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Thanks, Trevor. Hi all, I'm the ceo and co-founder at New Story. We're proud of the work we've done in Haiti as we've also used all local material and local lab

Thanks, Trevor. Hi all, I'm the ceo and co-founder at New Story. We're proud of the work we've done in Haiti as we've also used all local material and local labor to build the homes. What's more transparent than just the "100%" promise, is that we prove to donors via family profile pages and move-in videos the exact results of their donation. If someone donated $6k on our site now, 100% of that goes towards local materials cost, labor, and sometimes the land for the home. We have a separate bank account to fund salaries, R&D, etc. Therefore, donors have the option to give directly to a home/family (which we show you the digital profile of that family and a move-in video), or a donor can choose to give to our "Builders fund" that covers salaries, R&D, travel, etc. We ask for minimum donations of $25k/ for 3 years to join the Builders fund. I completely understand the "marketing scheme" some have mentioned. We really don't view it that way. If someone gives to homes, it's absolutely restricted to go towards building homes. If a donor gives specifically to an innovation project we're working on, their donation is restricted towards that project. Happy to answer any other questions. https://www.fastcompany.com/3058514/did-this-new-nonprofit-crack-the-code-for-building-developing-world-housing https://www.fastcompany.com/3058514/did-this-new-nonprofit-c...

toomuchtodo 9y ago
What's the biggest challenge your organization faces? My kneejerk reaction is: local labor!? local materials!? So inefficient! But I'm wrong. You're doing exactly what's needed; bootstrapping skills and contributing towards the local economy. I'm curious how much housing is still needed in Haiti, how much more money into the pipeline would fix the problem, etc. Would you be able to scale beyond Haiti? Sorry to ramble, love the mission!
- fencepost 9y ago
  It's been years since I was an American Red Cross (local) disaster services volunteer, but at the time I believe the philosophy was also providing funds rather than materials because it helped local economies recover.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Also, if many people donate materials, it quickly turns into a logistic clusterfuck, where the charity suddenly has to worry about (and spend money on) shipping tons of stuff across the world, which is significantly more expensive than just buying it locally.
    - toyg 9y ago
      Expensive and wasteful, as people all donate the same tin of beans and no spoon to eat it with, so to speak. But there is also a point to this sort of donation - gifting in kind usually ensures it won't be pocketed along the way. It might get wasted (food expires, boxes break etc), but rarely exploited for profit - or so the common wisdom goes. Unfortunately, something like that can still be used for evil in many ways. Say your container full of cans gets delivered to Port Disaster and stored in customs; the local docks boss (be it a warlord or local leader) gets wind of it and refuses to release it unless his palms are greased. The org will be forced to pay, otherwise all effort will be for nought, food will rot etc. Charitable gifts will then help fostering the blackmail and corruption economies that wars and disasters inevitably create, rather than relieving the honest one. But then again, so would random "cash rain". There is no magic bullet, all solutions have their downside. Operating in crisis scenarios is a constant moral maze.
deleted 9y ago
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clavalle 9y ago
Is corruption of local players a problem you've encountered?

toomuchtodo 9y ago

What's the biggest challenge your organization faces? My kneejerk reaction is: local labor!? local materials!? So inefficient! But I'm wrong. You're doing exactly what's needed; bootstrapping skills and contributing towards the local economy. I'm curious how much housing is still needed in Haiti, how much more money into the pipeline would fix the problem, etc. Would you be able to scale beyond Haiti? Sorry to ramble, love the mission!

fencepost 9y ago
It's been years since I was an American Red Cross (local) disaster services volunteer, but at the time I believe the philosophy was also providing funds rather than materials because it helped local economies recover.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Also, if many people donate materials, it quickly turns into a logistic clusterfuck, where the charity suddenly has to worry about (and spend money on) shipping tons of stuff across the world, which is significantly more expensive than just buying it locally.
  - toyg 9y ago
    Expensive and wasteful, as people all donate the same tin of beans and no spoon to eat it with, so to speak. But there is also a point to this sort of donation - gifting in kind usually ensures it won't be pocketed along the way. It might get wasted (food expires, boxes break etc), but rarely exploited for profit - or so the common wisdom goes. Unfortunately, something like that can still be used for evil in many ways. Say your container full of cans gets delivered to Port Disaster and stored in customs; the local docks boss (be it a warlord or local leader) gets wind of it and refuses to release it unless his palms are greased. The org will be forced to pay, otherwise all effort will be for nought, food will rot etc. Charitable gifts will then help fostering the blackmail and corruption economies that wars and disasters inevitably create, rather than relieving the honest one. But then again, so would random "cash rain". There is no magic bullet, all solutions have their downside. Operating in crisis scenarios is a constant moral maze.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

clavalle 9y ago

Is corruption of local players a problem you've encountered?