College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Brett Becker
Danielle Carreon
Kurtis Casper
Jennifer Dodge
Wan-Ling Chang
Patrick Ferguson

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Millard Fuller, a self-made millionaire, founded Habitat for Humanity at the age of 29. An immediate success with his marketing firm gave him a quick rise to the top. As his business prospered, his health, integrity, and marriage suffered. After a long soul-search he rededicated his life to Christ. He sold everything he had, gave the money to the poor, and set out to find a practical way to apply Christ’s teachings. Millard based his philosophy for Habitat on what he called the "economics of Jesus." His idea stemmed from the verse Exodus 22:25 which says that "if you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender, charge him no interest." From this philosophy Millard began Habitat for Humanity, which builds no-profit, no-interest affordable homes for low-income families. The money for the building goes into a revolving fund; house payments made are put back into the fund to build more houses. Families chosen to live in the house partner with Habitat must contribute 500 hours of building labor – called "sweat equity," in place of a down payment. Millard’s dream has led to more than 1,500 Habitat affiliates in the U.S., and 82 throughout the world, building homes for more than 500,000 families. Our group worked hand in hand with the San Diego Habitat affiliate. They began in 1987 and have since built 42 home and plan on building 12 more by 2002. They have built homes in National City, Encinitas, Escondido, and City Heights. Along with building homes they have also started the Habitat ReStore, which sells and donates building materials at low cost. Their goals for the ReStore is to help with funding the building for more San Diego Habitat homes, enable low-income homeowners to repair and maintain homes, and promote environmental conservation by keeping tons of building materials out of San Diego Landfills.

We met with a representative from Habitat for Humanity and came up with a plan for our project. The plan consisted of three parts.

1. Coordinate an On – Site Tour

2. Calendar and Planner Sales

3. Hold a Fundraising Event

We formed an agenda for San Diego Habitat’s first ever on-site tour with Kristin, Habitat’s director of business development. The tour was held on March 23rd at a site off of Island Avenue. The purpose of the tour was to create an opportunity for people who had donated money to Habitat to see where there money was going. They got to walk through a home that was currently being built and hear from various representatives of Habitat, including our own group member Kurtis. The tour was a great success.

Habitat for Humanity holds and art contest every year for students and the winners get to have their art displayed in Habitat’s annual calendar. They overestimated the amount they would need and there was a surplus of 2002 calendars and daily planners. We were asked to sell some of them at school, and help to get the word out about Habitat’s cause. We sold calendars on April 11th and 12th in Montezuma Hall and raised $85.

We talked with Kristin from Habitat, and quickly learned that fundraising was what they needed help with the most. We will be holding a fundraising event at Woodstock’s Pizza off of El Cajon Avenue on May the 7th. The event will start at 6:30pm and end at 9:30pm. Woodstock’s looks for fundraising events that will help the community and promote worthy causes. They were happy to work with us. Woodstock’s will donate 20% of their earnings from our designated time from people who show our Habitat Flyer.

The social importance of our project can be explained by many ethical theories. Our group helped organize the tour for Habitat for Humanity and we also did fundraising events. These activities helped Habitat fulfill their duties to the community, which are based upon their Christian principles of providing shelter for needy families and is an example of Deontology. Another ethical theory displayed by our group’s efforts is the Ethic of Care. This theory asks us to recognize the moral worth of relationships emphasized by caring. The worth of our group’s relationship working with Habitat was our hands on experience. This is the reason we chose to work with Habitat because we cared about the type of work they do for the community. In accordance to Social Contract Theory, our group helped raise money through selling calendars and planners, and a special Woodstock’s Pizza event. Our fundraising helped to insure that Habitat for Humanity kept their social contract with the communities by keeping a safer community, building houses, and paying employee salaries. Another reason we chose to work with Habitat for Humanity, which incorporates the Virtue Theory, is that we felt helping communities is the right thing to do. Our group volunteered our time and effort because our beliefs coincided with theirs.

During the semester, our group put many efforts on the program. At first, we helped Habitat with an on site tour. Our group prepared goodies for people who came to the event. We also handed out information about Habitat to visitors at the on-site tour. Next, our group used their own free time to do fundraising for Habitat by selling calendars and planners on campus. Many students were interested in the calendars and planners. Students who inquired about Habitat for Humanity may be willing to do volunteer with Habitat in the future. The last part of our project is a fundraising event. Our fundraising event will be held at Woodstock’s Pizza on May 7th. Our goal is raise money for Habitat to build more houses for lower income families.

We believe the project was success because of the following 3 reasons:

1. We have completed our three goals listed on the social contract: an on-site tour, calendar and planner sale on campus, and a fundraising event at Woodstock’s Pizza.

2. We spread the word about Habitat. Therefore, people who are willing to contribute their time and or money will know where and how it will be spent.

3. Fundraising. The money we raised will go to Habitat and they will use it to build house for lower income family.