Habitat for Humanity Scam

[Light the Rag]

So basically, what everyone else has already said.

[JustVisiting]

In response to original post:

"what did this journey achieve?"


A house was built for a family to live in. Without the society, this family would not have a home. Not much more really needs to be said regarding this point

"How many houses were built, and how much of a difference will said building work make?"

Same as above, a safe, clean, home for a family cannot be judged on fiscal principals alone. The house built is part of a neighbourhood (for want of a better phrase) whereby each home is/was built by a different team from the charity.

You seem to be looking at the 'worth' of the building project from a western-centric viewpoint. What you are probably unaware of is that in rural Guatemala you can't just phone up the local builder and ask him to build you a house. There are but a handful of professionally qualified builders/surveyors in the whole of the country. To be able to get one of these few teams to a location to actually build a house is a huge achievement. The cost of hiring the team is no doubt many times higher than the materials themselves. Sending a cheque on it's own would not have achieved anything. The local family would have been sitting there with a cheque that they couldn't spend. The weight of a charity is required to make it all work, hence the charity members (via their own money) having to travel there in person.
Only 1 house was built, correct, however who are we to judge whether a UK family should get the money over a family in latin america. The house in south america has made a much bigger impact compared to using the money in the UK. Without the work of all the teams that worked on the 'habitat neighbourhood' not one of those houses would have been built. That's a pretty noble cause in my book.

"How will any funds donated to the charity be spent?"

Answered in previous posts. The money donated by each member themselves covers the flights/accomodation/leisure etc.

Charity money is spent on materials, and most importantly (as covered above) skilled labour.

"Why was the destination chosen over others for the trip to take place?"

The habitat charity has only a selection of the 'habitat neighbourhoods' around the world. It wasn't simply a case of spinning a globe and stopping it with their finger, or looking through holiday brochures.

"Is this a real charity or a disgusting sham, providing money for holidays masquerading as charitable conquests?"

This may sound a little cliche, but I'm sure the recipient family believe it was worth it.


sorry for the overly-long post. I'll leave it there for now, and may answer any more questions that come up in response.

(btw. I am friends with several of the members of habitat, so feel free to take that into consideration when reading, if you wish, however i have tried to stick to the facts)

[Hennessy]

I find it hard to believe a country that produces (amongst other things) - petroleum, cement, coal, automobiles, ships, and telecommunications equipment, and exports some of the above products, cannot implement housing schemes for its population of 13 million. I find it harder to believe none of the population have ever built a house either, considering how quickly the huge favelas of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro sprung up overnight.

No I'm inclined to agree with the OP, I used to work for a big charity and when an organisation gets to a certain size it's main concern is in notsolving the problem. Why put yourself out of a business where millions of kind hearted souls give you money for nothing?

[hr]

"What happened to Spoon?"
"There is no Spoon"
Dog Soldiers

[Senethro]

Quoting JustVisiting from 12:15, 16th Jul 2008
In response to original post:

"what did this journey achieve?"


A house was built for a family to live in. Without the society, this family would not have a home. Not much more really needs to be said regarding this point

"How many houses were built, and how much of a difference will said building work make?"

Same as above, a safe, clean, home for a family cannot be judged on fiscal principals alone. The house built is part of a neighbourhood (for want of a better phrase) whereby each home is/was built by a different team from the charity.

You seem to be looking at the 'worth' of the building project from a western-centric viewpoint. What you are probably unaware of is that in rural Guatemala you can't just phone up the local builder and ask him to build you a house. There are but a handful of professionally qualified builders/surveyors in the whole of the country. To be able to get one of these few teams to a location to actually build a house is a huge achievement. The cost of hiring the team is no doubt many times higher than the materials themselves. Sending a cheque on it's own would not have achieved anything. The local family would have been sitting there with a cheque that they couldn't spend. The weight of a charity is required to make it all work, hence the charity members (via their own money) having to travel there in person.
Only 1 house was built, correct, however who are we to judge whether a UK family should get the money over a family in latin america. The house in south america has made a much bigger impact compared to using the money in the UK. Without the work of all the teams that worked on the 'habitat neighbourhood' not one of those houses would have been built. That's a pretty noble cause in my book.

"How will any funds donated to the charity be spent?"

Answered in previous posts. The money donated by each member themselves covers the flights/accomodation/leisure etc.

Charity money is spent on materials, and most importantly (as covered above) skilled labour.

"Why was the destination chosen over others for the trip to take place?"

The habitat charity has only a selection of the 'habitat neighbourhoods' around the world. It wasn't simply a case of spinning a globe and stopping it with their finger, or looking through holiday brochures.

"Is this a real charity or a disgusting sham, providing money for holidays masquerading as charitable conquests?"

This may sound a little cliche, but I'm sure the recipient family believe it was worth it.


sorry for the overly-long post. I'll leave it there for now, and may answer any more questions that come up in response.

(btw. I am friends with several of the members of habitat, so feel free to take that into consideration when reading, if you wish, however i have tried to stick to the facts)

Is anyone else completely disgusted when they read between the lines here?

[sweet]

Er, no? What am I missing?

To be honest I'm quite surprised this thread is still going, after someone had the sense to go and look on the website and find out that the students paid for the tickets etc themselves -OK so it was a hefty wack, but they *could* have choosen to spend it on, I dunno, luxury food for the year, or a holiday. In which case I doubt there would be so many people complaining about the way their cash was spent :s

There seems to be an idea going round that the locals were patronised by the western bastards who had the temerity to fly over and build them a house... frankly, if a bunch of, I dunno, wealthy Australians decided one day to pitch up and build me a house, I wouldn't be wishing them to give me the cash and fuck off, I'd rather appreciate the free labour, thank you very much. It isn't cheap to buy labour, or indeed easy to build a house yourself.

But then, maybe I *am* missing something here, and they have done something disgusting, in which case I'll feel silly when someone flames me for this....

(by the way, I don't have any friends in the charity!)

[munchingfoo]

I think the point everyone (including me) was/is missing is that (as has been stated, but I only actually understood it when I read the site) the money that is paid for the flights food etc. is not allowed to come from donation money, the candidate has to pay that themselves.

Each candidate additionally has to raise atleast £350, if they raise more than this it still all goes to the charity as a donation, and not to cover the flight/food costs of the candidate.

I now have two issues.

1. Who is to blame for the misunderstanding of the system relating to this thread. Answer - the candidates. Whenever I have been approached to sponsor a person in this charity they have always had the tagline "Sponsor me to go and build houses in deprived/devastated countries please.. Whilst this is correct, its ambiguous.

2. How can they possibly police this system? If I was a bit strapped for cash and I ran a fundraising event that raises £472, what is there in place to stop me donating £352 (add a few pounds so its not an exact figure) and using the extra £120 to cover some of my ticket/food expenses?

[hr]

"The entirety of these definitions lie outside the gamut of the sRGB color space — such a pure color cannot be represented using RGB primaries. The color swatch to the right is a desaturated approximation, created by taking the centroid of the standard definition and moving it towards the D65 white point, until it meets the sRGB gamut triangle."

[jenjen4444]

Ahhh the sinner, how I hate it and try to avoid at it all costs. Alas, I am here. And why? To set right the facts and truths about the society I brought to St Andrews and set up for our students. Yes, it's me, Jenny!

So it looks as though there have been a good few questions raised about the broader themes of 'charity' and 'fundraising' which I wholeheartedly encourage. It's good to call the legitimacy of the third sector into question every now and then for a nice discussion. However, I do not wish to contribute to these (lengthy) discussions. Rather, I'd prefer to keep what I have to say concise in one single post, determined to return to my sinner.net oblivious ways.

Ok here we go:
"

Quoting pa87 from 00:26, 5th Jul 2008
holiday fund… sorry “charity”,"
Right, calling the activities of the charitable society 'a holiday' only on the basis that it was abroad is absurd. I think everyone patient enough to traul this thread understands that house building projects overseas are done for a good and worthy purpose and the building of a houses is a sizeable contribution.

" paid for people to head to South America."
While there was fundraising for the trip, these funds most likely went towards building materials and project fees (admin to HFH Uk and incountry reps who seek out and identify families in need of a house). The traveling expenses are usually covered by the individual partaking in the building project. This is a minimum of £300 each which pays for flights. This money can be independently fundraisied (by doing a skydive for example) or from one's own pocket. Please don't forget that visas, vaccinations, first aid equipment, clothing ALL need to be sourced and paid for by the indidivudal too, not the charitable society or the charity.

" Well, a quick google finds that they could have built a house in the U.K "
There are a limited number of Habitat building projects in the UK but a few nonetheless. The local UK builds are usually supported by Habitat societies/groups near to the site, and go there regularly on weekends to further the development of the houses. Southwark is the most successful project of this kind. See the link for more details http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/whe_gb.htm

"or they could even have used all the money they collected to build several houses overseas by getting someone else to do it without going themselves."
Indeed, this was one of the first questions I asked of the charity when I first got involved. The central role of the charity Habitat for Humanity (the third largest charity in the USA) is to sustainably build safe and decent places to live through the use of volunteers and fundraising. The homeowners and the volunteers help build the house with their own time, energy and hands, and in doing so the building of the house is not just a physical assemblage of materials, but a joint effort and something created out of partnership. The volunteers meet and work with the family who are living in the home, and the family meet and work with those helping create their home. The charity provides the opportunity for volunteers and beneficiaries to take part in not just a financial transaction but something that they take pride in and become connected to. As 'airy fairy' as some of you think that sounds, that is the simple and goodwilling principle the charity is based upon and something I have experienced personally. And it is wonderful.
The Habitat for Humanity International website describes itself as 'A nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need'.

"Well these clowns used all this money to hand pick a place they wanted to go on holiday, not a place where they thought the people deserved the most help - this was merely a secondary consideration."
Actually, there is a real need for decent and safe shelter all over the world. There is a sub-standard housing situation in our own country, in the USA (Habitat has built over 101 homes in New Orleans following hurricanes Katrina and Rita), in China (where the charity aims to provide 1000 homes in the Sichuan earthquake affected zone), and in Guatemala (most families live in huts and a small rented room which increases maternal and infant death through gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin diseases). The 'global village' building projects allow volunteers to select the country they wish to help because there is genuine need everywhere.


I’m sickened by this blatant fraud which has scammed a lot of people in this town. I am well aware that said charity has held many events under the false impression that all the money donated will be going straight to the source of the problem, to help the problem of a lack of housing for poverty stricken peoples. Sadly, this is evidently not the case. Instead of providing for those less fortunate, our money seems to be going towards a holiday, a merry jaunt. Sure, maybe a house or even part of a house might have been built during the trip, but how did the time involved in the building process compare to the overall time spent sight seeing and the personal enjoyment of those involved? This charity only seems to provide a holiday for those who wish to bulk up their CV and heighten their own possibilities for future employment. What happened to the selfless and charitable human being? All that becomes apparent from this charity is the need of those involved to travel the world, make friends and pretend they have made a great difference in the lives of the less fortunate. If this charity is to continue to operate it must make clear the way in which money and donations will be spent. I am quite sure that the majority of donators would not have been so happy to part with their cash if they were informed that their money would be used to fund flights rather than making a difference at the source of the problem.

Friends of Habitat for Humanity Society have held activities and events in St Andrews to heighten the awareness of the global housing crisis, to provide a way for students to become involved in a charity providing help and houses to those who need it, and to fundraise for house building projects which they can take part in themselves. If anyone has a problem with any of that, their concerns should be addressed to Habitat for Humanity GB or Habitat for Humanity International in Atlanta. The Friends of HFH Society is supporting a registered UK charity (Charity Number 1043641) so the processes of building trips and charitable legitimacy should be addressed to them, or the UK's Charity Commission who appointed Habitat with it's authentification.

I urge you all to explore the Habitat websites for further information.

[jrm16]

Ahhh the sinner, how I hate it and try to avoid at it all costs. Alas, I am here. And why? To set right the facts and truths about the society I brought to St Andrews and set up for our students. Yes, it's me, Jenny!

So it looks as though there have been a good few questions raised about the broader themes of 'charity' and 'fundraising' which I wholeheartedly encourage. It's good to call the legitimacy of the third sector into question every now and then for a nice discussion. However, I do not wish to contribute to these (lengthy) discussions. Rather, I'd prefer to keep what I have to say concise in one single post, determined to return to my sinner.net oblivious ways.

Ok here we go:
"holiday fund… sorry “charity”,"

Right, calling the activities of the charitable society 'a holiday' only on the basis that it was abroad is absurd. I think everyone patient enough to traul this thread understands that house building projects overseas are done for a good and worthy purpose and the building of a houses is a sizeable contribution.

" paid for people to head to South America."

While there was fundraising for the trip, these funds most likely went towards building materials and project fees (admin to HFH Uk and incountry reps who seek out and identify families in need of a house). The traveling expenses are usually covered by the individual partaking in the building project. This is a minimum of £300 each which pays for flights. This money can be independently fundraisied (by doing a skydive for example) or from one's own pocket. Please don't forget that visas, vaccinations, first aid equipment, clothing ALL need to be sourced and paid for by the indidivudal too, not the charitable society or the charity.

" Well, a quick google finds that they could have built a house in the U.K "

There are a limited number of Habitat building projects in the UK but a few nonetheless. The local UK builds are usually supported by Habitat societies/groups near to the site, and go there regularly on weekends to further the development of the houses. Southwark is the most successful project of this kind. See the link for more details http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/whe_gb.htm

"or they could even have used all the money they collected to build several houses overseas by getting someone else to do it without going themselves."

Indeed, this was one of the first questions I asked of the charity when I first got involved. The central role of the charity Habitat for Humanity (the third largest charity in the USA) is to sustainably build safe and decent places to live through the use of volunteers and fundraising. The homeowners and the volunteers help build the house with their own time, energy and hands, and in doing so the building of the house is not just a physical assemblage of materials, but a joint effort and something created out of partnership. The volunteers meet and work with the family who are living in the home, and the family meet and work with those helping create their home. The charity provides the opportunity for volunteers and beneficiaries to take part in not just a financial transaction but something that they take pride in and become connected to. As 'airy fairy' as some of you think that sounds, that is the simple and goodwilling principle the charity is based upon and something I have experienced personally. And it is wonderful.
The Habitat for Humanity International website describes itself as 'A nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need'.

"Well these clowns used all this money to hand pick a place they wanted to go on holiday, not a place where they thought the people deserved the most help - this was merely a secondary consideration."

Actually, there is a real need for decent and safe shelter all over the world. There is a sub-standard housing situation in our own country, in the USA (Habitat has built over 101 homes in New Orleans following hurricanes Katrina and Rita), in China (where the charity aims to provide 1000 homes in the Sichuan earthquake affected zone), and in Guatemala (most families live in huts and a small rented room which increases maternal and infant death through gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin diseases). The 'global village' building projects allow volunteers to select the country they wish to help because there is genuine need everywhere.


"I’m sickened by this blatant fraud which has scammed a lot of people in this town. I am well aware that said charity has held many events under the false impression that all the money donated will be going straight to the source of the problem, to help the problem of a lack of housing for poverty stricken peoples. Sadly, this is evidently not the case. Instead of providing for those less fortunate, our money seems to be going towards a holiday, a merry jaunt. Sure, maybe a house or even part of a house might have been built during the trip, but how did the time involved in the building process compare to the overall time spent sight seeing and the personal enjoyment of those involved? This charity only seems to provide a holiday for those who wish to bulk up their CV and heighten their own possibilities for future employment. What happened to the selfless and charitable human being? All that becomes apparent from this charity is the need of those involved to travel the world, make friends and pretend they have made a great difference in the lives of the less fortunate. If this charity is to continue to operate it must make clear the way in which money and donations will be spent. I am quite sure that the majority of donators would not have been so happy to part with their cash if they were informed that their money would be used to fund flights rather than making a difference at the source of the problem."

Friends of Habitat for Humanity Society have held activities and events in St Andrews to heighten the awareness of the global housing crisis, to provide a way for students to become involved in a charity providing help and houses to those who need it, and to fundraise for house building projects which they can take part in themselves. If anyone has a problem with any of that, their concerns should be addressed to Habitat for Humanity GB or Habitat for Humanity International in Atlanta. The Friends of HFH Society is supporting a registered UK charity (Charity Number 1043641) so the processes of building trips and charitable legitimacy should be addressed to them, or the UK's Charity Commission who appointed Habitat with it's authentification.

I urge you all to explore the Habitat websites for further information.

[Senethro]

"You seem to be looking at the 'worth' of the building project from a western-centric viewpoint."

jesus christ

[Bizarre Atheist]

[hr]

[pambo]

Keeping this in peoples minds so these clowns dont nick your money under false pretenses again.

[JSA Student]

We'd likely all be happy if the students who were fundraising had said that they were traveling to South America and if the funds they were raising were to help pay for the cost of the trip or if they were fundraising for the charity itself.

I know people at my home university in the US did a similar journey, the "Alternative Spring Break." They fundraised for the trip as well, but they explicitly stated that what they were raising funds for was to offset the cost of the trip.

I think the big concern of the original poster was the possible lack of transparency. People want to know where their money is going. Most charities will state how much of the donated funds go to admin/etc and how much go to the actual cause. I know in the US (Texas, in particular), there was a bit of an uproar about a group for retired firefighters raising several million dollars and only sending a few thousand to the actual cause.

And yes, a lot of money is spent on the "feel good" type things rather than the actual cause. My friend researches Parkinson's disease and has utter distaste for huge galas that are thrown to benefit Parkinson's research when the initial money for the gala would have been better off going to fund research. Yes, this type of thing is annoying, but it does raise awareness, and often providers donate their services for the big event.

So what, all those outraged (myself somewhat included), are we going to do about it? Rather than attending the event, we could directly donate funds. Or participate in different charities. Or bitch and whine about it.
And so it goes.