Building Homes, Hope & Dignity
SUGGESTIONS FOR CORPORATE PARTICIPATION
Periodically businesses request information on how they can assist Hancock County Habitat for Humanity’s (HCHH) home building program. The following provides a description of different forms of corporate support. The Habitat for Humanity staff can answer requests for more detailed information on these opportunities for service. If you have a unique giving concept to suggest, please contact HCHH’s Executive Director, Edith Forst.
Cash Contributions – Monetary support is needed to provide materials not received by gifts-in-kind and especially for land acquisition. They are also used to meet the administrative costs of our program such as construction supervision, mortgage administration, warehousing, communications, etc. All gifts to Hancock County Habitat for Humanity, a 501(c)(3) organization, are tax deductible within the regulation of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Some firms find unique ways or formulas for giving. For instance, as part of a charitable giving project a Real Estate agency provides the opportunity for Habitat to be the beneficiary of a donation in the name of the constituent as part of celebrating closings. Sponsorship of a particular item within each home can also be established. An example would be providing the cost of exterior doors for a home at $200 or the interior doors averaging $550 per house. A current item listing is available from the HCHH affiliate office at (207) 667-8484.
Gifts-In-Kind – Many businesses and industrial organizations are in a position to provide products or services to support our low-income housing ministry. New building materials are always needed for our housing projects. Several significant gifts have come to us in the last year in the form of gifts-in-kind. These have included vinyl siding, heating plants, septic design, licensed trades labor and materials. Dimension lumber and drywall represent significant continuing needs that we cannot easily warehouse. Some firms find this a convenient way to be a part of “funding” a house.
House Sponsorship – The ultimate in corporate assistance to HCHH ‘s low income building program is funding and building a Habitat house. Ideally, the corporation would donate, completely fund or solicit all the necessary building materials for the specified house. Volunteers from the corporation would be the primary work crew involved in the construction of the house. Variations on this option would include just financial support for construction of a complete house, or joining with another corporation in a partnership where each company would fund one-half of the house.
Volunteer Assistance – Employees are welcome to participate on the construction site as part of a “team build”. While most often these team or group efforts occur on Saturdays, such volunteer teams can be especially helpful to Habitat during the Wednesday through Friday period. They can be tied in with corporate team building and other employee efforts.
Supervisory Assistance – Construction firms and associated businesses can provide assistance by recruiting skilled craftsmen to volunteer a day as a crew leader to assist Habitat’s Construction Supervisor in overseeing groups of volunteers.
Technical Assistance – On occasion, Habitat needs specialized technical assistance, such as engineering, architectural, graphic arts/marketing etc. Firms with special expertise, particularly in construction-related fields, can volunteer their services on an as-needed basis.
Event Sponsorship – From time to time, Habitat sponsors events to raise funds to meet operating costs and purchase supplies. Companies can assist with such programs by agreeing to underwrite an event. Such sponsorships represent the opportunity for associated marketing and public relations. An event sponsor is asked to meet the budgeted out-of-pocket expenses involved with the event or a specific component of the event’s budget. In turn, the firm is listed in all event publicity as a sponsor.
Back to