United for Global Impact: New Build Change Brand, New Website, Same Mission

 

We have the same values. We have the same team. We have the same mission. And we are united for global impact.

As we embark on the next decade of impact at Build Change, I am so inspired by the members of our global team who have contributed their voices to deliver this important message.

But you may be wondering, if so much is staying the same, why are we getting a new logo and website?

Since I walked down Nob Hill in San Francisco to file the Articles of Incorporation for Build Change on September 2, 2004, many things have changed.

Policy advancements have brought resilience into the center of global conversations about safe, affordable housing. Access to financing has expanded through partnerships with microfinance institutions. Engineering and technology innovations have enabled resilient housing programs to scale while keeping homeowners at the center of decision making.

Much has stayed the same. Women continue to lead the charge for resilient housing. They are fierce stewards of their family’s safety, and forces for change everywhere in Build Change’s work, from leadership positions, to Board members, to government partners, to engineers and coders, to responsible borrowers and successful business owners.

So my optimism for the future is rooted in deep pride that the vision I had for Build Change twenty years ago — every home is disaster resilient — has grown into a global movement across sectors, and is ultimately achievable.

Yet there is way more work to do to overcome barriers to systems change – people, policy, finance, and technology – that are exacerbated by earthquakes and windstorms. With support from our donors and partners, we are committed to tackling them over the next twenty years and beyond with renewed energy, fresh ideas, and a stunning new logo and website.

Our new logo renews our commitment to better, stronger housing for everyone.

And our new website helps make it possible. The Build Change team is united globally under our brand, and responsive locally as we fulfill our mission: to greatly reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses caused by housing and school collapses due to earthquakes, extreme weather, and fires.

We welcome the opportunity to contribute our expertise to policies and projects increasing housing resilience. To facilitate this, our new website puts the spotlight on women, features data-driven resources and a gateway to our technology platform (BCtap), all based on two decades of evolution and experience, to help scale resilient housing programs. Here are a few of the many new features on our website:

• Shifting Power to Women: Build Change is a women-led social innovator that lives and breathes gender equity.  Women are a force for change in the housing sector; read their stories and take a look at Build Change’s industry-leading stats.
• What We Do: Build Change transforms the systems for regulating, financing, building, and improving houses around the world.  Learn about our Theory of Change and how we overcome the major barriers to the widespread adoption of resilient housing: People/Policy, Money, and Technology.
• Country Program Summaries: See stunning images of the places where Build Change works and read updates from Colombia, Indonesia, Türkiye and beyond.  You can also find testimonials from the families around the world whose homes are now disaster resilient, thanks to your partnership.
• New, User-Friendly Resource Library: Find drawings, manuals, videos, and more for disaster-resilient housing. And download Build Change’s trio of industry-leading resources on upgrading existing housing: The Build Change Guide to Resilient Housing, The Cost of Improving Vulnerable Housing, and Saving Embodied Carbon through Strengthening Existing Housing.
• New Searchable Project Database: 20 Years. 30+ Countries. 200+ Projects. Over 230,000 safer buildings, including housing and schools, both new and retrofitted. Check out our featured projects, or search our catalog by country, building type, or context.
• Comprehensive Impact Database: Our most important impact metric is the number of people living in safer houses and learning in safer schools (1.1+ million). Our new website also shares how we measure this through the lenses of water and sanitation improvements (150,000), the value of assets protected from loss ($4.7B), land saved through adding second story housing units (14 hectares and counting), and more.
• Partners: All of this impact is made possible through the support and partnership of dozens of organizations like you.
• Gateway to BCtap:  BCtap is an end-to-end technical assistance platform that pairs technology with subject matter expertise to take resilient housing programs to scale.
• Can’t find what you’re looking for?  Find a link that doesn’t work?  Need to update your logo? Just want to say hello? Contact Us.

In collaboration with board members, individual donors, corporate partners, institutional clients, government leaders, and policy influencers, Build Change works every day to protect lives and livelihoods worldwide. You, too, can help build resilient communities and safe homes around the world by funding and partnering with us.

Please join us on the journey to resilient housing for everyone.