In the Giveback Homes program, agents work alongside clients to build homes for communities in need both in the U.S. and Nicaragua. To date, Giveback Homes members have raised more than $200,000, built 40 complete homes for families in Nicaragua and helped build nine homes in the U.S.
As clients of real estate firms become more demanding about the corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions of their real estate firms, Giveback Homes, a for-profit real estate social good platform, today announced a new broker-level membership package.
The new package starts at $1,500 for brokerages with up to 50 agents, $2,000 for up to 100 and $3,000 per month for brokerages with up to 200 agents.
“If you are not thinking about corporate social responsibility for 2015, you are falling behind,” said Audie Chamberlain, founder of real estate PR agency Lion & Orb, which works closely with Giveback Homes’ founder Blake Andrews.
“Fifty percent of the workforce will be made up of millennials — they are not content with someone writing a check,” he added.
In the new broker-level package of the existing Giveback Homes membership model, 100 percent of all donations will go directly to a Giveback Homes Build Project of the donor’s choice. There are currently 15 build projects in cities across the U.S. like Denver and Sacramento, California, as well as in Nicaragua.
And Giveback Homes is measuring the tangible results for participating broker members.
Alex Abad, a Giveback Homes member and agent in El Segundo, California, placed one ad in the local real estate magazine featuring Giveback Homes and received three new listings.
Nick Schneider, a Giveback Homes member and agent from Manhattan Beach, California, incorporated Giveback Homes into all of his marketing materials and received five listings as a result.
“It’s not enough to focus on buying and selling a product or a service without considering the world in which you live,” said Chamberlain.
In some cases, agents are donating to Giveback Homes in their clients’ names.
“That way you are bringing clients into the giving process. And clients are your best advocate,” said Chamberlain.
They receive a thank-you letter from the charity’s marketing arm, describing the house they have contributed toward and giving them the family’s story.
Mauricio Umansky, co-founder and CEO of luxury real estate firm, The Agency — who will be speaking at Luxury Connect later this month — is the first to enlist his entire brokerage onto Giveback Homes and will join the company’s advisory board in 2016.
“On a recent build day, our agents had the pleasure of working with a family whose life was being forever changed by Giveback Homes. The experience was truly humbling and inspiring, and we look forward to many more just like it,” he said. (See video.)
“One client tells another client: ‘They do this great work,’ and you are getting more listings. You are seeing a snowball effect,” said Blake Andrews.
“We want brokerages across the country to get involved. I know it’s important these days for brokers to have a CSR (corporate social responsibility) program — this program helps them connect on a deeper level with agents and clients,” said Andrews.