CAPTION: Empty can be a good thing. We had a super crew on Sunday who went like crazy and finished a bunch of tiny homes in the Paint Department. Therefore, we were able to ship out 6 HOMES IN ONE DAY on Monday, a new record. Let’s fill these paint bays again!
BEFORE WE GET INTO THE NUMBERS, WE HAD A VIP VISIT THIS WEEK
Monday, we had the pleasure of building with Rick Clark. Rick runs an organization in Spokane called Giving Back Packs (https://gbpacks.org). Once homeless himself and a high school dropout of many years, he went back to school and graduated from Gonzaga. Now, with his organization, he has given away over 7000 backpacks to homeless folks!
Here is a segment of a TV show called Returning the Favor with Mike Rowe (the “Dirty Jobs” guy) that features Rick:
https://fb.watch/hTY2nomGl2/?
Here’s what Rick had to say about his visit to The Hope Factory.
“It is Wednesday, and I am still smiling from all the fun I had on Monday building tiny homes. I left Seattle with a full heart for sure and my mind now will not slow down. As I share my experience with friends, family, and colleagues, I can’t help but get excited about the possibilities of tiny home villages in Spokane. I have already reached out to some big players here in Spokane and they have tons of questions of course. One is, they wondered if you have the model zoning codes (whatever that is)?
Also, I am VERY interested in bringing 5-6 folks back to The Hope Factory for a day of touring, building and learning.”
We had a great time with you too, Rick, and we will happily share our knowledge with the Spokane folks so you can start your own tiny home villages!
FIRST OF ALL, WHY ARE WE SHARING THIS INFORMATION?
Now, as a 501c3 public charity, it is our obligation to share our financial information with the public. More importantly, as a donor (of both time and money) we feel that you have the right to know where we stand financially. We aim to always be transparent with you.
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2022 BY THE NUMBERS
In 2022, we built 152 tiny homes. The cost of materials for those homes was $612,673. Subtracting the materials that we had on hand at the start of the year, the average cost of a home was $4254. By comparison, we built 108 homes in 2021. The materials cost in 2021 was $468,675.
Where did the money come from to buy these materials? By far, our biggest single donor was Amazon Web Services’ Volunteers. You all did an amazing job of asking for and receiving the money to build most of Southend Village and more. A special shout out to Dave McCann from AWS, who was tireless in his arm-twisting-while-smiling technique that raised a lot of money for us. Thanks Dave!
We also had a $200,000 grant from the City of Seattle. Our friend, Council Member Teresa Mosqueda, led the effort for us to receive this funding. Teresa, you’re the best! Come back and build with us soon.
By far, our largest source of funding came from the collective efforts of all of you. Altogether, you gave us $357,505 including $118,667 for our “Millie Campaign”. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
A GLANCE INTO 2023
We will finalize our goal for the number of homes that we build in 2023 by the end of this month. It will probably be in the range of between 200-225 homes. At $4200 each (assuming the price of materials will not go up, which is an optimistic assumption), materials cost for 2023 will be in the range of between $853,400 – $960,067.
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WHERE WILL THE FUNDING COME FROM?
MONEY FROM WA STATE
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GRANT
Very soon we will be receiving a grant from the WA Department of Commerce for $167,000. Money from the state is wonderful, but it is also slow in coming with lots of hoops to jump through. (We were awarded this grant last May and are just now receiving it.)
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GOV. INSLEE’S POLICY STATEMENT
Recently Gov. Inslee featured us in his policy statement on housing and homelessness:
And also in his end of the year report:
https://medium.com/wagovernor/
Since we were so predominately featured in their reporting, Barb has emailed the Governor’s office and has also contacted the Governor’s staff to ask them to add to the funding listed above. No response so far. Persistence…
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MONEY FROM OTHER GRANTS, PHILANTHROPIC AND CORPORATE DONORS
AND OUR NEW FUNDRAISING TEAM
Sound Foundations NW now has a Fundraising Team consisting of Barb as well as Andrew Buchanan and Jim Gore, both volunteers. Before he retired, Jim had a long-term career in community development. Andrew has just completed his degree in Non-Profit Management. The combination of “old and new school” we think will be a winning combination for us. Thanks Jim and Andrew for your dedication to our organization. Along with Jim and Andrew, we have a few other community “movers and shakers” who are friends of ours that will be providing great advice and ideas.
Andrew added this: “We have several generous corporations in our region, some of whom already support us both financially and with volunteers, for which we’re very grateful. However, now that we’re an officially-recognized public charity (approved 501c3 status) SFNW is also looking to add more corporate grants and awards as a means of raising additional funds. We’ve so far come across three local corporate-sponsored community awards/grants programs whose goals for recognition align with the good work we’re doing, but that will require a little help from you all:
- SAFECO / Liberty Mutual “Make More Happen” Agent Awards
- BECU Foundation’s “People Helping People” Awards
- Starbuck’s Foundation “Neighborhood Grants” Initiative
Each of these requires a person affiliated with the company, respectively a SAFECO / Liberty Mutual Independent agent, a BECU member/customer, or a Starbucks partner, to nominate us for their award program. If you’re reading this newsletter and you fit that description, or know someone who does, and you’d be willing to work with us through the nomination process, we’d love to hear from you! These awards could each be enough to fund multiple homes and would help us along toward our ambitious $1M goal for 2023. Please reach out to soundfoundationsnw@gmail.
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OTHER GRANTS: Do you know of any grants or funding opportunities that we may not be aware of? Email Barb at SoundFoundationsNW@gmail.com with the details.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO FUND A VILLAGE
As you can tell from our 2022 numbers, YOU are a big part of why stacks and stacks of lumber fill The Hope Factory. There are several ways to give throughout this year too:
- We still have our GoFundMe campaign. Here’s the link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/everyone-off-the-streets-with- the-four-year-plan
- To give by check, including giving through an investment or retirement account, please click on this link: https://www.
soundfoundationsnw.org/how- can-i-help/helping-finance- the-homes
- Very soon you will also be able to give via debit or credit card. We will also have a way you can make a monthly donation which will be automatically deducted. More on that very soon in the newsletter.
Remember, if you sponsor a home (currently $4200), you get to name the home!
All gifts of $200 or more are tax deductible.
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WE NEED MORE TEAM LEADERS!
Especially on Wednesday and Sunday. If you are a Team Leader or have been thinking about becoming a Team Leader, now would be a good time to do that.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED THIS WEEK
- Our “regulars” who are the heart and soul of our organization
- “New Crew” members: Shilpa, Eva, Greg, Tom, Tavish, and Mina
- Our wonderful groups: Lake Union Rotary, Lake WA Sai Ctr., Cascade Asset Management, AWS / Nate’s Team and Boeing.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
TO VOLUNTEER:
Come build with us this week! Here’s the link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/
Please remember to wear paint clothes even if you do not anticipate painting. Minimum age is 16 years. Please, no exceptions.
Clarification: If the SignUpGenius says (The name of a Group Build) AND Open Build, this means that you can volunteer even if you are not a part of the group.
TEAM LEADERS IN TRAINING: If you wish to become a Team Leader in Training, DO NOT SIGN UP for the day you wish to do this. Email SoundFoundationsNW@gmail.com and we will put you on the list.
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We hope to be building with you soon!
Your Leadership Team,
Beatrice, Tom, Bruce, David, Timothy and Barb