Interview with Caroline Pinal
Photos courtesy of Giveback Homes

Caroline Pinal, cofounder of the social-impact company Giveback Homes, discusses the organization’s work with real estate professionals to build homes for families around the globe.

How did you get started working in social impact?
Earlier in my career, I worked in the corporate world, but I quickly learned that it wasn’t the space for me. I started looking for a new job, and I ended up accepting a position at TOMS with their sales and retail marketing team. TOMS is the big shoe company that pioneered the one-for-one giving model, so it was a really rewarding and fulfilling role. When I was there, I met my current business partner and cofounder of Giveback Homes, Blake Andrews. After a few years, we decided to try and start something on our own, which led us to found Giveback Homes in 2013.

It’s a big shift from shoes to homes. What inspired it?
At the time, TOMS would send its employees on giving trips, where they’d go to different countries to distribute shoes, so each person could experience giving firsthand. Blake and I had the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua, and it ended up being a life-changing experience for numerous reasons.

While there, we witnessed the living conditions that many families were facing. There was a lot of extreme poverty, with many people living in structures that were made of scrap wood and scrap metal. Some families of six shared one mattress on a dirt floor, and every time it would rain, everything got soaked. Such conditions are just unimaginable for most of us.

At that time, Blake was in the process of buying a home for his family, so after we got back from that trip, he had the idea of trying to apply a similar giving concept to the real estate world. He wondered what we could do to make it super easy for real estate agents to give back and help build homes for people in need.

Since we knew nothing about the real estate sphere, we started by collaborating with Blake’s agent. He told us that agents are often bombarded with charities and other organizations looking for donations, but they never really get to see where the money goes or the impact it has. We created Giveback Homes with his help, and our first project sent us to Nicaragua to build a home for a family there. Blake’s agent was able to come with us to help and meet the family, so he saw exactly what his support went toward.

We came back and shared that story with many other people in the real estate industry, and the business just grew from there. A couple of years later, we started partnering with organizations in the United States as well to support affordable housing, so now we get to help both locally and internationally.

Describe the process of partnering with real estate professionals:
We created Giveback Homes to make it easy for anyone in the real estate industry—whether they’re an agent, broker, builder, etc.—to give back. A lot of times, people are hesitant or think it’s too hard or time-consuming, so it just ends up being the last thing on their to-do list. But for our organization, all they have to do to begin making a difference is become a member through our website.

Once enrolled, members get a digital tool kit as well as information on how to incorporate it into their branding, marketing, and business operations. We also reach out and assist each member in identifying what projects they want to support. Do they want to donate locally, internationally, or both? By getting an idea of what each person wants to achieve and what kind of impact they want to make with their donations, we can better work with them to help them meet those goals.

How many agents are you currently working with?
We work with thousands of individual agents as well as with entire companies and brokerages across the United States—they’ve helped us build over five hundred homes at this point. The Agency was one of the first real estate brokerages we partnered with; more recently, we’ve joined forces with Aaron Kirman and Cindy Ambuehl at Christie’s International Real Estate.

We also collaborate with companies like Concierge Auctions, which is a luxury real estate auction company. Every time they sell a home at auction, they build a home for a family in need in Central America. I’ve taken groups of their employees down to El Salvador and Nicaragua to engage in the process. It’s really inspiring to see a company invest so much in its impact and its people by providing these build trip opportunities to them.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs who are interested in giving back?
It’s important to support a cause you’re passionate about. You should take the time to figure out what your values are and what’s important to you so you can be strategic about donating your time and money. Look for a nonprofit or social-impact company that’s doing work within an area you’re interested in supporting, and start small by donating or volunteering yourself. It’s a good way to see how you feel and if you want to continue giving. If you then decide you want to make philanthropy a part of your business, go to your team and talk to them about it. You can make more donations and assess how it feels and works with your budget. If it ends up being something you want to do more regularly, consider getting in contact with the organization’s leadership team for more information on partnering with them on a larger scale.

How do you continue to feed the passion for what you’re doing at Giveback Homes?
It goes back to being able to bring people to places like El Salvador and Nicaragua. The agents we work with meet the families who they’re helping build homes for; they get to see the living conditions before, and then they’re there to hand over the keys after. It’s truly incredible getting to see the huge impact having a secure roof and hardwood floors has on families. The agents also get to stay in touch with the families, so they are forever changed because of it. Even on tough and challenging days, I just think about those moments, and that keeps me going. It’s hard to not be passionate about that sort of thing.

TAKE ACTION:
Identify a cause that’s important to you and your team, and determine how you can support a nonprofit or social-impact company working in that area.