Ohio City Bicycle Co-op

We take any bike-related donations!

(and other stuff: please check our Wish List)

OCBC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations are tax-deductible. We accept any bicycles, in any condition, but we can't buy bikes, or take trades (except those we have sold). Resourcefulness is important to us, so we work hard to find the most beneficial new life for every bike that is donated -- whether it's used in an education program, for sale to get someone riding, or by salvaging useful parts and properly recycling the rest.

Because this processing is such time-consuming (and skilled) work, we request a $5 donation per bike to help find your bike a new home, and to offset the roughly $20 worth of new parts we put on the average rehabilitated bike.  Of course we appreciate any bike donations, but we are always pleased to see so many folks include this small cash assistance.

We also accept any bicycle-related items — books and videos (or DVDs), tools, clip-in pedals and shoes, and good seats are especially welcome.

Where your old stuff goes

Most donated bicycles may be earned by anyone with credits earned through volunteering, or sold to help fund our education programs. Most of the highest-quality bicycles will enter our fleet of co-op bikes which are used in programs, available for members to borrow, and available for the public to rent (you can see most of our fleet hanging from the ceiling if you come to our shop in the flats). Department-store quality mountain bikes in very good condition are reserved for our Earn A Bike program, and small children's bikes will be serviced and re-donated to social service agencies.

Donated tools will likely be used to fix bikes, as you'd expect! Books, DVDs, cleated shoes and clip-in pedals and newer, quality saddles will join our library. Cycling-specific clothing is sold to fund our programs or earned by volunteers, except for used shorts: we feel one life is enough for shorts!

Getting it to us

You can bring your donations to our location in the flats anytime we're open (including times designated for members or volunteering -- any of the hours listed on the right). Sorry, we don't have pick-up service. If you have no way to transport things to us, we can probably make arrangements with a modest delivery charge, but sometimes it's difficult - it's hard to carry bicycles on a bicycle!

If you are loading your bike in the rear of a car (or anywhere you have to lay it down, actually), here is some advice: chain-side up, rear wheel first. If the trunk won't close, an old inner tube looped all the way over the trunk lid makes an excellent tie-down -- be sure to shake the bike a bit to make sure it won't fall out. If you have to put it in the back seat, you'll probably need to take off the front wheel, so do that first, and then load it from the driver's side, with rear wheel first so the chain is not against the rear seat.

What you get from us for your bike donation

We will provide a receipt for any donation for tax purposes, but unfortunately we can't do trades or buy bikes.

Cash Donations

OCBC is a community-supported 501(c)(3) corporation, so cash donations are fully tax-deductible, and are certainly appreciated. In keeping with our core values of Respect, Resourcefulness and Reciprocity, we try hard to be self-sustained by the mission-related services we provide to the community through bike education programs, shop-use memberships, and proceeds from the refurbished used bikes we sell. Our goal to "help people use bikes" is broad, though, and not everyone we help can reciprocate, so philanthropic grants and donations from individuals and corporations are still an important part of our support.

If you would like to make a cash donation, please do so on our Payments page, or feel free to contact us if you would like to direct your donation to a specific program. We appreciate your support of our work to help people use bikes!