2025 Impact Call Executive Summary
Speakers:
Jake Beaty, CEO
Rosey Davis, Community Engagement Director
Barry Ballew, Volunteer & Local Business Owner
Link to Call Recording | Link to PDF Presentation Slides
2025 Impact Call: Organization Update
Welcome
Jake Beaty kicked off the call and introduced Barry Ballew, a passionate home repair volunteer and local business owner, to share a mission moment. Barry spoke to working with staff, efficiently planned volunteer days, and even found a Rebuild Upstate trailer during a Meals on Wheels delivery run. He spoke highly of the teambuilding experience for his employees, church, and family. He shared he’s proud to be a “Nuts & Bolts” supporter, who provides funding and volunteers for repair projects.
Operational Update
2024 Operational Accomplishments
- Rebuild Upstate is in a strong financial position, bringing in $2.2 Million in revenue in the most recently completed fiscal year.
- The organization closed on a warehouse currently in use for programs as we fundraise to outfit it.
- Both the programs and community engagement teams implemented new software systems in 2024 to help with efficiencies.
Key Operational Priority in 2025
- Fundraising and outfitting the warehouse will remain a top priority for our team in 2025, alongside ensuring a strong financial position and pursuing new and diverse funding for our programs.
Warehouse Update:
- Rebuild Upstate closed on a warehouse in Easley in early 2024.
- 70% of the capital goal for the warehouse has already been raised and more conversations are in progress.
- Completed work includes electrical, replaced the HVAC, designed the warehouse, and created storage for treated lumber along with adding security and signage to the new property.
- The scope of work that we would love to fund and complete in the coming months includes:
- Adding additional fencing and asphalt repair to the exterior and completing some roof repair
- Adding shelving and storage to the warehouse area
- Completing a tool room remodel
- Adding two new offices and remodeling the reception area
- And redesigning the bathrooms and breakroom area
Naming rights for the warehouse are available. To inquire about support, contact Rosey at [email protected].
Program Update: Divesting work into three programs for increased operational efficiency
Program Impact: 2024
- 702 repairs were made at 153 homes
- An average of 4.6 repairs were completed per home, this is a 53% increase from our historical average of 3 repairs per home.
Program Divestment: Aging in Place, Critical Repairs, and Ramps & Decks
A notable update to share about our work is that we’ve segmented our work into three programs. These programs and application details are available on web.
Those are:
- Aging in Place
- Critical Home Repairs
- Ramps & Decks
Our primary driver for these changes is to streamline an applicant’s experience with us and to give them more transparency throughout their application process. While we did need to temporarily pause accepting applications for a few months to make these updates, it allowed us to pilot, train staff, and ensure the current application is the most resilient and efficient it can be. The new universal application is online and open.
An applicant can now:
- Manage their application and status in a secure portal
- Get texts about their program
- Upload any needed files or documentation to a secure portal
Our staff can now:
- Better match an applicant to the program and/or funding opportunity to meet their needs
- See a more complete profile at the time of application
- Communicate more frequently, with transparency, and track communications
What does this change look like?
- We have a new universal application on our website, alongside content about each program. This application is still friendly for case workers or family members completing on behalf of someone else.
- The approach here is process management but our outcomes for the work are unchanged. We still want to reduce falls, make homes safer, and help people maintain quality of life.
- Volunteers won’t notice any change to your build experience based on our program management changes.
These are positive updates to our work for our staff management programs and applicants. We welcome you to review the website to learn more about programs or how to make a referral.
Program Resiliency: An eye on federal funding cuts and threats to our work
One thing we had to keep at the forefront of our application process is ensuring what we create is resilient to any changes in our funding.
As we look at our operations for 2025, we are facing some pretty substantial threats and unknowns. As 2,600 federal programs face cuts, we know it’s likely a matter of time until this affects us directly.
Right now, we manage federal funding both directly and as a subrecipient through a municipal, state, and/or private contractor. We also have private donations from individuals, churches, businesses, philanthropic foundations, and events.
- Approximately 30% of our annual budget comes from Federal dollars.
- Agencies that fund us or that we are pursuing funding for include: Housing and Urban Development, the National Corporation of Community Service, and the US Department of Agriculture.
- Programs we’re watching include:
- the Community Development Block Grant
- the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteer program
- Home Preservation Grants, CAPABLE – repairs for Older Adults
- LIHEAP which is home weatherization
- HOME funds
- the Whole Home Repairs Act, and more.
- To have these defunded or removed would be catastrophic for low-income families here in the Upstate.
If these funds get cut, it will affect our ability to repair homes at the scale we are. Being able to navigate a funding change is important for any nonprofit. We’ve navigated it before. We’re not strangers to it. The scale of what we’re facing right now would be unlike anything we’ve known.
Data: Growing Demand for Our Programs
On the heels of navigating these funding changes, we also got some new data just last month about homeowners and being cost-burdened.
We’ll link the full report titled, Rising Costs of Homeownership Are a Growing Burden, published by Harvard’s Center for Joint Housing Studies in the executive summary.
Some notable highlights from the report include:
- Low-income household’s cost burdens are at an all-time high.
- Greenville/Anderson Metro has 22% cost-burdened homeowners, with 7.9% as severe – noting they spend more than 50% of their income on housing costs. This is almost a full-point increase from the 2019-2023 survey. (American Housing Survey)
- There has been a 3.6 million increase in cost-burdened households since 2019.
- Homeowners with a mortgage are most affected as well as older adults.
- The lowest-income homeowners (incomes under $30,000) saw the highest increase in expenses, such as taxes, insurance, and home maintenance costs.
- A disproportionate share of the recent growth in homeowner cost burdens was from older adults.
Key takeaway for growing demand:
Low-income homeowners and older adults are more cost-burdened than ever, making it nearly impossible for them to afford repairs. We anticipate seeing a growing demand for our services alongside a reduction or cut to our federal funding. Proactively pursuing private funding is our #1 goal as we look to 2025. Everything we’re going after is to continue to operate our programs at scale and to grow.
Partner & Volunteer Update
2024 Partner Impact: By the Numbers
- In 2024, 1,150 volunteers spent over 16,000 hours of their time on the build site or through other services equating to a value of $541,568 in donated time to our organization.
- 107 Retired Senior Volunteer Program or RSVP volunteers earned Rebuild Upstate $76,322 in grant reimbursement funds through their volunteer efforts in Anderson County.
- Groups from businesses, churches, and friend groups raised more than $93,000 to pay for repair materials. Since 2021, volunteer groups have donated more than $300,000 dollars to help us repair homes.
Other Notable Partnerships in 2024
- Tim Womack, Aging Services Director of the South Carolina Appalachian Council of Governments was honored as National Partner of the Year by the Coalition for Home Repair. He was nominated by Rebuild Upstate and selected over other nominees.
- A Toast to Home was a sold-out event. More than 200 community members joined the fundraiser, which raised over $68,000.
- 59 Porch Partners, recurring donors, remain steadfast in their support, with recurring contributions totaling more than $40,000 in revenue annually. The goal is to increase this community to 70 before year-end.
Home Repair Champion Award: Grace & Peace Presbyterian
The Home Repair Champion Award is an honor our organization bestows upon a person or organization that embraces our mission and has contributed substantially to our work.
Rosey Davis shared about their partnership including notable highlights:
- Grace & Peace agreed to put up a $40,000 match as their first donation to our mission, encouraging other community members to donate and support our campaign. With their help, we bridged the gap and then some.
- Since then, G&P has continued monthly giving, scheduled volunteer build days, and allowed us to share our mission directly with their congregants during Sunday service.
- By the end of spring 2025, they will surpass $100k in philanthropic giving to Rebuild Upstate. That’s tremendous. We are humbled by the church’s intentionality and the fast rate at which they have grown their financial support to our organization – a great feat for an organization of their size.
Build Day Sponsors: Growth Target for 2025 & Beyond
- Build Day sponsors raised almost $100,000 last year, and totals over $300,000 since 2021, making this revenue opportunity one of the most lucrative for the organization.
- Rosey Davis, community engagement director, shared, “Our program is more than just volunteer experience, it’s one of the premier team-building opportunities in the Upstate. Very few opportunities allow you to physically leave your mark on the community by repairing a home. It’s a wonderful thing to have as part of your community service legacy. We’re also one of the only groups where you can engage in critical thinking, new skills such as learning new tools or reading plans, and teamwork.”
- Heading to 2025, you can expect the team to be featuring sponsored build days and marketing the opportunity more assertively. Sponsorship isn’t required to volunteer. That remains unchanged.
- You can expect to see web updates, supplemental materials, and more sponsorship recognition than ever before.
Because of You BBQ:
April is National Volunteer Month. On Thursday, April 24th, you are invited to a free dinner event, the Because of You BBQ. This event is open to volunteers, donors, and advocates who help us throughout the year. During this event, it’s our turn to serve you and to meet other supporters. Again, it’s a free dinner on us!