Why We Started Our Nonprofit A1andALL
A1DesignBuild is a designer and builder of homes in Bellingham and Whatcom County, Washington. We specialize in everything from home remodels to complete high performance home builds, and our over 70 years of providing excellent service to the community assures that your home project gets done right - each and every time.
All the employees of A1DesignBuild are instrumental in the collective inspiration behind our nonprofit A1andAll. Here are some of the reasons why the nonprofit was formed in the first place - and the change it hopes to make in the world - as told by General Manager Patrick Martin.
One of the inspirations for starting the nonprofit was to have a vehicle that would allow us to generate and distribute resources to our community. We've been giving money away and experimenting with how to donate money to make a bigger impact for years, but we knew we needed a more formal framework to make it really work. And the nonprofit structure allows us to do this most effectively on a project by project basis.
That all said, one of the things we've learned is that we’re not very effective on our own. Just by ourselves. Where we seem to be most effective is when we choose other nonprofits to partner with that have a larger target and a larger reach. And so the funds that we've raised, we tend to donate to other nonprofits that have more expertise in getting the money where it needs to be.
Just a few of the important nonprofits we partner witn
The same goes for the services we donate. The Tiny Desks for Tiny Humans project was an example of us working with the Bellingham Public Schools foundation. A1DesignBuild built and delivered 65 desks and chairs to families in need during COVID – all free of charge. We also provided foldable wooden bed frames and built food pantries to serve district families in partnership with the BPS Family Resource Center.
It’s something we wanted to do. We were able to mobilize a whole bunch of volunteers and we could do that stuff pretty quickly and pretty cheaply and get it out to people within several weeks. Now, with the nonprofit, we can do that even more effectively.
It all starts with compassion. Having compassion is to respond to people as we would hope they would respond to us in our own time of need. So it's a way to model a little humility and concern, and really try to achieve a broader understanding of other people's struggles.
The beauty of that is, by helping others we help ourselves understand our own struggles along the way.
Our next big project is working with HomesNOW! here in Bellingham to build tiny houses, all right next door to us at 3310 Northwest Avenue. Putting roofs over people’s heads, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
So what we want people to do is just give a tiny bit of what they have. Just a tiny bit, like a dollar, like $5, like $50. And if enough people did that, the amount of resources we would have would just be galactic, right? If you start multiplying $1 and $2 and $5 by 5000 people here in our community, the amount of money that we can generate to do good stuff adds up really quickly.
All for less than a cup of coffee.
That way, we can help our neighborhood, our city, our county. And stay hyper-local and be hyper-effective.
We’re always trying to ask ourselves: So what kind of work are we doing that goes beyond ourselves and our clients and each other to help the larger community? We ask that everyday, because it’s a really good question. An important question. And one we need help finding the answer to.
Interested in learning more? Click on the Donate Here button to learn more about our HomesNOW! initiative.
Contact Us if You Want More Info or Want to Partner Up
For inquiries, partnerships, or more information on how to contribute, please contact us at A1andAll@a1designbuild.coop or visit us at our main office. We’re open to one and all.
Together, we can create a legacy of kindness and build a stronger, more resilient Bellingham and Whatcom County. Join us in making a difference—one project, one donation, one volunteer hour at a time. Thank you for being the change that drives our collective journey forward.