiscal 2020 were down by 35% compared to 2019. But then last fall’s collections fell into fiscal 2021 and although we had very few collections in the spring of 2021, the Faith Lutheran Church of New Providence, New Jersey, collected 402 bicycles and two sewing machines in one day!

We had hoped to ship a minimum of three containers of bicycles and sewing machines in spring 2021 on the presumption of 25+ collections. The rollout of the vaccines has been a wonderful thing for everyone, but did not quite get here in time to save our spring season and its tiny total of 7 collections. That said, some days it just rains bikes. So we are in fact shipping a third container, Tanzania #8, on July 10th. In May, we shipped Rwanda #1 and Togo #4.

Thanks to all you donors and supporters of Pedals for Progress and Sewing Peace. We are making fundamental changes in the economic livelihood of thousands of people per year. While we empower individuals to be more productive because of bicycles and sewing machines, our partner organizations use their distribution business to make money for other projects, such as handicapped children’s schooling, skill training centers, and reforestation projects, to name just a few. And here in the US we prevent tons of used bikes and sewing machines from ending up in landfills. It’s a win-win-win.

With your support Pedals for Progress is going to come out of this pandemic stronger than before, with a laser-like focus on economic development and protecting the environment. Thank you for your continuing support. I am always appreciative of your generosity toward the most needy.