What does the partner organisation do with your money?
A part of the money is used for their activities listed here. They also run quite a large bike shop located in a major city of Switzerland. They teach regular apprentices, young people coming off of high school, who get a federal diploma in bicycle mechanics after three years. Besides that, the master mechanics at Drahtesel teach people who have been unemployed for a long time or who simply have no professional education at all, in bicycle mechanics. After an average stay of one year, they will have gathered enough skills to work at regular bike shops. What's important: Be it the apprentices or be it the adults: Both get a small, but meaningful salary. Meaningful because it gives value to their efforts and a partial financial independence. Now, naturally all these operations cost money, money for infrastructure, tools and most obviously salaries.
In Switzerland institutions like our partner organization receive money from the state for their services to society, but they are required to make a large percentage of their income through their operations. And that's where ABR steps in: By selling the valuable retro parts that go through their hands to an international audience at a market price, our partner receives an additional source of finances which in turn it can use to offer more and/or better teaching.