Nonprofit Establishes $1-Million Foundation from Contributions of Volunteers

Winston Salem, NC, June 08, 2006 --(PR.com)-- A charitable foundation with a $1-million endowment wouldn’t attract much attention these days—not with gifts to philanthropic, political, and educational organizations in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But suppose that endowment was raised a dollar at a time? Or by its staff foregoing its salaries for sixteen years?

Something like this has created the Foundation for Purposeful Living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

For two decades, the volunteers of the Human Service Alliance (HSA) have been serving their community in various ways—first, by caring for disabled children and terminally ill adults and providing health and wellness and mediation services; and now, by conducting purposeful parenting workshops and operating one of Winston-Salem’s most popular and critically praised restaurants, California Fresh Buffet.

Through their relatively modest but regular giving, their careful stewardship of resources, their sound investing, and their unpaid labor—and with no large grants or donations from major benefactors—they have amassed a million dollar (and growing) fund with which to help support human service work around the world.

“This is another example of the magic that can happen when a group of ordinary people commit to providing services with no paid staff,” says Susan Baggett, a CPA who serves as president of HSA and its affiliated educational organization, the Center for Purposeful Living. “This million dollars has accumulated from the generous gifts of the board over a period of years, but more significantly, it is the result of over a million hours of volunteer service by board members and others who are inspired by the notion of making voluntary service something better than money can buy.”

Joseph Kilpatrick, an HSA board member who formerly served as assistant director of one of North Carolina’s largest altruistic foundations, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, adds, “To my knowledge, there is no precedent for a non-profit, all-volunteer service and educational organization setting up such a substantial philanthropic giving program from its own resources. It’s an outstanding and wonderful way to set an example and challenge our historical view of non-profit service organizations.”

The Foundation will support individuals, groups, and organizations that are all-volunteer or primarily volunteer-based and are involved in projects in the United States and abroad. Those motivated by selfless service and altruism and whose work is practical, inclusive, a source of inspiration to others, a demonstration of goodwill, and a response to clearly identified needs will receive serious consideration.

Up to 5 percent of the Foundation’s value at the end of the previous year will be available for grants in any calendar year. The Foundation will be administered by volunteers. HSA will cover any administrative expenses incurred.

The Foundation’s endowment will continue to increase by yearly contributions of up to $50,000 from HSA’s sister organization, the Center for Purposeful Living (CPL), through its learning laboratory, California Fresh Buffet. The popular restaurant, which is staffed 85 percent by volunteers, functions as a hands-on classroom for students participating in CPL’s one-year service-learning program. Since its opening in 2000, the restaurant has donated more than $100,000 to charities benefiting abandoned animals, the elderly, the hungry, the dying, and many others.

So in a very real sense, every time he picks up a plate while bussing tables at California Fresh Buffet, Sanford Danziger is helping build the Foundation. The same goes for Eve Jordan when she cuts apple pies; Jennifer Salley when she puts a pan of broccoli into the steamer; Margaret Perkins when she seats customers; Alex Ibergs when he washes pots; and all of the other fifty-plus volunteers in the various food preparation and serving tasks they perform daily.

“With my background and experience, it would be easy to do some’ regular’ work, earn considerable money, and then write a check to the Foundation,” says Danziger, a former practicing physician. “But doing it this way seems better, even if the money is less. First, I get to have contact with real people—to be friendly and open and hard-working. I get to give the best part of myself, not just my money. And I am part of a group endeavor, of a team with a sense of camaraderie. In today’s fractured world, there are few opportunities to do things as part of a group. It may seem strange, but to me, the money I generate and thus donate in this way is better money. It’s not easy money. I worked hard to create it. It has some of me in it. It is like getting a birthday card that your child made, as opposed to one that was bought in a store.”

HSA traces its roots back to 1986, when a small group of service-minded individuals began caring for terminally ill people, around the clock and one person at a time, in the home of one of the volunteers. Over time, the group evolved into the Human Service Alliance, which provided, at no cost and with no paid staff, care for the terminally ill, respite care for children with disabilities, mediation services, and health and wellness programs for hundreds of individuals, as well as training and inspiration for dozens of service organizations through the United States. The organization estimated that it was providing a half-million dollars worth of services on an annual budget of about $70,000. Hundreds of volunteers came from around the world to serve for periods of up to a year, and HSA was named a Point of Light by former President George Bush and featured in the PBS television series, The Visionaries.

In order to share with others the principles of spirituality, soulful service, and cooperative group work it had developed over the course of a decade, HSA established the Center for Purposeful Living in 1998. Its classes have been taught in a variety of ways. For example, more than 100,000 business people here and abroad have received training in the "Totally Responsible Person" program developed at HSA.

In 2000, CPL took its next step by inaugurating the Transformation Through Service program and admitting its first class of full-time, residential students. The program is designed to help participants discover their purpose in life and acquire the tools to fulfill that purpose. No fees are charged for tuition, room, or board and all the faculty members are volunteers who do regular service tasks alongside the students. HSA and CPL are not affiliated with any religious or political organization and students range in age from teens to eighties.

Besides CPL’s Transformation Through Service program, HSA sponsors The Parenting Initiative, which has developed workshops and materials to help parents raise children of character; and SET, or Service Entrepreneurship Training, a consulting service designed to help groups learn and practice the principles that have enabled HSA to stay intact and productive for two decades. Both services are provided free of charge. SET will be made available especially to recipients of Foundation grants.

For more information about the Foundation for Purposeful Living or to submit a grant application, contact Mikaela Vinick at mvinick@purposeful.org or go to www.purposefulfoundation.org. For information about HSA, CPL, and their programs, go to www.purposeful.org.

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