Homes Not Borders 2023 Impact Report

2023

Impact Report

Mission & Values

Our mission is to provide refugees and other forced migrants in the D.C. area with what they need to thrive and feel at home in the United States.

Community Building Dignity Equality Cross Cultural Sensitivity Client First Mindset

Letter from the Executive Director Wonderful Supporters, Twenty-twenty-three was a year of ups and downs for Homes Not Borders. But I think through it all, the word that describes it best is EQUILIBRIUM. We started 2023 with an ambitious budget and lofty goals and ended the year with a much leaner budget, and goals and plans focused on sustainability. This shift included hard decisions like letting go of our part-time Family Services Assistant and cutting our full-time Warehouse Manager role to part time, as well as drastically scaling back our cash-intensive Moving Up Fund.

Still, during this time we did expand strategically in some areas: extending support to those groups helping bussed-in migrants; formalizing our storytelling show into an official program—benefiting seven refugees; and thanks to a small grant from the State Department, training 48 refugee Afghan women in machine and intermediate sewing, greatly expanding our artisan pool as well.

The turning point came, however, in October when—for the first time—we switched to a fee for service model for our set up services. After pursuing larger grants with the resettlement agencies that did not pan out and a budget shortfall was apparent, we realized we had to get some support from the RAs if we wanted to continue to make homes for 1,500+ refugees a year. After much negotiation, HNB started charging the RAs a minimal fee for our set up services. And this fee has proven a huge boost for sustainability netting $57,000 in the last three months of 2023, and and expected $200,000 in 2024. This allows HNB to continue to serve the same number of refugees, as always, in our mission to have this population “feel at home” when they first arrive in the United States.

So after a few crazy years getting swept up in all that was going on with Afghanistan and Ukraine in 2021 and 2022, I can say with confidence that in 2023, HNB found some firm footing with a sustainable and exciting future to come!

Looking forward to standing strong with you all in 2024!

In Kindness, Laura Thompson Osuri Executive Director

2023 Impact Report—1

2023 Timeline

January

Atheer started full time, making and fixing furniture for refugees

June

Launched our first World Refugee Week of Action

March

2023

First month giving away 12 Moving Up Fund awards our maximum number.

February

Held second employment and training fair

April

Received $42,000 in credit through Amazon Last Mile

2—Homes Not Borders

July

Added our new AmericorpVISTA, Jack Rader

October

Held our Third Annual Storytelling Show, hosted by Mo Rocca

September Started our first cohort of Sew Successful Classes

December

Windfall of donations from Brooks Furniture and huge community clearance day

October

Started our fee-for-service arrangement with the Resettlement Agencies

2023 Impact Report—3

“

2023 Donation Collection

Your support and hard work have played a pivotal role in helping give us energy and feeling comfortable during this complicated time.”

Passed along

$800,800 in donated furniture and household goods to refugees

4—Homes Not Borders

—Jalal

Picked up furniture donations from

436 donors

Acquired

$156,000 in donated items from Brooks Furniture

Received

$40,000

in credit from Amazon through its “Last Mile Program”

Made

100

new dining and side tables and refurbished

three dozen

Partnered with Community Forklift, receiving

$6,000 in furniture credit

additional pieces of furniture

2023 Impact Report—5

2023 Home Set Ups

Provided home furnishing to

1,710 refugees

Furnished

406 homes

Distributed

655 beds

6—Homes Not Borders

Mohamed

and his wife and three children came to the United States from Syria via Thailand after being in the refugee system for eight years. Mohamed worked as a cook in Syria, but due to the ongoing war in his home country, he fled seeking safety and stability. Homes Not Borders set up his family’s two bedroom apartment in Riverdale, Md., in May 2023. The family loved working with the volunteers and his favorite item HNB provided was the beds and blankets for her children.

“

When HNB came to us and helped us by giving us furniture and all the things we needed, we felt very happy. Your support has been a great help to us.”

—Mohamed

2023 Impact Report—7

Demographics: those whom we serve Home Set Up Locations Prince George’s County, MD

149

Montgomery County, MD

65

Other MD Counties

5

District of Columbia

16

Alexandria City, VA

90

Fairfax County, VA

43

Arlington City, VA

10

Loudon County, VA

5

Other VA Counties

8

Address Unknown

15

MD DC VA

37%

Prince George’s County, MD MD, 37% Prince George's County,

4% 2% Loudon County, , 1% Loudon County, VAVA1% Arlington City, VA, 2% Arlington City, VA 2% Address Unknown, 4% Address Unknown

OtherOther VA Counties VA Counties, 2%

2023 HOME SET UP LOCATIONS

11%

Montgomery County, MD,MD Montgomery County, 16%

16%

Fairfax County, VA, 11%

Fairfax County, VA

Alexandria City, City, VA, 22% Alexandria VA

8—Homes Not Borders

1% 4%

OtherMDMDCounties, Counties Other 1% District Columbia 4% District ofof Columbia,

22%

# of Families by Country of Origin Afghanistan

261

64%

Venezuela

30

7%

Syria

25

6%

Democratic Republic of the Congo 19

5%

Eritrea

9

2%

Guatemala

9

2%

Ethiopia

2

Haiti

2

Iran

2

Peru

1

Uganda

2

El Salvador

8

2%

South Sudan

7

2%

Colombia

1

Iraq

1

Nigeria

1

Burundi

6

1%

Burma

6

1%

Nicaragua

5

1%

Honduras

4

1%

Other*

17

4%

Country of origin

Namibia

1

Somalia

1

Sierra Leone

1

Ukraine

1

Yemen

1

Afghanistan

Syria Honduras Guatemala

Series1

El Salvador

64%

Nicaragua

Eritea Venezuela

Burma

South Sudan Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo

1%

Powered by Bing © Australian Bureau of Statistics, GeoNames, Microsoft, Navinfo, Open Places, OpenStreetMap, TomTom, Zenrin

2023 Impact Report—9

S

2023 Artisan Empowerment

Fourteen artisans earned

$6,247 selling handmade home goods and accessories

9

Attended

Hosted six cohorts of intermediate sewing classes benefiting

46

Afghan refugee women and

2

Afghan men 10—Homes Not Borders

artisan markets to sell goods

Halima came to Landover, Md., with her husband and five children in September 2021 after the fall of Kabul. Previously, Halima lived in Turkey for 10 years where she worked as a translator and photographer. Her husband Najib was a tailor in Turkey and Afghanistan..

After coming to the United States, Halima began assisting her husband Najib with sewing, bringing her photographer’s eye for composition to the pieces she creates. She attended HNB’s Sew Successful training classes to gain new skills and start making items on her own, including beautiful aprons and bags.

“

It was wonderful to advance my sewing skills, as well as getting out of the house and socializing with other students.

Whoever thought this out, it was a brilliant idea” — Halima

2023 Impact Report—11

2023 Moving Up Fund & Employment

Distributed

Nine out of 10 Moving Up Fund awardees gained valuable workforce skills and

50%

of awardees started working at better paying

jobs.

$65,600 Helped

28

refugees enroll in job training programs including information technology, childcare certification and auto mechanics

Held

2

employment & training fairs serving

70 refugees

12—Homes Not Borders

Rahmatullah

and his wife moved to Hyattsville from Afghanistan in July 2022. He said they fled after seeing all the suffering and pain in Kabul after the Taliban took over. Soon after arriving in the United States, Rahmatullah started working at what he calls a “survival job” as an administrative assistant, even though he was working as a logistics professional in Afghanistan.

He wanted to take bookkeeping classes to get a better-paying job, but could not afford to until he applied for the Moving Up Fund in March 2023. This gave him the extra money he needed to pay for the course and the time he had to take work to attend classes.

“

HNB connected me to invaluable resources and provided valuable support. Sometimes a little support is life-changing and empowering for a refugee,” — Rahmatullah

2023 Impact Report—13

2023 Storytelling

Held one series of

5

storytelling workshops benefiting seven refugees and immigrant individuals.

Held a storytelling show involving five refugees and immigrant storytellers presenting to

250 attendees

14—Homes Not Borders

Formalized our storytelling event into a full program

Sandy

was one of our 2023 storytelling performers. She came to the U.S. as a child fleeing persecution because her family was ethnically Chinese in Vietnam. She founded a nationally-recognized nonprofit serving Vietnamese refugees and was a former White House appointee.

“

It meant so much to me because I had the opportunity to learn from teachers from The Moth and they taught us how to tell our stories and I got to meet many other refugees and their stories were so compelling and inspiring. It really reignited my passion to help refugees.”

— Sandy Dang

2023 Impact Report—15

2023 Financial Information

Expenses 2023

$1,892,401

Admin & Overhead

$221,340

Fundraising

$63,967

Artisan Empowerment

$108,178

Employment & Cash Asst.

$130,139

Home Set Ups, Cash

$529,040

Home Set Ups, Non-cash

$839,737

Income 2023 Individual Donations

$454,634

Institutional Donations

$47,220

Grants

$97,048

Sale of prodcuts

$6,559

Fee For Service

$57,067

Donated Services

$47,716

Donated Services

$1,119,764

Assets 2023

$508,732

Cash

$75,764

Investments

$42,066

Pledge Receivable

$48,497

Prepaid Expenses

$4,020

Inventory

16—Homes Not Borders

$1,830,008

$338,385

Admin & Overhead

12%

Fundraising

Home Set Ups, Non-cash

44%

3% 6%

Artisan Empowerment

2023 EXPENSES

Employment & Cash Asst.

Home Set Ups, Cash

7%

28%

25%

Individual Donations $454,634

Donated Services $1,119,764

61%

2023 INCOME

3%

Institutional Donations $47,220

5%

Grants $97,048

<1% 3% 3%

Sale of products $6,559 Fee For Service $57,067 Donated Services $47,716

15%

Cash $75,764

2023 ASSETS 67%

Inventory $338,385

8%

Investments $42,066

10%

Pledge Receivable $48,497

< 1%

Prepaid Expenses $4,020

2023 Impact Report—17

2023 Volunteers

9,440 386 volunteer hours

105 volunteers on average each month

18—Homes Not Borders

new volunteers

2023 Volunteer Groups

Accenture Refugee ERG* APO Mu Alpha Georgetown* CADRE Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Dupont Rotary FEMA/ DHS Returned Peace Corps Volunteers* Gallaudet University Georgetown Day School Good Counsel Holton Arms KAMA DC* Kehila Chadasha* KindWorks* Marcus Partners Morris Cafritz Center for Social Responsibility ( Edlavitch DCJCC)* National Community Church Youth No Lost Generation, George Washington University Chapter Passion City Church Science Applications International Corporation ITIOD Sligo Seventh Day Adventist Church* Somerset Volunteers St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church (Silver Spring)* St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (Arlington)* Temple Shalom* University of Maryland World Bank Afghanistan & Pakistan Country Management Unit Washington Center for International Education/English Now!* *Indicates groups that came three or more times in 2023

2023 Impact Report—19

“

2023 Partners

Homes Not Borders has been essential to our mission… You cannot imagine the joy on their faces when we arrive to furnish their new homes with clean quality goods. HNB makes a real difference in these people’s lives.”

20—Homes Not Borders

—Charlie Sislen, Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network

2023 Donors Grantmakers

The Good People Fund Hello Neighbor Network Howard G. Buffet Foundation The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Prince George’s County Council Welcome.US

Partner Donors ($6,000 or more)

Layla Aaron David & Anne Grizzle Anna Jenefsky Diane Karlik Roy Kaufmann Stephen & Erica Mongelli Swinitha & Michael Osuri Sameel & Laura Osuri Benjamin & Jennifer Ottenhoff Alder Fund Kyle Todd Public Service Foundation Sligo Seventh Day Adventist Church Whispering Bells Charitable Trust

Sustaining Donors ($2,500 to $5,000)

Kala Carruthers Azar Donald Baker Margaret Crandall Jeanne Drewes Joe Fuld James Gianiny Hannah & David Koilpillai Shurui Li Jessica & Stuart Trevelyan Judy Villedrouin Alison Voudrie Jessica Wagner Roger West Jim & Amy Wrona Democracy Fund Hogan Lovells Metro Trading Corp National Community Church ServePro

2023 Impact Report—21

2023 Board & Staff

22—Homes Not Borders

CHAIRPERSON Melanie Coburn, Chief Relationship Officer the networking community CADRE

Hannah Koilpillai, Recently retired from the World Bank

VICE CHAIR Joe Fuld, President of The Campaign Workshop

Mira Mendick, Program Manager with the Community Sponsorship Hub

TREASURER Abbas Mousa, Economist with the Department of Commerce

Samad Saifudin Founder and Lead Strategist at FunnelWorkSuite,

SECRETARY Maura Fulton, Vice President of Global Pro Bono at PYXERA Global

Robin M. Stutman, Recently retired Chief Administrative Hearing Officer at the U.S. Department Justice

Borzou Azabdaftari, Founder and CEO of Nickelbronx

Paula Sweeney Recently retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as a Senior Intelligence Service attorney.

Lauren Cherry, Navy Judge Advocate

Adam Zissman Senior Attorney with National Public Radio

The Staff (left to right): Linda Goldman, director of warehouse operations.

Laura Thompson Osuri, executive director.

Amy Hoang Wrona, development director.

Noah Klose, director of community outreach.

Nicholas Grossmann, director of operations.

Manizha Azizi, director of family services and partnerships.

Atheer Abdullah, in-kind donations assistant.

Not pictured: Waleed Yasin, mover & driver.

Jack Rader, Campus Compact VISTA.

2023 Impact Report—23

HNB_US

homesnotbordersus

homesnotborders

info@homesnotborders.org

3610 East Street, Landover, MD 20785