“Habitat for Humanity is a movement,” stated Natosha Reid Rice, Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Habitat for Humanity International, during her keynote panel on Day 1 of the Habitat for Humanity Western Region conference in Portland, Oregon. And we couldn’t agree more.
Habitat for Humanity’s Mission Goes Beyond Building Homes
Habitat for Humanity is more than just an organization focused on building affordable housing. It is a global nonprofit organization driven to help people in need.
The Habitat for Humanity model of building homes in partnership with families and volunteers is based on the idea of “a hand up, not a handout.” This empowers families to break the cycle of poverty and build a better future for themselves. And therefore, this year’s conference theme, “Unlocking the Future: Building with Courage and Compassion,” was ever so timely.
Habitat for Humanity inspires millions worldwide to join the cause and has become a symbol of hope and dignity for those in need. Its impact is felt in the number of homes built and the lives transformed by the organization’s work.
Habitat for Humanity has a grassroots approach that involves local communities, volunteers, and partners working together to address housing issues, making it more of a social movement than just a charity organization.
Highlights from Habitat for Humanity’s Western Region Conference
Attending Habitat for Humanity’s Western Region Conference in Portland was an incredible experience that left a lasting impact on us. The conference, which brought together about 500 Habitat for Humanity staff, volunteers, and partner organizations, was an opportunity to learn and share the latest trends, best practices, and challenges in affordable housing, community development, fundraising and volunteering with a focus on the Western United States.
The conference was packed with inspiring stories, informative workshops, and engaging conversations, from the opening keynote to state receptions and the closing plenary. We heard from Habitat for Humanity leaders who shared their vision and strategy for building more homes, empowering more families, and creating more sustainable communities. We also learned from housing policy, social justice, and community organizing experts who challenged us to think critically about the root causes of poverty, inequality, and displacement.
One of the conference’s highlights was meeting and networking with Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff from many Affiliates. We exchanged ideas, shared success stories, learned from each other’s experiences and discussed the benefits of all-in-one nonprofit software. It was inspiring to see the dedication, passion, and creativity of so many people who are committed to making a difference in their communities.
Three Key Takeaways and Thought Starters for Continued Conversations:
1. The Importance of Grants in Fundraising for Habitat for Humanity
Many Habitat Affiliates rely on nonprofit grants for a substantial amount of funding. Tracking grants is a crucial aspect of the grant application process. Spreadsheets can become unwieldy and difficult to manage as a nonprofit’s grant portfolio grows. Selecting the right technology rather than relying on spreadsheets can make a world of difference.
With Giveffect, for example, you can store all grant-related information in a centralized database. This can include grant application deadlines, funder information, grant applications, progress tracking reports, description of grants, award details and more.
When applying for Grants (or for reporting on grants), often an organization needs to provide data such as the number of volunteer hours served, the number of clients served, and fundraising data. The Grant manager in many Affiliates must request this information from colleagues and must wait for the data to be shared. However, with Giveffect, the Grant Manager can access this information directly, eliminating the need to wait on a busy colleague or the added time of back-and-forth emails or meetings to obtain this data.
Having a single source of truth can streamline grant management, increase efficiency, and reduce the risk of errors.
Additionally, because Giveffect is an all-in-one nonprofit software solution, you can automatically send reminders and notifications for upcoming deadlines, follow-up actions, and other important dates. Additionally, Giveffect facilitates collaboration among team members. For example, team members can assign tasks to one another, leave comments, and share files related to the grant application. This helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that deadlines are met.
2. Major Donors & Major Gifts – Key to Fundraising Success
After grants, major gifts are one of the top funding sources for many Affiliates. The idea of a major gift might seem overwhelming if your Affiliate doesn’t have a major gifts program or a dedicated team member. However, the amount of what can be considered a major gift varies by the Affiliate or nonprofit organization. It’s common for major donors to start with a gift of $150-250. So chances are, you have potential major donors in your database; you just don’t know it yet.
And what’s so interesting about major donors is that your Affiliate likely already has major donors or potential major donors in your supporter database. You may just need to identify them and continue to cultivate the relationship.
To get started with a major gifts program, you must first define what a major gift is for your Affiliate. Danielle Lloyd, Director of Resource Development Expertise Hub of Habitat for Humanity International, shared her formula during a workshop at the Conference:
- Start by pulling your 25 largest gifts in the past five years.
- Eliminate any outliers.
- Figure out the median of this range.
- This will give you an estimate of your major gift minimum.
Your next major donor could come from unexpected places. It could be a frequent shopper or donor to your ReStore, an engaged volunteer, or someone who has made a small contribution but has the capacity and interest to donate more once the relationship is cultivated. Providing exceptional customer service is crucial, as a Restore shopper can become a surprise major donor. In fact, we heard from an Affiliate during a workshop about how they received a major gift from a ReStore customer. This customer was never on the organization’s radar as a potential major donor. Imagine if this individual was identified as a potential donor and cultivated for years prior. Another Affiliate shared that they received a significant major donation simply because they answered the phone, while other nonprofits did not.
When you use a comprehensive and connected nonprofit software such as Giveffect, you can build constituent profiles and access a 360-degree view of your supporters, from donors to volunteers and even ReStore shoppers. With Giveffect, you can easily identify your major donors, who could be a major donor and engage with them via highly personalized communications across channels – email, sms text messaging, direct mail, and even scheduling phone calls. This is also called Donor Moves Management.
3. ReStore – An Essential Component of Habitat for Humanity’s Work
It was interesting to learn that for many Affiliates, ReStore operates almost as a separate entity. ReStores, in many instances, have direct communication and engage with many current and prospective donors, volunteers and partner families. One-time donors or shoppers already have an interest in the organization. Turn this one-time interaction into an engaged supporter. To do so starts with collecting data. Sharing data across the organization can eliminate silos and increase opportunities.
We know that ReStores are typically understaffed and very busy. Still, there are ways to quickly capture contact information to seamlessly and automatically share this data with development and volunteer colleagues. With Giveffect, for example, a QR code can be generated for self-service data input. When donors drop off items, they simply scan the QR code, which navigates them to a short survey in which they add their name, email, phone number, and donated items. All this information is automatically added to the Affiliate’s CRM and tagged with appropriate groups for segmentation. Once you have the donor’s first name, last name, email, and donation in your database, you can easily send thank you notes and tax receipts. And now, your development and volunteer managers can add these supporters to their cultivation pipelines and start receiving communications such as monthly newsletters. Supporters who already donate items from their homes may soon become volunteers or larger donors if engaged further and asked.
Building Strong Relationships Through Habitat for Humanity Events
We also had the pleasure of hosting a happy hour. It wasn’t just about discussing Habitat-related topics and getting to know each other personally. Building strong relationships is vital; this event helped us achieve just that. The happy hour event was a great success, and it allowed us to connect with attendees in a fun and engaging way.
We look forward to organizing similar events in the future and strengthening our bonds as we work together toward the common goal of creating efficiency and saving Affiliates time, so they can focus on providing safe and affordable housing to those in need.
Fun and Engagement at Habitat for Humanity’s Western Region Conference
To add extra fun to the conference, we organized a hard hat selfie raffle where participants took creative selfies with their Habitat and Giveffect hard hat and post it on LinkedIn. We were delighted with the enthusiastic participation and were impressed by the amazing and creative selfies and thoughtful captions that were posted.
The raffle generated a lot of excitement in person at the conference and online for those in attendance and at home. We appreciate everyone who shared their photos on LinkedIn.
As a token of appreciation, we awarded three lucky winners a bright-colored Stanley Quencher tumbler adorned with Habitat and Giveffect stickers. Congratulations to Torin Bount of Habitat for Humanity Greater Fresno Area, Miranda Martin of Evergreen Habitat for Humanity, and Gina LaBeaud of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angelos, for winning the raffle! We hope that they enjoy their prizes and continue to do their amazing work to further Habitat for Humanity’s mission and serve each of their communities.
Until Next Time…
Overall, our experience attending Habitat for Humanity’s Western Region Conference in Portland was educational and empowering. We left the conference with a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in affordable housing and community development, as well as a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to the Habitat for Humanity mission and ways in which we can continue to partner by power Affiliates with the nonprofit software to help each individual save time and reach their goals.
We look forward to attending future conferences and continuing to support Habitat for Humanity’s efforts to create a world where everyone has a safe and affordable place to live.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Giveffect can help you reach your goals, schedule a demo or start your free trial today!