Southeast NH Habitat: Local Before It Was Cool

Those emotional commercials with sad-eyed animals looking out from cages and Sarah McLachlan singing in the background came under fire recently.

Apparently, the State Humane Association of California is accusing the New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of “unfair and deceptive fundraising practices” for not explicitly distinguishing where the funds will go in the ads.

The problem, the group claims, lies squarely in a common confusion among donors, who often think the ASPCA is a parent or umbrella organization to humane societies and SPCAs nationwide.

This confusion is well known to nonprofits – Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity included. In fact, until I began volunteering with the organization, I didn’t realize that the local affiliate was not simply an arm of the international organization.

Unlike most corporations jumping on the “local” bandwagon with tricky brands and marketing campaigns to feign a product as locally-made (think the surge in fake craft beers at the grocery store), nonprofits perceptions run in the opposite direction.

While Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity shares that well-known name of Habitat for Humanity International and operates within the framework of the Habitat Affiliate Covenant, we are actually our own independent, nonprofit organization.

Our funds are raised in the same communities we serve and the same communities where most of our volunteers live. Habitat for Humanity International will pass along donations if donors explicitly designate them for our affiliate, but we aren’t receiving a check for a percentage of donations each month.

Luckily for us, Habitat for Humanity International is clear about this. It has a whole section on the website that explains how affiliates are run, and where donations are used. And it’s an arrangement that works for us. When disaster strikes in Japan or in the South, Habitat for Humanity International is there to help. Meanwhile, we’re going to Market Square Day in Portsmouth and building houses in Rochester and Farmington.

What we raise here stays here. Our projects are a direct result of contributions from individuals and businesses right here in the Strafford and Rockingham Counties (although some volunteers do travel from farther away).

It’s been this way for 19 years, far before the term “locavore” was termed by foodies and shopping at community stores became a badge of honor. I guess we were local before it became trendy. But in the end, we’re just trying to build affordable houses the best way we know how.