Selle Italia’s On-Line Sales Aid Covid-19 Effort

The North American office of Selle Italia, the venerable Italian manufacturer of bicycle saddles, today announced a pledge to donate 20% of its e-commerce sales to support the COVID-19 relief efforts of the Center for Disease Philanthropy. The charity has established a fund to support preparedness, containment, response, and recovery activities for responders and those most affected by the pandemic.

“As cyclists, we take pulls and block headwinds for each other,” said Richard Wittenberg, who leads Selle Italia’s North American office. “I feel it’s time for my company to do that on a global scale. While these are challenging financial times, for every uphill, we know there will be a downhill. It’s our turn to help those around us, to take that pull.”

Wittenberg’s company, Lucidity Business Development, manages Selle Italia’s North American business affairs. Selle Italia, based in the northern Italian town of Asolo, has been under quarantine restriction since Mar. 8 and Wittenberg has pledged to donate 20% of all online sales between Apr. 15 and when shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted.

“There’s no set date for when this will end,” he explained. “We’ll continue our pledge until we can all get back to our group rides.” During the donation period, customers will receive free shipping and free Selle Italia bar tape on all web orders of $150 or more.

The Center for Disease Philanthropy, a U.S. 501c3 charity founded in 2004, is dedicated to maximizing donor impact by making intentional disaster-related giving decisions. It has already provided COVID-19 relief grants to each of a dozen different humanitarian aid organizations including Americares, International Medical Corps, Meals on Wheels America, and CARE. For more information, please visit https://disasterphilanthropy.org/cdp-fund/cdp-covid-19-response-fund/.