IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Housing January 2012 | Page 11

Revolutionizing the way to make housing affordable for everyone

This new design will require HFHI to rethink
their models and innovate their strategy
Sharing information, managing partnerships,
understanding the appropriate metrics, and
using the right business models will be a
challenge
The right people need the right information at the
right time
A complex network of thousands of affiliates
generates an incredible amount of information.
Groups all over the world are implementing
innovative practices and policies to improve
building techniques, attract volunteers, and
fundraise. HFHI bears the responsibility of
managing and distributing that information
quickly and efficiently. Leveraging global
experience with local understanding is a delicate
balance. HFHI recognizes that individual
communities know their own needs better than
a centralized body, yet the skills and combined
experience of an international organization are
powerful tools.
Partnerships
with
volunteers,
private
corporations, and public bodies are difficult to
manage
Individuals from all three key stakeholder
groups—philanthropy,
private
enterprise,
and public bodies—must find a way to join
together to leverage their unique competencies
and contribute to the needs of a successful
community. Volunteers offer spirit and a general
stick-to-itiveness in the face of adversity where
corporations and governments come up short.
Private enterprise is able to provide opportunity

and offerings that governments and individuals
fail to anticipate. Public policy can operate above
corporate objectives and individual volunteer
motivations to organize and plan communities
in a way no other group has the power to do.
It is the inimitable combination of these three
stakeholders, acting cohesively in a community
that can make an impact in the elimination of
substandard housing. Right now, much of the
interaction between these stakeholders takes
the form of one-way contributions, instead of
a systemic model that builds upon community
resources to further development for the
community and each of these stakeholders.
Volunteers are not sustainably involved
Volunteers are a unique part of HFHI. Although
many NGOs rely on volunteer support and
fundraising, their contributions to HFHI actually
directly impact the community. On every work
site, volunteers are personally responsible for
eliminating substandard housing. “Volunteers
with Habitat for Humanity are a part of the
solution,” says Dave McMurtry, HFHI Senior
Vice President of Strategy. HFHI volunteers
are integrated in building, fundraising, and
advocating changes to the policies and practices
that sustain poverty housing and are key to
HFHI’s success.
HFHI volunteers gather on weekends to build
houses in their own towns, and travel across the
globe to help build houses in developing countries

Private Enterprise

g

Religion, Do-Gooders

R,
CS

nin
lan

P
ty

Do
n

Ci

ati
on

s,
xe
Ta

Philanthropy

Community
Development

Public Bodies

Figure 7. Pillars of Community Development
Reading this diagram: There are three mainstays of community development: private enterprise,
philanthropy, and public bodies. Philanthropy and private enterprise contribute to community
development through corporate social responsibility (CSR) and donations. Private enterprise and
public bodies contribute through tax funding and city planning. Philanthropy and public bodies.
contribute religious volunteer groups and general do-gooders who seek to contribute to community
development.
‡ For more information about the online platform, see Exhibit 2

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