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Accent Homes, Inc. has been chosen as the build partner for a new home to be built in the City of Ramsey for a <br />severely injured veteran, Army SPC Marco Solt. Marco lost both legs from an enemy improvised explosive device <br />(IED) blast. This home will be provided to the Solt family at no cost through donations of labor and materials and <br />volunteers, as well as funding through the HFOT organization. Accent Homes will donate all contractor fees and <br />supervision costs as well. <br />Staff did research the organization for any potential issues, and did find any concerns regarding the Homes for Our <br />Troops (HFOT) organization, and two charity rating organizations that gave HFOT a top rated review. <br />CharityWatch, Charity Navigator, and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance appear to be the three most commonly <br />referenced charity -rating services. HFOT looks to have received positive reviews across all of these rating <br />organizations below. A summary of the reviews are below: <br />Charity Navigator looks mainly at financial performance metrics and accountability & transparency <br />performance metrics and gave HFOT a 100% rating on Transparency & Accountability and a 96.68% <br />financial rating. <br />CharityWatch is also known as the American Institute of Philanthropy and gave HFOT an 'A' rating (on a <br />scale of F to A+) which is considered a top -rating. Groups included on the Top -Rated list generally spend <br />75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not hold <br />excessive assets in reserve, and receive "open -book" status for disclosure of basic financial information and <br />documents to CharityWatch. <br />The BBB's Wise Giving Aliance also passed HFOT in all 20 of its standards for charity accountability. <br />GuideStar gave HFOT an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars. <br />Funding Source: <br />Staff is evaluating potential funding sources and will discuss a recommendation at the meeting. Potential funding <br />sources include the Anoka County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Fund, the Council Contingency <br />Fund, or the EDA Fund. Total costs of the Permit (including State Surcharges) is estimated at approximately $4,000. <br />Recommendation: <br />Staff is evaluating potential funding sources and will discuss a recommendation at the meeting. <br />Action: <br />Motion to recommend/not recommend that the City Council donate funds related to the necessary Building Permit <br />for a new single-family home proposed by Homes for Our Troops. <br />Attachments <br />No file(s) attached. <br />Form Review <br />Inbox Reviewed By Date <br />Patrick Brama Patrick Brama 12/06/2014 09:34 AM <br />Kurt Ulrich Kurt Ulrich 12/08/2014 09:43 AM <br />Form Started By: Tim Gladhill Started On: 12/03/2014 04:14 PM <br />Final Approval Date: 12/08/2014 <br />