In a blog post last month we told you about how 98% of every dollar we spend goes towards our programming. But… what does that mean? This week we wanted to elaborate on what our program expenses are so our donors know exactly what their dollars are doing in our Lean, Green, Helping Machine.
Our mission is to Reclaim, Renew, Renest. The program expenses below are re-evaluated by the board every year to make sure we are always serving that mission.
RECLAIM
We receive and gather gently used furniture and household goods. This requires a website, internet, and phone services for potential donors to learn about us and reach out. This in turn requires staff, including contract labor and a temp worker, to reach back out to donors, help them unload items, and pick-up items from their homes. To pick-up donation, we also need auto and liability insurances. Once we’ve gathered the items, we need a place to put them: Our warehouse, lovingly called the Nest is a building full of our incoming donations, organized and inventoried. A warehouse means rent, utilities, and maintenance. It also means office supplies, and printing and copying expenses.
RENEW
We clean, repair, and repurpose furniture and household items. Renewing our donations takes volunteers to clean, sometimes repair, prepare, and pack items for our clients. Our volunteers take on a lot of work here at the Nest, and that’s why an appreciation event is built into our program budget. We want our volunteers to know that our good works are really their good works.
The only items that we don’t have to renew are the mattresses we give clients. A brand new bed is one of our most requested items and one of the hardest to come by. Our mattress budget is near and dear to our hearts- it’s one of the backbones of our mission. You can’t very well have a nest if you don’t have a place to rest.
RENEST
We provide the comforts of home, rest, and retreat to those in need. Our clients can choose three levels of service: pick-up their furniture at the Nest, have their furniture delivered, or have their furniture delivered to them with a team of volunteers to put together and set up their new belongings (a renest). Deliveries and Renests required that we hire a moving company. The movers come to the Nest early on 2nd Saturdays, load up the furniture for 3 to 4 families, and head on out.
We hope this explanation of our program expenses helps clear up any questions you may have had about where your monetary donations (which sometimes require PayPal and Stripe fees!) go! You can continue to support us at our upcoming annual fundraiser, re2020! Text “re2020” to 76278 or visit re2020.givesmart.com for more information about this virtual event!
And as always, thanks for thinking of us!