NOW Enterprising Ideas

Open for Business, Again

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:02:39 -0500

There's renewed optimism in the country after the elections, and we at Materials Matter are sharing in that optimism. We finally signed a new lease and have opened our doors again. Yeah!!! In early September, after four years of operating our Home Improvement Outlet -- the retail end of our operation – out of Corona, California, we very suddenly had to pack up and seek new digs due to events entirely out of our control. As a result, these past three months have been rough for us.

But we remain determined to continue our mission: to help provide housing for those who need it and keep as much salvageable material out of the landfills as possible. Since we set up shop in 2004, we have distributed over $4 million in materials to nonprofit organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, for building and renovating affordable shelter housing. We have recycled over 75 million pounds of good, usable materials headed for landfills. We have touched the lives of thousands of people in need from all walks of life: low income families, veterans, battered women and children, children with life threatening disease, autistic children, the elderly, and many more. We are extremely proud of the work we’ve done, and are excited and thankful every day that we can continue to do what we do.

Since we’ve moved, each day brings new challenges, especially financial ones. The move itself cost us roughly $25,000 (trucks, extra workers, gas, storage, legal fees) and there are also many costs associated with opening a new location. And, because the Home Improvement Outlet was forced to temporarily close its doors for two months, we lost about $100,000 in revenues. Those revenues are critical for us, as they pay for the costs of running our charitable programs. Altogether, we estimate losing over $175,000 because of what we went through, and we still are not earning what we would have if none of this ever happened. We have a lot of start up charges that we didn’t count on too: deposits, signage, racking, damaged merchandise, advertising, etc. It’s been a difficult time, and it obviously doesn’t help that the country is reeling along with us.

Another challenge is getting the word out about our new location. Since we’ve relocated to a new city, and because we had to abandon our other facility so quickly, many people don’t really know where we are. So, in a way, it’s as if we’ve had to start over.

But during these tough economic times, I think we’re actually part of the solution, rather than a victim of circumstances. It seems that everyone, no matter what their financial status, is looking to save money wherever they can. Also, with the housing market the way it is, many people are staying in their homes. So they are making upgrades to preserve or increase the equity and make their homes nicer to live in. This is where our Home Improvement Outlet offers help -- people can purchase amazing quality items at 40%-80% off retail. With this in mind, we think we can survive through the economic crisis. We’ve always prided ourselves on being almost 100% self-sustaining. Right now, however, we really need money to get us through this rough patch and it’s hard for people to give – even small amounts. Everybody is hurting. So, we’re feeling the crunch, it just affects us in a different way.

We are so thrilled for everyone to get a glimpse into our world – who we are, what we do, and how we make a difference, or so we hope. We were honored to be profiled and filmed by NOW on PBS. We were humbled and excited to have won the Project Enterprise contest because it validated what we were doing and why. So many times you just get lost in what you’re doing and forget about why you’re doing it. To have the NOW crew come in and really want to understand who we are and what we do was a great experience. Everyone was so wonderful and easy to work with. They spent a lot of time talking to us and had such a desire to learn more about us.

We see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hope that things are starting to turn around. We love our new location and hope that eventually we can bring in a lot more money so that we can double and triple the amount of materials we can provide for affordable and transitional housing. The nonprofits we work with are all suffering right now. And these days, people need help more than ever.

Alison

** Our new location is at 23351 Avenida de la Carlota in Laguna Hills, CA 92653. Our new phone number is 949-421-3800.

Seeking Shelter

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:27:41 -0500

As the United States economy started its steep downward spiral three weeks ago, we at Materials Matter were experiencing our own little economic collapse.

After four years of operating our warehouse in Corona, California, where we ran our Home Improvement Outlet -- the retail end of our operation -- as well as our donation distribution center, we very suddenly had to pack up and seek new digs. We found ourselves caught in the middle of a bitter dispute between to two owners of the property. And the situation very quickly evolved into a crisis for all of us.

Materials Matter -- a nonprofit that supplies building materials to homeless shelters -- found itself homeless. The irony was not lost on us. But we did what we had to do, moving all 30,000 square feet of our materials and infrastructure temporarily to our distribution warehouse in Irvine. But our retail operation is for the moment closed, and we’re concerned.

As a social enterprise, we rely heavily on the earned income from the Home Improvement Outlet and fee-for-service programs to support our charity work. It’s fair to say that if we do not get another store up and running soon our nonprofit programs will be in serious jeopardy. Already, we’ve been forced to put a hold on some material requests by our Community Chest members. Materials Matter supplies these groups, including Habitat for Humanity and HomeAid, with low and no cost building materials and supplies.

Our staff is now working around the clock to re-establish operations. We are now in the process of looking at new locations for lease, so we can get our retail operation up and running once again.

In these troubling times, our nonprofit organization, which recycles and reuses building materials to help other nonprofits build shelter and housing, all paid for by providing the public with discounted home improvement products, is needed more now than ever.
As we all grapple with the falling value of homes, rising unemployment, and an uncertain economic future, it can only serve us well to focus on getting the most value out of the resources we have already.

We will keep you posted!

The Struggling Economy Spells Doom and Gloom for Charities

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:35:54 -0500

Daniel Gross, business columnist for Newsweek and Slate, turned his eyes towards the latest victim of the economic downturn in his most recent column, cheerfully titled “The Coming Charity Crisis.” His tone is appropriate. Thanks to the sluggish market, fundraisers from splashy celebrity galas to Salvation Army clothing collection bins and the charities they support are all feeling the pinch of declining donations. And while large impressive multi-million dollar gifts usually get most of the press, Gross points out that mega-gifts make up only 1.3% of all donations. The bread and butter of nonprofits in America is smaller donations from individuals who support the cause, accounting for 75% of all donations in 2006. So as wages flag, and gas prices dig in, and the health of the upper-middle-class consumer starts to show fatigue, we can expect donations and nonprofit budgets to take a big hit.

The mysterious guru over at the Don’t Tell The Donor blog has taken a rickety time-machine in to the future and agrees. But you don’t need a time machine to predict this decline—the writing has been on the wall for some time. Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University reported individual and corporate giving actually declined in 2007 when adjusted for inflation. Target Analytics reported yesterday that revenues had declined in the first quarter for 60% of the nonprofits in their study.

At Materials Matter, we can confirm that with our own anecdotal evidence. Not only are donations down, but our ability to afford to pick up and deliver in-kind donations has dramatically decreased with diesel soaring to new price-heights. Around here we call it the “new math.” When a donor calls in with some extra windows and doors, or some leftover hardware from a construction project, we have to calculate pretty quickly how much it will cost us to pick it up in our fuel-inefficient truck using the donation’s current whereabouts, the size of the donation, and whether it’s on route to or from another pick-up. Then we have to decide whether the value of that donation will be worth the cost of transportation. It’s put a huge dent in our “always say yes to a donation” philosophy.

Corporate giving has also declined, and we are currently surviving on a lean staff and the revenue from our social enterprise store. As predicted, a home improvement outlet that offers 50-80% off retail on cabinets, flooring and everything else is not a bad business to be running when the housing bubble bursts and the economy slows down. Still, our Board of Directors is sweating. And it’s not from lack of air conditioning. Though that might be the next to go if gas prices continue to rise.

What to make of this new, gloomy philanthropic landscape? The experts agree on one thing: it will take some time for the economy to recover. This isn’t a normal recession, but the unraveling of a massive credit bubble, and a $300 stimulus check won’t help the 30 million people being foreclosed on. (If you haven’t heard it yet, by the way, you should give an hour to listening to the This American Life special on the credit crisis called The Big Pool Of Money.) Charity giving will most likely slump this year and the next. To stay afloat, we all have to nurture our social enterprises and return to the time honored strategy of asking friends, face-to-face, to support the causes we care about most.

Success Stories Fuel Social Enterprise

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:11:15 -0500

In times of constantly streaming bad news -- a stalling economy, gas prices inching ever-closer to $5/gallon, donations slumping -- we all need a little good news to cling to. For those of us at Materials Matter and no doubt other social enterprises, we are driven by success stories. It’s the success stories that we work for, because each one is a building block in our larger mission. The fact that each success is the culmination of months, sometimes years of plodding work, makes them that much more satisfying.

When our Board of Directors voted in early 2007 to expand our services to include more nonprofit agencies, one of the intentions was to begin doing more to supply materials to builders of emergency shelter and transitional housing. By autumn, we started a mutual courtship with HomeAid, a national nonprofit leader in building and rehabbing shelter and transitional housing for the homeless. With an impressive track-record of working with local agencies to build shelter for over 80,000 individuals and headquarters close by in Orange County, CA, HomeAid seemed like a natural fit.

We were soon paired with HomeAid San Diego to conduct a sort of pilot program. We met in January and reviewed their upcoming projects and, looking at the constraints of planning time, selected an upcoming project to help with. Led by the Interfaith Community Services in Escondido, the Veteran’s Project involved rehabbing apartment units to serve as transitional housing for homeless veterans. Many of the units would need to be outfitted for handicap accessibility, and the budget was tight. We agreed to aggressively pursue material donations for them, believing five months was plenty of time.

By early May, we were scrambling. Many of the manufacturers and distributors we partner with that typically have excess to donate had been tightening their belts, making their companies more efficient as a strategy for weathering the economic downturn. But we posted up the project plans on the wall and kept heart, making call after call to track down donations. It was the company RSI that finally came through for us in a big way, contributing medicine cabinets, light bars, vanity tops, and storage cabinets. We were also able to get a hold of handicap accessible shower stalls, which retails for thousands of dollars, and donations of faucets, garbage disposals, paint and supplies, and electrical supplies. All in all we pulled together $30,000 in materials and two weeks ago, we sent a truckload of materials and supplies down.

Our staff had already moved on to “the next”: other projects, other needs. And then our truck driver returned from the delivery with tears in his eyes. The staff of the Interfaith Community Services had gathered around to watch the unloading of materials at the site. Each unloading of another palette brought another round of applause. For a man who spends most of his days in warehouses driving forklifts, it was a touching reminder of why he worked for Materials Matter, and as he passed the success story along we all felt that thing you are supposed to feel doing this work: that swelling in your chest. That warm feeling brought on by generosity. That faith in people, and that faith in fighting to help the most vulnerable.

In the week that followed, our office received some humbling thank you letters. The Veteran’s Project is now in its final stages of completion. Hundreds of homeless veterans will receive housing assistance there, many of whom returned recently from Afghanistan and Iraq having lost their homes and their families and just need a place to get their feet back on the ground. It’s easy to forget why we struggle to run a nonprofit organization, and why we work so hard to run a social enterprise to make that nonprofit successful. Thanks to the Veteran’s Project in Oceanside, we now have the soul-fuel to continue on.

Gas Prices, Taxes and Lay-offs, Oh My!

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:05:33 -0500

I just spent $69.78 to fill up my car. YIKES!!! What in the world is going on? I also just heard stamps are going up.again! Oh, and I keep hearing about new taxes for this and new taxes for that. I've heard about so many different new taxes lately that I don't even remember what they are for.

I just know that I was going to be paying them. Well, this is not only a nonprofit's nightmare. It's obviously a nightmare for every hard-working person whose income just can't keep up with inflation. Oh, and all those people who have been laid off.

Our business is based on picking up and distributing donations to the nonprofits that need them (IN OUR TRUCK). In California, regular unleaded is hovering around $3.60 a gallon. That puts the diesel needed to run the truck at over $4.00 a gallon. Yet, financial donations have been
lowering probably due to the economy and the fact that many of our corporate supporters are related to the housing industry which puts us in quite the bind. Everyone is really feeling the crunch and boy does it hurt.

I know that this isn't just a problem for nonprofits, but in a business dependent on donations from the general public, it is a problem that is definitely affecting us. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. I just felt the need to vent a little. It's really hard sometimes since I write the checks and see the expenditures. As with so many, we've tightened our belts, but sometimes it seems there just aren't enough holes. I don't want to get political, but I truly hope that all the politicians see that we need some help.we need some change. I don't know what the answers are, but I know whatever is
going on just isn't working.

How the End of the Housing Boom Hurts

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:01:06 -0500

As self-help preacher Tony Robbins clamors on to the stage, the LA Convention Center erupts like a revival hall with screaming and cheering and the sort of palpable optimism usually found at political rallies and children’s birthday parties. It’s not a seminar on locating your personal power. It’s a real estate expo circa 2005, and thousands of people have shown up to attend workshops with titles like “Power Investing,” and “The 125 Percent Program,” and “Getting Rich With Real Estate From A to Z.” The median home price in California has soared to half-a-million, and there’s no sign that the end is near.
Only there are. Many signs. Predatory lending is rampant, and the sub-prime lending crisis is looming. Many mortgage corporations had already begun to downsize. And only three years later, we are staring down the face of a national recession, and the building industry is leading the way.

So what happened? For those of us in the nonprofit industry, the housing boom was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, we received enormous financial support from builders, contractors, and the banking and mortgage industry. Times were very, very good the housing industry. Interest rates for home loans were low and a shortage of affordable housing was driving prices up. Boom prices in cities were fueling a construction boom in the urban outskirts like the Inland empire. Corporations and their foundations could afford to give generously. And with all the building going on, there was plenty of excess materials to go around.

On the other hand, the affordable housing and shelter crisis was growing steadily worse. Housing price inflation had made buying a new home a pipedream for all but 18% of families. California’s home ownership rate—40%—was the second lowest in the country. Solutions were hard to come by as homeowner groups opposed new developments of high density affordable housing at every turn. Over 60% of Los Angeles County residents were renting, and many of them were in overcrowded, substandard conditions. Economic speculators, perhaps like the ones learning how to get-rich-quick at the LA Convention Center, were making matters worse, driving up rental prices in once affordable neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, the bursting of the housing bubble hasn’t lead to an increase in housing affordability. It’s just lead to stagnation and foreclosure. Although the grant money from the housing and mortgage industry has dried up dramatically, the housing crisis remains the same today, if not worse, making the challenges facing nonprofit builders even greater. Here at Materials Matter, we have witnessed a big decrease in excess material donations from manufacturers and distributors, as companies look to cut costs during the downturn. To make up for it, we’ve had to turn to other ways to cut construction costs for nonprofits, like increasing our bulk-purchasing programs. We’re also partnering with different companies to expand our reach and donor base—the nonprofit version of diversifying your portfolio.
As general acceptance of a recession grows, our Home Improvement Outlet at least, is seeing increased sales. Right now people are more likely to improve the home they’re in rather than buying a new home. And they are looking for a bargain in the process. Hopefully it will help us weather the downturn and continue to help the nonprofits that are struggling to make a difference. And maybe we’ll be teaching a seminar at the next big real estate expo: “Power Recycling,” or “The 40 Percent Program—How Those Of Us Who Own A Home Can Help Everyone Else Get One Too.”

Sick but Surviving!

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:37:32 -0500

Sorry we've been out of touch for a while. We've just had round 3 of whatever this illness is that's going around. And when I say we, I mean our entire staff has been sick at one or more times in February and March. It's really tough because it completely knocks you out and makes it hard to function let alone get any work done.

Being sick started at such a pivotal time, too, as we've been working on an exciting new partnership for the Home Improvement Outlet. Bargain Mart, the store that occupies the space next to us, is partnering with Materials Matter to share space and proceeds. This gives Materials Matter the opportunity to have a much better selection of products for our customers as well as a way to increase our exposure, ultimately helping us to support our programs to get materials into the hands of nonprofits and recycle. While we are downsizing our own space, we can consolidate our merchandise to make sure that we only are selling the products that sell, instead of wasting floor space.

It’s a great model of a new kind of partnership for us, and we’re thrilled. We’ve begun to make changes throughout the store, and will have a grand opening/reopening on March 14 – so we’ll definitely have a lot to say after next week. We’re making so many positive changes and it’s really exciting. We’ve also been opening the doors to many new distribution partners expanding our mission to serve many more organizations. In the past month we’ve distributed over 200 pallets worth of products to nonprofits. We are having a ‘Distribution Week’ to our Community Chest members during the week of March 17, so there is a lot going on, but we’re just trying to get and stay healthy. We’ll take pictures of the grand opening and of the Distribution Days.

It's Not Easy Being Green... But It's Getting Easier

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:22:11 -0500

The last few years have been great for raising awareness and boosting green commerce. Many in the business community, from large corporations to small businesses, are starting to see that adopting a greener attitude makes sense—conserving energy and supplying environmentally sound products and services benefits the environment and the bottom line. It's difficult to tell at times whether real change is taking place behind the claims, but it appears even Target and Wal-Mart are taking measures to reduce their environmental impact.

The same could be said for social enterprises like Materials Matter. We've had some banner years of growth recently, as nonprofits and businesses alike see the value of creating business models that benefit the "triple bottom line" of positive financial, social and environmental outcomes. The announcement of the America Forward initiative is evidence that the movement is about to grow new muscle with the support of policy makers.

The road has been far from smooth for either cause. Though describing activities that have been going on since the Girl Scouts sold their first box of Thin Mints, the term “social enterprise” has taken a meandering path into the public awareness, surfacing in discussion of everything from the Grameen Bank and it’s hero-founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus to the feel-good deliciousness of fair-trade coffees. And there were the cautionary tales as well, such as the Harvard Business Review’s 2005 article titled 'Should Nonprofits Seek Profits?' or the June 2007 SEEDCO Foundation report called “The Limits of Social Enterprise.” The latter argued that nonprofits running commercial businesses generally leads to frustration and failure, either of the venture itself or of its revenue projections. The overall agreement in these articles seemed to be that “unrealistic expectations” about financial outcomes are the root problem of unsuccessful earned-income ventures for nonprofits.

When are unrealistic expectations not the root of dissatisfaction? And when are they not accompanied by the kind of beautiful hope where all great changes are born?

Materials Matter is a venture that embraces both green commerce and social enterprise as our basic business models. We salvage materials and rescue excess, saving them both from landfills. Those goods are then distributed to nonprofit building shelters or housing, or sold to the public to create earned income we can use to run our organization and bulk-purchase the materials we can’t find in the wild. The crew here knows all about frustration and failure, but we also know about resilience and success. We hope that 2008 brings more good news for both green commerce and social enterprise, proving that activism can be incredibly powerful when it finds a way to work within the market.

Why We Do What We Do

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:09:04 -0500

Wishing everybody a Happy New Year! It's interesting when asked why I do the work I do or why I got into this field. I never really thought about it at all until recently asked during an interview for a newspaper article [See it here “Couple seeks ways to re-use building materials to aid Orange County nonprofits”].

I believe that people can make a difference in so many different ways. Some people become doctors, some people have a lot of money to make donations to philanthropic endeavors, some people volunteer, etc. Jason and I chose to do this because it’s what we know how to do. We both fell into our work with nonprofits, and with Materials Matter saw an opportunity to help nonprofits and ultimately help people have a better life.

Many people don’t view nonprofits as a business. Whereas, looking at the business models for big builders as well as the Targets and WalMarts of the world, they have distribution centers and do large-scale purchasing to achieve the biggest discounts they can. They pool their resources and spend the least amount of money and time to run in the most efficient ways they can. We saw a need for that in the nonprofit world. There are something like 130,000 nonprofits in Orange County, California, alone, all fending for themselves. Our thought was to pool the nonprofits -- to create a place for collaboration so that we can all achieve more and ultimately serve more individuals in need. Some may need a home, some may need a warm place to spend one night, some may need a meal, some may need a safe haven from abusive family. There are so many wonderful and meaningful charities throughout Southern California and the country. If we can make an impact and help to increase the number of projects that can be done and ultimately help many more people, well who wouldn’t feel good about that?

We know that what we do is needed. We know that this is our way to make a difference. Sort of like the starfish story where the boy is on the beach and throwing starfish into the ocean. The dad asks why he’s doing that as there are hundreds and thousands of starfish washed on onto the sand. The boy says yes, but at least this one will live today. (Or something like that...) Well, that’s our philosophy. If we can make a difference in just one person’s life, than we’ve done what we set out to do.

Also, we know what it’s like to have rough times. We know what it’s like to feel like there’s no use going on -- that one bad thing keeps happening after another. And when there’s one thing that makes you smile or forget everything else for just a minute, it’s the greatest feeling in the world. We hope that we provide that, not only for the people in need, but also for the people who work at the nonprofits and struggle daily to accomplish their work.

We don’t get to hand the families keys to their new homes, or open the doors to the shelter that will keep them from their abusive spouse. We don’t get to see the children’s faces when they see their room painted and the leaks repaired. We don’t get to install the windows in the facility or the shingles on the roofs. We’re not the Habitats, the HomeAids nor the Rebuilding Togethers who actually do the projects. But, because of the materials we provide to these and other nonprofits, they will be able to hand out more keys, open more doors and bring more smiles to more people…and that’s why we do it.

Mission Impossible? A Day In The Life Running A Social Enterprise

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:22:12 -0500

Materials Matter's primary social enterprise earned-income stream comes from the Home Improvement Outlet, a discount store open to the public that sells brand new and salvaged building and home improvement supplies at 50%-80% off retail. Most of the product we carry is overstock, discontinued, slightly damaged, or buy-backs donated to us by companies who otherwise would have sent it to a landfill or sold it to a for-profit liquidator. Some of the donations like this that we get are set aside exclusively for use by the nonprofits we work with, and the rest goes to the store where both the nonprofits and the public can purchase it. All the proceeds from store sales are fed back into our programs, sustaining 60-75% of our organization.

So the store’s a pretty big deal.

Materials Matter’s continued success hinges upon the successful building and growing of sustainable income streams like our Home Improvement Outlet. Just like traditional charity golf tournaments, cocktail luncheons, fancy $300-a-plate galas—we spend a lot of time nurturing our store.

When I say nurturing, what I really mean is rolling up our sleeves, cranking up the classic rock station and driving around the forklift through a fog of warehouse dust. I mean busting out the dollies and moving product by hand from the back of the warehouse to the front of the store and trying everything in our power to give our 35,000 square feet of open warehouse a friendly, inviting atmosphere. I mean painting signs and fixing broken credit card machines and arguing with soda-machine vendors. And I mean tirelessly working the phones to get more donations or to negotiate new bulk-purchasing deals on products we can’t seem to get donated.

One of the big challenges and tensions for nonprofits engaging in social enterprise is the amount of time that must be dedicated to building and growing these earned income streams. The work of running any business can be difficult, and for nonprofit workers who are used to being closer to the meaningful end-result of their labor, it can be downright demoralizing. You have to wear so many hats it’s dizzying. There are many days when it feels like the mission is impossible, and the days when we all have to put our do-gooder hearts aside and crunch numbers and make tough, bottom-line decisions. And then there are days like today.

It’s Saturday, December 1st, the day of our third annual 50% Off Sale at the Home Improvement Outlet. It’s about 7:30 in the morning, and there is a harsh cold bite to the air. It rained something biblical the day before, and we just can’t believe our luck that it stopped in time for our big day. Neither can the 100 customers who have already lined up outside the building. They are already jockeying for position, pushing others aside, claiming rights to carts, grabbing stacks of “sold” tickets, leaving their 10-year-olds to hold their place in line while they stock up on the free coffee and donuts. The store will not open until 9:00 am, and when it does it will be absolute chaos.

Customers swarm the aisles in search of the deal of a lifetime on flooring, hardware, bathtubs, sinks, faucets, doors—the list goes on. Jason, the president of our organization, is working the floor like it’s the New York Stock Exchange. Our Communication Director is trying to sell a couple on a brand new kitchen cabinet set. I’m shouting for the next customer to come up to the register. Volunteers hustle to and from the back, searching for stock and helping customers load their cars. After 8 hours of frenzied shopping and only a few customer “I-got-here-first” fights, our store is a certified disaster-area and everyone is properly exhausted. And we will have earned a big chunk of the operational cash flow we need to survive another few months working the mission.

On Monday, for Jason and me it’s back to business suits and financial reports and strategic planning. And dreaming up new ways to make it easier for nonprofits to build homes for struggling families that we may never meet, but whose lives we are committed to changing.

-Alison Riback

Part 2: Who's the Baby?

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:29:06 -0500

Editor's Note: Below is the second post from the winners of Project Enterprise (scroll down to read the first). Over the next 6 or so months, Alison and Jason of Materials Matter will pull back the curtain on what it takes to run an entrepreneurial project with a humanitarian mission. They will try to post about once a week. If you want them to discuss any particular topic, send an e-mail to ProjectEnterprise@thirteen.org and it will be forwarded to them. Thanks for reading!

By the way, in the fall of 2002, Jason and I started dating and got married in February of 2005. We had our daughter, Alexis, in July of 2006. We have some great days and some not so great days and sometimes the days turn into weeks, but we hope that we've laid a foundation for something great. The next 6 months will be pivotal for us. Again, we're struggling a little with the finances and are looking to expand the ways in which we seek funds. We've more or less survived on our sustainable income models, and due to the market, we need to start looking for grants and donations. So that will be a major focus in the upcoming year. With the right funding, we can look to expand the model and see if we can replicate in other parts of the country.

We hope that there will be opportunities to really reach out to many more nonprofits which in turn will help build more affordable, transitional and emergency housing. We are also looking to expand our programs to reach more low-income families. We hope to have more products suited to helping them have the ability to improve their homes and ultimately their lives.

Thank you for letting us share our story. Thank you for voting. Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support. We look forward to the next six months.

Talk to you soon.

Jason and Alison

Project Enterprise Winners: Hello from Alison and Jason

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:06:54 -0500

Editor's Note: Below is the first post from the winners of Project Enterprise. Over the next 6 or so months, Alison and Jason of Materials Matter will pull back the curtain on what it takes to run an entrepreneurial project with a humanitarian mission. They will try to post about once a week. If you want them to discuss any particular topic, send an e-mail to ProjectEnterprise@thirteen.org and it will be forwarded to them. Thanks for reading!

First of all, we want to thank everyone who voted for us. More importantly, we want to acknowledge the other three organizations that we were so humbled to be nominated with. They are all doing incredible and extremely interesting work. We hope to hear more about them in the upcoming months and wish them the best of luck with all they are doing.

Yeah!!! We won!!!

For those of you who don't know, Materials Matter is a nonprofit 501(c)3 charity whose mission is to provide the material resources nonprofits need to build housing and shelter and revitalize communities; to equip low income families with the materials and supplies they need to repair and care for their homes affordably, and to promote conservation through materials recycling.

To give you the quick spiel.

Materials Matter envisions a greener, more just world where all families can achieve a higher level of economic independence, and improve their lives and neighborhoods, and where government, for-profit and nonprofit sectors all work together to meet the triple bottom line of positive financial, environmental and social outcomes for all.

We provide overall benefits for the community while directly affecting the 'distressed and underprivileged'. We are dedicated to being a leader in cooperative resource development for nonprofits serving Orange County, the Inland Empire and the entire Southern California region.

We harness the collective buying power of the nonprofit community and the goodwill of the business community to secure low-cost and donated materials and supplies. With regular access to our services, organizations save precious financial and human resources, and ultimately build more homes and shelters and serve more families in need.

We hope to eventually take the model nationwide and from there... Who knows?

But…We Do Have Some Challenges

In the summer of 2007, we decided to embark on a big change. We decided to expand our mission so that we could help all nonprofits, not just Habitat for Humanity. We disaffiliated from Habitat for Humanity [see Materials Matter History for more explanation] and went our own way. This was an interesting time that we can talk about as a separate entry. It was extremely exciting and trying at the same time. We were losing this $4 billion name brand recognition, but that name brand was also holding us back. As Habitat we tried never to compete with the affiliates which prohibited us from seeking most grants, donations and having events. We were now free and able to leap from buildings and shout our name. The question was, how do we climb up to those roofs? And did anyone want to hear us shout?

The last five months have been amazing and very challenging. We've been more successful that ever, but yet been struggling financially -- we think mostly due to the housing market and the way we've been structured. Again, we can talk about all of this more in the upcoming journal entries, but let's just say, it hasn't been easy. However, we knew that with the rebranding and introduction of this semi-new entity without the fancy name needed some help. We discussed the hiring of a PR firm to help get the word out to the community. And, if anyone is thinking of starting a nonprofit or even has any business that needs a little kickstart, I'd say, hire a PR firm (a good one with references and a lot of experience that meets your needs).

Can Tobacco Farmers Go Green?

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:49:30 -0500

On this week's episode of NOW, we look more closely at an innovative project previously profiled on Enterprising Ideas. Anthony Flaccavento is the dynamic leader behind Appalachian Sustainable Development. Flaccavento started ASD out of a desire to bridge the gap between environmentalists and people working for economic development. He wanted to show that you can create jobs and protect the environment.

ASD has launched two social enterprises with a "triple bottom line"—meaning they have three goals: economic, environmental and social. NOW investigates the ASD enterprise that encourages tobacco farmers in Appalachian Virginia to start growing organic produce. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? And improve their standard of living at the same time? Find out. NOW airs Friday nights at 8:30 p.m. Check local schedules.

An Idea Both Conservatives and Liberals Can Love?

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:20:50 -0500

The president of the Manhattan Institute, which advocates limited government, worries that the increasing enthusiasm about social entrepreneurs may end up diluting the meaning of the term "social entrepreneur." Writing in the New York Sun, Howard Husock starts by citing Bill Clinton's new book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Save the World, in which Clinton promotes the idea of "social entrepreneurship." George W. Bush has also praised the innovation of social entrepreneurs, notes Husock. Which causes Husock to wonder if Bush and Clinton share the same understanding of social entrepreneurship.

Husock is far from the first person to argue that the term "social entrepreneur" is misunderstood. See our list of definitions for a sense of how many different interpretations exist. But Husock introduces a new question about the term:

Yet beneath the apparent Bush-Clinton consensus, there is important disagreement about what the term, and a related movement, means. Is it a new code word for liberal causes or a useful name for a movement of idealists with limited government involvement who are helping those in need?

He goes on to argue that "social enterprises" don't belong in the umbrella term of "social entrepreneurship," either. Whether you agree or disagree with Husock, his commentary is good fodder for discussion. What do you think? Is the approach of the social entrepreneur beyond ideology?

Wheelchairs and Websites

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:55:46 -0500

For anyone following our Project Enterprise Contest, one of our finalists has a new website. Intelligent Mobility International, which is such a new project they didn't have a website when we launched our contest, now has an online presence. Visit them at: http://www.intelligentmobility.org/
Today our votes topped 4,000. There's still almost 2 weeks left to vote so cast your vote today at: http://www.pbs.org/now/enterprisingideas/poll.html