Build -- History and Mission

¶ … Build -- History and Mission About ReBuild -- Personnel and Finances Rationale for Social Networking How Social Networking Specifically Works for ReBuild About ReBuild ReBuild Warehouse was founded in May 2008, and first opened its doors to the public in March, 2009. The charity is located in Springfield, VA, adjacent to the DC metropolitan area.

According to the ReBuild website the mission is to "increase the quantity of used building materials purchased and reused for new building, renovation, and repairs; and provide training in career pathways for unskilled workers in expanding "green collar" industries." (ReBuildWarehouse.com, 2009). The organization has multiple goals. These include providing "an option for builders and homeowners to donate unwanted building materials, equipment and supplies, rather than discard (ing) these into a landfill." For this, builders and homeowners receive a tax deduction for their donation to the charity.

ReBuild then sells the goods to the public at deeply discounted rates (ReBuild Warehouse.com, 2009) ReBuild also seeks to "establish training curricula in green collar occupations." The organization would use the proceeds of the sale of the donated materials to provide training or training subsidies that would allow unskilled workers to obtain licenses, certification, on-the-job training and experience in such green collar positions.

Lastly, by selling the goods at a deep discount, ReBuild will provide to builders, renovators and others the opportunity to conduct renovations and repairs that they might have otherwise been unable to afford (ReBuildWarehouse.com, 2009). ReBuild is registered as 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The organization has few full-time positions, although it does have an opening at present for a volunteer coordinator. Positions in the charity right now include a materials coordinator, and part-time employees and administrative staff. For the most part, however, they rely on volunteer labor to run the warehouse.

The volunteers also perform random activities as needed including a variety of fundraising activities. Among the principles of ReBuild is Megan Kirin, who coordinates events for the charity and is the face of the organization (ReBuildWarehouse.org, 2009). The company serves the local DC metropolitan area through their store in the Virginia suburbs. At this point in the charity's life, it is difficult to determine the size of the market served. Preliminary donations and sales appear encouraging.

Rebuild tallied an average of $9,969 in receipts for the first five months of existence, with the fifth month (July) being strongest at $16,018. The fiscal year corresponds with the store opening in March. The charity's financial position is relatively weak, but typical for a startup. The debt load is high, well in excess of the total assets. Current assets exceed current liabilities significantly, however, meaning that the charity is comfortably liquid. However, the debt means that any recommendation to improve the charity's function must come with a low price tag.

Recommendations ReBuild has been in business for about six months at this point, but has yet to develop a strong net presence. The organization has a website, but is absent from social networking sites. This is an oversight and it is recommended that ReBuild Warehouse build out its online presence with greater emphasis on the use of social networking to promote donations, events and fundraising. The latter can even be carried out online via Facebook.

Setting up a social networking presence has a wide range of benefits for a non-profit organization. The first is that it lowers the cost of spreading the organization's message (Ray, 2009). Setting up a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, for example, is free. Moreover, these websites do not require advanced programming skills to operate, in contrast to a webpage, which can require the services of a professional programmer or designer. Another advantage is that social networking sites broaden the scope of contacts for the organization.

It helps to build credibility and trust with your target community (Ray, 2009). The younger generation makes extensive use of social networking, and this is drawing their parents in as well. As such, membership is social networking sites is booming (Goff, 2009). In terms of pure functionality, these sites can be used to improve communication. For example, ReBuild has an event upcoming at the end of September for which they have produced a poster.

If they were on Facebook, they would be able to post the event, which would then be seen by all of their "fans." The site was originally created for students, and student groups routinely use the site to promote events for organizations and clubs (University of the Pacific, 2009). Social networking can help ReBuild to build brand awareness. The charity has many constituents -- donators, shoppers, volunteers and those who benefit from its funding.

Social networking can help to build awareness among all of these groups simultaneously by providing a multitude of communication mechanisms. Updates to pages, RSS feeds, tweets and other such communication tools can be used inexpensively (Hudson Horizons, 2008). Reaching all of these disparate constituents individually would be much more time consuming and expensive. The lack of interactivity on ReBuild's existing website hinders its ability to foster relationships with key constituents. Indeed, if one considers the level of functionality needed by web users today, ReBuild's site falls short.

Shoppers, for example, use the web to find inventory and price levels because of its convenience (RSH Web Services, 2009). This information can be posted via social networking to fans and followers of ReBuild. Likewise, the current site does not accept cash donations -- this can be rectified via tools available on Facebook that are easy to use and allow users to donate instantly (Waller, 2008). Many organizations already make use of these services to gain the exposure needed to increase donations (Haleem, 2009).

The networking function itself is a key benefit that cannot be replicated by ReBuild's current website. By definition, a network begins with a hub, which would be the ReBuild presence, but other members of the network can also work to get the word out to everybody to whom they are connected. The effect is that the reach of the message -- be it a funding drive, a sale, or a new program -- is thereby multiplied (Cravens, 2009).

ReBuild already does this in the offline world, but the potential reach is that much greater if the message is also spread in the online world. Lastly, social networking provides a means for the organization to control feedback and criticism. Even a non-profit entity will inevitably face some degree of negative publicity, but it is the response to that publicity that color the impressions of people about the charity.

For ReBuild, social networking would provide not only a valuable feedback mechanism for the variety of constituents but would also provide a means for the organization to respond to and control the dialogue about the charity (Go, 2009). For charities, this is critical because future donations and volunteers are dependant on successful image maintenance. ReBuild is a non-profit organization in its infancy. As such, its infrastructure is limited and the funds to build out the infrastructure are likewise subject to constraints.

One way to combat this is to build out a social networking presence, on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. These sites provide a valuable communication mechanism for a small charity to reach the wide variety of constituents with whom it must maintain communication. Social networking is doubly valuable for ReBuild Warehouse because it functions as a retail store, in addition to being an intermediary between donations and end users. The organization must therefore behave as a retailer to a large extent. Social networking serves this function very well.

Some of the most basic functions of social networking for ReBuild will be to promote the charity, to promote its events and to solicit cash donations. Volunteers can be coordinated via social networking as well. That social networking sites provide these benefits at very low cost is one of its greatest attractions. ReBuild has.