Until Every Refugee Creates Home
FIVE YEARS IN, THE EVERY SHELTER STORY
As of the printing of this report, there are over 120 million people forcibly displaced.
This book and our work are dedicated to them.
Five Years in, The Every Shelter Story
Until every refugee creates home.
OUR MISSION
To build a localized refugee-aid ecosystem centered around the needs, preferences, and aspirations of refugees.
5 Years In
A LETTER FROM CEO AND CO-FOUNDER SCOTT KEY
In 2012, we learned that refugees stayed displaced for 13 years. In 2024, that figure has risen to over 20 years. We were students studying architecture. When we pictured in our minds what refugees had to live in for 13 years, it simply was not ok. But we were just two students who had a desire to help with no clue where to start. In subsequent years, we would dive deeply into the vast complexities of the refugee relief sector, but even then, we were intimidated.
We dove into what we could learn about refugee living conditions from our student architecture studios in Houston, Texas at the Rice School of Architecture. When we started reading horrifying stories of refugees freezing to death in the middle of the night, we thought that this problem was one we could do something about. We were guided by common-sense and a simple clarity of right and wrong. It was wrong that refugees could not keep warm. We believed we had a common-sense way to stop them from freezing to death at night and that we could fix this problem. We designed Emergency Floor.
We are still guided by these same two simple principles: goodness and common sense. When you see something that needs to be fixed in the world you should try to fix it and redeem it. So began a seven year journey that would culminate in the launch of Every Shelter in 2019.
For these first seven years, it was just Scott and Sam and an idea (and wives, and kids, and mortgages, and “real” jobs that actually paid us regularly). We managed to land a grant with USAID-DIV as we finished up grad school, but it was not enough to pay us a living wage. We had “real” jobs in architecture and design that allowed us unpaid time off to oversee a multi-settlement pilot in Lebanon where we worked under the umbrella of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We left behind wives and newborns as we flew back and forth between Houston and Beirut to see if our flooring product could scale to prevent hypothermia.
We were naive. We thought that if we designed a radically affordable way of preventing freezing at night - a solution that also proved to be highly effective at preventing deadly and developmentally devastating gastrointestinal maladies - that there would be a pathway within the existing humanitarian system to scale it up to reach the most people suffering.
It turns out that refugees exist in a system that was never designed for them to be displaced for decades.
Being legally designated as a “Refugee” carries with it a specific and common kind of physical and economic poverty with critical vulnerabilities. At its inception in 1950 the UNHCR was designed for refugee resettlement. But over time, the scale and timeline of displacement and the nature of global violent conflict dramatically changed. The system did not change to match these forces in reality. Refugee camps, which were never intended to be occupied for long, became cities. Humanitarian aid, designed to be a short term solution, extended months, then years, then decades. To put it in the words of Dr. Alexander Betts, the system needs a “root and branch” overhaul.
Audaciously, when we formed Every Shelter we decided that if the existing system wasn’t working we would design a better one. Or put more humbly, we would do our best to create at whatever scale we could and become a light on the hill. We would build functioning examples of programs, products, and services that bridged the gap between humanitarian assistance and development strategies. We would build offramps from endless humanitarian aid to long term refugee self-reliance. We would innovate and create. We would prove possible what the system saw as impossible. We would work nimbly, leanly, and smartly within the existing system to bring forth new
possibilities that could be scaled up from within existing actor’s platforms. We would be the yeast in the bread.
Audaciously, when we formed Every Shelter we decided that if the existing system wasn’t working we would design a better one.
We chose Uganda to start this work. We wanted a country where we could serve across the full spectrum of time and reality for refugees; from the first days of displacement to year 20 and beyond. Uganda is the third largest refugee hosting country in the world serving refugees from 13 different countries.
By global comparison, Uganda is kind to the “sojourner in their midst.” It was (and is) a place where Every Shelter and its nascent, fledgling mission could hope to build new models with great partners before we sought to scale them to more challenging contexts.
We started there with arguably the single most important shelter item in the refugee sector’s shelter arsenal: the tarp. The tarp is a symbol of the old system. Brandished with dehumanizing logos of the aid organizations that paid for their deployment, they get imported from countries thousands of miles away. Once they arrive and are deployed, they last only for months. We see them as imported future trash.
Starting with the principles of goodness and common sense, we asked ourselves “With 20 years of displacement, why is the sector not investing in higher quality tarps made locally or at least regionally? Could this not be a way to reduce costs, create something far more durable, something more sustainable, and ultimately be an economic benefit to refugees and local economies?” These basic questions are at the heart of everything we do as an organization. Years before we had seen refugees using old pvc billboard vinyls–a material that lasts on a roof 5-10 years–instead of imported UNHCR branded tarps that shred within months.
We began building relationships with American, European, and East African billboard companies to secure a supply of free durable material and started sewing our Bashe Bora (“Better Tarps”) tarps in the grassy yard of a partner organization’s facility in Kampala. From there, we acquired our own property, grew our material supply, switched to heat welding, created a refugee-training program, and scaled the work. Next year, Every Shelter will stop making tarps. Instead, a locally-owned business will take over. We will be their customer for 3 years while they build up demand outside of our own needs.
This will represent a significant milestone not just for Every Shelter, but for the sector writ large. We will have demonstrated that a highly needed tarp can be a radically affordable, durable, and sustainable good that can be made successfully by a local business, and replace the imported trash currently on offer. There is still much to accomplish on this front, but the story of our tarps is a great way to begin to understand our DNA as an organization: identify what needs to be fixed within the system and fix it, redeem it, show that it is possible, and teach others how to do it.
It is right to think of Every Shelter as a research and development firm. Unlike many charities, we do not have a singular modality or form of impact. We do not just do floors. We do not just do tarps. We do not just launch hardware stores in camps (something you can read more about within the pages of this report). We invent, we pilot, we scale, we partner. We bring newness to a system that feels stagnant.
As a 501(c)(3), we rely heavily on donors and philanthropy to make this system redesign come to life piece by piece. Because we are in the business of forging new ground, it means that many forms of traditional philanthropy are not well suited to our model. Foundations, for example, are often searching for that singular modality of impact: rinse and repeat. Over time, as we grow, we will continue building new products, programs, and services that fit that bill. We are already seeing our Shelter Depots becoming increasingly institutional grant-worthy. But to fund our core work, we rely heavily on individuals who see value in the new. We cannot fix big problems without taking big swings, and our donors are true partners in seeing this work come to life.
Today, we still manufacture and serve refugees with our floors. In 2023 alone, we installed more floors than every previous year combined. Every day our work has a real, lasting impact on the lives of refugees. In the words of a donor recently, “this work matters. A family having a floor matters. A war widow getting a durable good home matters.”
Beyond impact, we focus on influence. We seek to have an outsized impact. We seek ripple effects. We have zero intention of becoming a large charity, but rather an organization with a mission that through smart work can change the nature of our sector’s trajectory, for the betterment of the over 120 million displaced families, communities, parents, and children that deserve better solutions.
As we look back on five years of officially existing, we feel like we are just getting started. We see encouraging signs that we are gaining momentum and gaining trust within the sector, building durable philanthropic partnerships. Displacement has been a part of the human condition since the beginning of time. Every refugee-hosting context has its own particularities and problems to solve. As such, we seek to build an organization that outlives me and Sam, the founders. We want Every Shelter to outlive our board, our staff, and even most of you reading this.
As we look back on five years of officially existing, we feel like we are just getting started.
At the very core of that hope is our desire that our work today, tomorrow, and beyond would bring dignity to the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable and exploited people, and that in time yet to arrive, the world would become a place where every person can create a home. Until that happens, our work endures. We plod on.
Your support today helps us build that sustaining reality. Thank you for taking the time to care about this work. Please consider supporting Every Shelter for the next step in our journey.
Scott
Key
Co-Founder
and CEO
Every Shelter’s Milestones
2012-2017
2018-2019
2020-2021
INCEPTION FOUNDING AND INCORPORATION PANDEMIC SURVIVAL AND EXPANSION
While architecture students at Rice University in 2012, Scott Key and Sam Brisendine participated in the Rice Building Workshop. They began a shelter design project that led to their first innovation, Emergency Floor.
With monies won from a competition in 2018, Every Shelter was formally incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit in 2019. Julia Wallin and Nicole Iman were co-founders with Scott and Sam. Emergency Floors were deployed across the Middle East.
2020 brought the critical challenge of surviving the effects of the Covid pandemic funding squeeze. Every Shelter survived thanks to the PPP loan program and in 2021 was even able to launch an office in Kampala, Uganda.
2022-2023
PROGRAM MATURITY AND GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
In 2022, Every Shelter partnered with Alight to launch the first ever Shelter Depot in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in Yumbe, Uganda. In early 2023, Every Shelter responded to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria with Emergency Floor providing over 30,000 flooring tiles to over 1,500 families in need.
BUILDING
A HUMANITARIAN “INNOVATION PIPELINE”
In early 2024, Every Shelter purchased a building in Houston as a new permanent headquarters giving the organization operational stability for the long term. 2024 was also the year Every Shelter invested heavily in a longer term change thesis: formalizing an “Innovation Pipeline” in Uganda, localizing the design of shelter provisions and services around refugees themselves in country, and in-settlement settings.
The Humanitarian Sector & Every Shelter’s Place in it
UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN SYSTEM IS CHALLENGING.
The global humanitarian system is complicated. Each country has different processes, policies, rules and regulations governing their internal affairs. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, set up in the 1950s, also plays a contextually varied role in regulating global refugee policy and works at numerous levels to protect the rights of refugees.
The UNHCR aims for one of three outcomes for refugees:
1. Repatriation to their home country
2. Local integration with citizenship in the host country, or
3. Resettlement to a developed country
VACUUM
Time of Displacement FUNDING
WORLDWIDE ATTENTION DISSIPATES
EVERY SHELTER CLOSING THE GAP
20+ YEARS
THE AID CRISIS DIAGRAM
As Every Shelter has navigated the complexities of global aid over the years, we have created what we call our “Aid Crisis” diagram to explain where we fit in within the system.
In the wake of major crises, the international community rallies with a surge of funding to support displaced people. This is traditionally referred to as the “Emergency Response” phase. However, as time goes on and as global attention shifts, long-term financial support diminishes, leaving millions with insufficient resources to meet their basic needs for an average of 20 years—a full generation.
Today over ��� million people are displaced.
The average duration of a displacement event can range from ��-�� years.
Less than �% of refugees will get resettled, leaving repatriation or integration the only realistic options.
Impact in the Service of Influence
The humanitarian sector is full of organizations chasing “impact.” This pursuit sometimes leads to short-sided decision making. At Every Shelter we believe that impact is important, but our real goal is influence, which comes from sustained impact over time.
Instead of pursuing short-term, short-sighted impact measurements, Every Shelter places all impact measurements in the service of long term systemic change and influence within our sector. While we daily impact the physical lives of refugees, we also strive to influence sector change and behavior in the humanitarian space.
Emergency Floor
IT ALL STARTED WITH EMERGENCY FLOOR.
As early designers, co-founders Scott Key and Sam Brisendine produced what became Every Shelter’s first truly global product, Emergency Floor. In those early days, Every Shelter conceived of itself more as a product-design company, believing that if you designed it, the humanitarian system would want it and use it. While no longer exclusively designing physical products, the same fundamental orientation towards justice and dignity drives the work at Every Shelter today, and Emergency Floor has impacted tens of thousands of people for good.
In 2023, Every Shelter responded to the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes which devastated over two million people, Turkish citizens and displaced Syrian refugees alike. More flooring tiles were produced and distributed to families in need than all previous Emergency Floor distributions combined.
1,084,948
SQUARE FEET PRODUCED
62,250
FLOOR TILES PROVIDED
19,052
PEOPLE SERVED WITH CLEAN, WARM, DRY FLOORS ACROSS LEBANON, TÜRKIYE, SYRIA, UKRAINE, BANGLADESH
Reduces Heating Fuel Expenses by Up to 20%
Made from a durable insulating material, Emergency Floor provides an R4 insulative value leading to a reduction in hypothermia and an average 7.3ºF increase in winter shelter temperature.
Reduces Medical Needs and Expenses
Replacing dirt floors with Emergency Floors reduces parasitic infections by 78%, diarrhea by 49%, and anemia by 81%.
“If it weren’t for Emergency Floor, mud and dirt would be everywhere”
Shelter Depot
IF EMERGENCY FLOOR WAS THE FIRST PHYSICAL PRODUCT DESIGNED BY EVERY SHELTER, SHELTER DEPOT IS OUR FIRST DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
Shelter Depot is a hardware store in a refugee settlement.
This sounds like it should be a “no-brainer.” We agree. Refugees lack basic access to markets, transportation, and financial services. When they arrive in settlements, refugees are handed some basic shelter goods and that’s about it.
Enter Shelter Depot: a DIY hardware store that stocks the most critical and essential shelter items, sourced locally. Instead of traveling days for basic materials, placed within settlements these hardware stores minimize travel, facilitate market development, and provide work opportunities to settled communities. Since 2022, Every Shelter has launched two Shelter Depot locations with our partner Alight, in Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement and Nakivale Refugee Settlement and we continue to explore new opportunities to scale this program locally in Uganda and globally.
Reached over 2,200 people in Bidibidi and Nakivale through community awareness efforts, connecting more individuals to vital shelter resources.
SERVING CUSTOMERS
Provided over 1,900 customers with access to essential building materials like iron sheets, cement, and construction poles.
REVENUE GENERATED
Generated $15,265 USD in revenue across the Shelter Depot stores in Nakivale and Bidibidi.
Engaged 128 participants in our Work-for-Credit program, equipping them with practical skills and empowering them to redeem essential shelter materials.
Gathered 165 testimonials reflecting the profound impact Shelter Depot has had on individuals and communities. COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
Shelter Depot: A hardware store serving refugees as customers, not just beneficiaries.
BIDI BIDI SHELTER DEPOT
Launched in Spring 2023
98
Work for Credit participants
1,533
Customers to-date
(includes repeat customers)
UGANDA
NAKIVALE SHELTER DEPOT
Launched in Summer 2024
25
Work for Credit participants
370
Customers to-date (includes repeat customers)
Experiments in Innovation
As our work has matured, Shelter Depot has moved beyond being simply a hardware store and has become a research and development platform. With a physical presence of stores in settlements, we are able to act like any other normal retail platform: we get to meet our customers, learn their preferences, and develop inventory and services to meet their needs.
The following “Experiments in Innovation” are a small sampling of some of our past and current pilots. Whether it’s an experimental skylight for darkened homes or innovative flooring solutions made out of used PVC, why should refugees not have access to the same innovation loop for their physical shelter and home needs from anyone else? This is a core conviction for us in this work: design with and for our customers. We treat refugees like customers, not only as “beneficiaries.” The opportunity of work, the dignity of access, the availability of meaningful products: these should be the things our sector focuses on for long term, generational displacement.
Five Years in, The Every Shelter Story
Bashebora Floors
BASHEBORA LOCALLY MEANS “BETTER TARP.”
Upcycled vinyl billboards to improve indoor conditions and occupant’s health by providing a clean and hygienic floor surface for daily activities.
PROBLEM
GOAL
Many refugee shelters have dirt floors which create unsanitary conditions indoors and lead to health problems
Improve indoor quality and occupant’s health
Most refugee shelters have compacted earth floors, which present different challenges to indoor quality as well as the occupant’s health. For one, many people eat while sitting on the floor, which exposes their food to germs and contamination, leading to foodborne diseases. Secondly, many people lay their bedding directly on the floor, exposing them to dirt, moisture, and cold, causing more healthrelated problems. Finally, dirt and moisture attract termites, and they are often found in refugees’ homes. Bashbora Floor addresses these problems by providing a more hygienic floor while also beautifying refugee homes.
• First pilot: 10 households
• Second pilot: 15 households throughout Zone 5 of Bidibidi Settlements APPROACH
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS NEXT STEPS
Piloted with 25 households, observing health outcomes, and gathering feedback.
1. Producing standardized Bashebora floor
2. Taking custom orders at Shelter Depot
Pay It Forward Initiative
The Pay-It-Forward Initiative is a sustainable shelter program that trains refugees in construction skills, enabling them to build houses for others.
PROBLEM
Nakivale Refugee Settlement faces a severe housing shortage due to a steady influx of refugees and limited shelter aid, leaving many in deteriorating tents exposed to harsh weather. This is compounded by refugees’ financial struggles, lack of construction skills, and insufficient funding for aid organizations.
GOAL
Improve indoor quality and occupant’s health
The housing crisis in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement demands a shift from short-term fixes to sustainable solutions. Traditional aid methods prove insufficient, and the refugees’ desire for self-reliance and skills training presents an opportunity.
The Pay-It-Forward Initiative tackles this challenge by training refugees in construction skills and providing them with work-for-credit opportunities. This empowers them to build shelters for themselves and others, fostering a self-perpetuating cycle of skill-sharing and knowledge transfer. The initiative not only addresses the immediate housing need but also equips refugees with valuable skills for longterm self-sufficiency and strengthens community bonds.
APPROACH
2025 Pilot: Three cohorts of refugee-builders to build six homes for vulnerable households.
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS NEXT STEPS
2025-2026: Selecting cohorts of targeted demographics, e.g. women, youth, unskilled, single-parent households.
1. Identifying vulnerable households within the settlements
2. Selecting first cohort of refugee-builders
Plastic Bottle Skylight
A sustainable initiative to bring light to refugee homes using recycled plastic bottles, functioning as “skylights” to illuminate windowless rooms.
PROBLEM
GOAL
Refugees in Ugandan settlements lack access to electricity, relying on hazardous kerosene lamps and candles for lighting. This leads to safety risks, health hazards, limited educational opportunities, and economic hardship due to restricted daylight hours.
To provide a safe, sustainable, and low-cost lighting solution using recycled plastic bottles.
Many refugees in Uganda live in settlements without electricity, relying on dangerous and unhealthy lighting alternatives like kerosene lamps and candles. This project aims to replicate a successful initiative from the Philippines, where plastic bottles filled with water and bleach were used as “skylights” to bring sunlight into homes. By utilizing readily available materials and involving the refugee community in the process, the project will provide a safe, sustainable, and cost-effective lighting solution while also addressing the issue of plastic waste.
APPROACH PROJECTED IMPACT
38+ People installed the skylight after two community workshops
Pilot: A certificate program to learn, build, then teach others.
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS NEXT STEPS
Two community workshops at the Shelter Depot have been hosted as of today with 40+ participants.
Continue monthly workshops while empowering graduates to lead community trainings and raise funds to teach Plastic Bottle Solar Lamp creation.
Weatherproofing Soil Blocks for Affordable and Sustainable Housing
This pilot project aims to identify affordable and sustainable surface treatments for interlocking compressed soil blocks and improve housing for new arrivals.
PROBLEM
GOAL
Refugees face challenges in constructing durable, affordable housing, and conventional building materials are often too expensive or unsustainable.
To identify affordable and sustainable surface treatments for compressed earth blocks that enhance weatherproofing and durability.
Refugees often construct structures with mud bricks vulnerable to weather damage due to limited resources. Alternatively, some refugees build houses with either burnt bricks or bricks with cement if they can afford them. However, burnt bricks cause deforestation and pollute the environment, while cement also has a significant environmental footprint during production.
Our project aims to utilize various surface treatments like varnish, brick sealers, linseed oil, and lime to significantly enhance the weather resistance of these blocks and provide durable, affordable housing solutions.
APPROACH
Mock-up walls with three different surface treatments and blocks made with lime are being tested at the Every Shelter Office.
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS
In testing phase
NEXT STEPS
Continue to observe and record results
Rainwater Collection
A cost-effective, easily deployable rainwater collection kit to supplement the water supply for refugees.
PROBLEM
GOAL
Refugees face water scarcity due to limited infrastructure and increasing demand, leading to unreliable access to water.
Develop a rainwater collection kit that provides a reliable supplemental water source for refugees, empowering them with greater control over their water supply while promoting environmental sustainability.
When designer Tom De Balsis proposed the idea of a rainwater collection kit, we immediately thought it would be a great fit. Refugee settlements like Nakivale experience water shortages due to limited infrastructure and high demand. A rainwater collection will provide a reliable supplemental water source, empowering refugees with more control over their water supply while promoting environmental sustainability and self-reliance.
APPROACH
Demonstration units installed at Shelter Depots and gathering feedback from the community.
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS NEXT STEPS
In testing phase
Household testings in Bidibidi and Nakivale
Tukul 2.0
A
project
to
improve
the
living conditions of displaced people in Bidi Bidi, Uganda, by enhancing the traditional Tukul shelter.
PROBLEM
GOAL
Traditional Tukul shelters, while culturally significant, face challenges with material scarcity and require ongoing maintenance, impacting the living conditions of displaced people in Bidi Bidi, Uganda.
To improve the Tukul shelter by using sustainable and locally sourced materials, ensuring durability, and reducing maintenance, thereby enhancing the living conditions of displaced people in Bidi Bidi, Uganda.
The Tukul is a traditional dwelling in regions of Africa, including South Sudan and Northern Uganda. It is typically constructed using wood, mud bricks, and native grasses. However, scarcity of these materials, particularly thatch grass and wood, poses challenges to the construction and maintenance of these shelters.
Tukul 2.0 aims to address these issues by introducing sustainable and locally sourced alternatives like woven palm fronds for the roof, bamboo for the roof structure, and interlocking stabilized blocks for walls and plinth. This approach not only ensures the longevity and accessibility of Tukul construction but also promotes sustainable practices and empowers displaced communities to create more durable and resilient homes.
APPROACH
A demonstration shelter has been built at the Bidibidi Shelter Depot.
PROTOTYPES & RESULTS NEXT STEPS
Community members are showing interest in using the alternative materials, planning for community workshops is underway.
Host workshops on building with bamboo and palm fronds, supporting participants and documenting their construction results.
Stories: Our Work in Action
We take great pride in our work and are humbled by the many ways in which the people who benefit most freely offer their feedback, critique, and encouragement.
Each story in this report has been offered freely and with permission to share. We take the agency, privacy, and safety of each person we serve seriously. These are real quotes, and the pictures correspond accurately to each person represented in the associated pictures.
MARY LEKURU
Mary Lekuru’s Roof is Failing.
Every time it rains, she is wet. Her clothes are wet. Worse still, her grandkids are wet. It was miserable and demoralizing. The dampness attracted termites causing long term damage to her home’s structure. Mary heard about Shelter Depot’s Work for Credit Program and asked a relative to work on her behalf to purchase Mary a new roof.
This is Stability. At Shelter Depot, vulnerable persons like Mary who are elderly have pathways to improving the stability of their homes. Mary and her grandkids are warm and dry in their home regardless of the weather outside.
Safi Ali has been living in the dark.
When he heard about Shelter Depot and its opportunity to earn goods by helping to build a nearby school for refugee children, he jumped at the opportunity. He chose a solar light from the store and earned it himself. Now he doesn’t have to live in the dark anymore.
This is Agency. At Shelter Depot refugees are customers. Rather than being given something someone else thinks they need, refugees can choose for themselves.
SAFI ALI
Lorube Obede is an enterprising man.
He manages to find work periodically-- though it’s difficult to find in Bidi Bidi--and he augments his income by growing and selling crops. He needed a new home for his family, but shelter materials were over 50 kilometers away greatly adding to the cost of the purchase. When Shelter Depot opened, it reduced the expense of materials by bringing them closer. Lorube purchased what he needed and built a home for his family.
This is Self-Reliance. By simply bringing the right goods closer to people in Bidi Bidi, we provide a basic market function that unleashes the energies and talents of refugees to be at the center of their own recovery. It’s a simple thing, but it is already proving to be revolutionary for our customers.
LORUBE OBEDE
ELIDAH YAWE
Elidah Yawe is her church’s treasurer.
The UNHCR tarped roof for her church was all-but-gone, but she knew they didn’t have the funds to replace it. Elidah’s neighbor, Lorube Obede, also a church member, had just purchased the materials for his new home through Shelter Depot and knew about the Work-for-Credit Program. Lorube offered to work to earn their church a new roof.
This is Service. At Shelter Depot, we see the great level of generosity and kindness that refugees have for and towards one another that can be amplified through our presence and program. When given the chance, refugees serve their communities in ways that traditional aid can never touch. This is a far better model for the future.
Mary Woro juggles a lot.
Between growing crops for both sustenance and food, maintaining her home, and raising her kids, she has a side-hustle that brings in supplemental income for their family; making and selling cooking charcoal from fallen branches. For years, she’s relied on borrowing an axe from neighbors, but an axe wasn’t always available. Mary saved up and bought her own axe from Shelter Depot.
This is Livelihood. Shelter Depot can help facilitate people’s ability to earn an income for themselves. Because of our non-traditional pathways to ownership, a new means of earning can come with zero access to cash. From no money to earning a living, Shelter Depot provides a model for its customers to provide for themselves.
MARY WORO
Agnes Mudia
Agnes Mudia and her 8 children are refugees from South Sudan who have lived in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement since 2016. When she found out about the work for credit program through Shelter Depot, she was excited to be able to fix her leaky roof. She lives in a Tukul with a roof constructed of grass thatching, which leaks constantly every time it rains. Replacing the grass is not an option as she and her family have no money to spare.
This is dignity. Through the program, Agnes and her husband worked on the tree plantation until they had earned enough to redeem Bashe Bora, a durable tarp made from upcycled billboard vinyl. With the tarp overtop the grass thatching, Agnes’ home stays completely dry and their quality of life has vastly improved.
“...I
am very excited that currently I do not experience even a droplet of rain in my house whenever it rains, due to the Bashe bora I redeemed from the Shelter Depot through work for credit. Thank you very much Shelter Depot.”
– AGNES MUDIA
LOOKING AHEAD
Shelter Corps: A Refugee-Led Future for Shelter Solutions
Few organizations are permitted to work directly with refugees in camps and settlements. Every Shelter is one of them—not just because of our nonprofit status, but because of years of trust-building and hands-on work that began long before our official founding. This trust has given us a rare privilege: a seat at the small table of organizations that can operate in these contexts.
As we have built our own teams inside Uganda’s refugee settlements—many of whom are refugees themselves—our work has sharpened its focus on self-reliance, markets, and refugee-led initiatives. The more time we spend in settlements, the clearer it becomes: the best solutions don’t come from outsiders administering aid. They come from refugees themselves, equipped with the right tools, training, and opportunities to build their own futures.
Introducing Shelter Corps
In 2025, we are launching Shelter Corps—a program that will shape how both refugees and the outside world see Every Shelter. Shelter Corps will bring together our past and future work under one core ethos: "by refugees, for refugees." We believe in fewer outsiders in NGO-branded vests doing the work, and more refugees leading their own shelter solutions. Traditional aid models see refugees as passive recipients; we know they are builders, business owners, and problemsolvers. The role of external capital and technical expertise isn’t to replace refugees in their own rebuilding—it’s to ignite a culture of homebuilding and improvement that they own from the start.
Shelter Corps will encompass three interconnected program areas: Design, Build, and Supply.
DESIGN: INNOVATION FROM WITHIN
This summer, we are launching an architecture studio inside the Nakivale Refugee Settlement—possibly the first of its kind. For 2.5 months, architects will work alongside refugees to develop creative, material-based solutions for newly arriving families. We believe that pairing technical design skills with the ingenuity and lived experience of community members will yield groundbreaking, actionable work. And this is just the beginning—what is developed here will directly connect to Build and Supply, ensuring that great ideas don’t just stay on paper but turn into real impact.
BUILD: SKILLS FOR STABILITY
Refugees already build their own homes—but too often, they do so without access to the right knowledge, materials, or training. We want to change that. Shelter Corps will provide refugees with the opportunity to learn the skills to build for themselves, for their neighbors, and as a means of earning a livelihood. This is about more than just putting up structures—it’s about equipping people with the craftsmanship and confidence to create lasting, dignified shelter solutions.
SUPPLY: A REFUGEE-LED MARKET FOR MATERIALS
Where there are homes, there are businesses. In refugee settlements, we often see shops appearing as soon as shelters do. Since launching Shelter Depots in Uganda, our goal has always been to transition ownership of these hardware stores to refugees. This year, we will take a major step forward by convening the Nakivale Building Supplies Alliance, bringing together existing refugee-run hardware and building supply vendors. Together, we’ll tackle transportation and credit challenges that have long held these businesses back, expanding their ability to serve their communities. This marks a shift in our model— one that moves us closer to a truly refugee-led supply chain.
A New Model for Shelter
Shelter Corps is not just another aid program. It is a movement toward a future where refugees lead the way in building and improving their own communities. By bringing together design, skill-building, and market-driven supply, we are proving that better shelter outcomes don’t come from more handouts—they come from investing in refugees as the architects, builders, and entrepreneurs of their own futures.
This is the work ahead of us in 2025. And we couldn’t be more ready.
ACKNOWLEDGING OUR PARTNERS
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
At Every Shelter we acknowledge that displacement has been with us since the beginning of time and will be for any perceivable future. As such, we seek to build an organization that outlives us with a mission that remains even as staff and board, come and go. We believe that forging meaningful partnerships with others is also essential to this vision. Such has been the case for us as we have built our country office, our Studio, in Uganda. It took us the better part of three years to become an “official” NGO in Uganda. At the time of writing this, we are months away from a separate agreement that will allow us to operate freely on our own.
In the interim period, two partners of ours have shown extreme generosity to us by extending their legal operating status over our work and focus.
Firstly, Refuge and Hope International (RHI) has effectively operated as our Fiscal Sponsor in Kampala. They have managed our books, hired our employees, signed our leases, overseen procurement, and generally advised us when we have had to navigate complexity. Without RHI we would not be where we are today. We are thankful to Jade Acker, Cissy Wakooli, Joanne Mwosana, and Margret Nanfuka in particular for their partnership and support.
Secondly, Alight has extended their legal operating umbrella over our work in the refugee settlements first in Bidi Bidi and now also in Nakivale. Our history with the organization is long and predates Every Shelter. Alight is one of the largest NGO’s in the refugee relief sector and at the highest levels has a desire to see fundamental change take place within the sector. Our partnership has been a joint work in that regard. Aside from launching and running Shelter Depots together, Alight has given Every Shelter wide ranging abilities to test, prototype, and scale specific shelter innovations in the settlements. We’re particularly thankful for Igor Radonjic who has been our champion and advisor, for Sarah Hartman whose heart for refugees and innovation paved the way for Shelter Depot, and for Natalie Kawesa-Newell who has too much on her plate, but still prioritizes this joint work and vision.
Both of our key partners have bucked the scarcity mindset that all too often is endemic in the nonprofit / charitable sector. As we stand on our own two feet from an operating perspective, we will continue to work with both groups who fundamentally champion the safety, rights, and flourishing of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. We are stronger with them and thankful for their generosity and partnership.
Every Shelter has experienced strong financial growth over the last few years. Thanks to generous supporters of our mission, we continue to invest in our programs while keeping overhead to a minimum.
REVENUE GROWTH YEAR OVER YEAR
1,250,000
1,000,000
750,000
500,000
250,000
Programs TOTAL: 1 , 43 6, 155
Every Shelter Team
U.S. BASED
Scott Key Co-Founder and CEO
Austin Hermann Chief of Staff
Megan Mark Director of Advancement
Lauren Hanson Community Manager
Stefanie Cortez Grants Manager
Elise O’Toole Operations Lead
UGANDA BASED
Loise Wambui Wanjohi Director of Programs and Operations
Phyllis Tsang Shelter Innovation and Design Lead
Emmanuela Zamba Programs and Operations Assistant
Richard Wadada Facilities Manager
Jenipher Kimono Social Innovation Assistant
Isaac Lemeri Social Innovation Assistant
BOARD MEMBERS
Emily Soltvedt
CEO Riverbridge Minneapolis, MN
Carly Seidewand
Eppley
Independent Director Boston, MA
Hannah Quillin
Investor Representative, Philanthropic Organization Houston, TX
Joe Meppelink
Founder and Principal, METALAB Houston, TX
Sam Brisendine
Co-founder and Principal, Bright Architects Houston, TX
Scott Key
CEO and Co-founder, Every Shelter Houston, TX
Kate O’Laughlin
Founder, GNR8 San Francisco, CA
Matt Van Zandt
Client Advisor, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors Houston, TX
Evan Easton-Calabria
Senior Researcher, Tufts University, Research Associate, Oxford University Seattle, WA
Thank you
At Every Shelter we believe that human displacement is one of the most challenging problems of our time. There have never been more humans on the move, forcibly displaced, than ever before in human history. This problem is multi-layered, systemic, and fast moving. The people and families we serve live in places of extreme volatility and change. Displacement doesn’t sleep.
Humanitarian organizations come and go on the whims of different political agendas. Aid workers, field employees, and office personnel engaged in the hard work of humanitarianism are asked to do much, and often exploited to do more than they should: the work will always be here. The problems won’t go away. There is always the next thing: from raising funds to do the work, to the work itself.
We can not fix displacement, but we can work to build a humanitarian system equipped at scale to deal with these issues until every refugee can create home.
This is our quest.
It is because of you, the many donors and friends along the way, that this work is possible.
On behalf of the families and communities of refugees and displaced people we serve, thank you.
All photography in this publication is credited to: SALOMÉ MOSHER AND ALFRED QUARTEY
