Home Safe Neighbors

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Executive Summary

Home Safe Neighbors is a nonprofit in Georgia that helps older adults with low incomes stay safely in their own homes. Our trained repair technician and volunteers install grab bars, handrails, brighter lighting and simple ramps, and we pay licensed contractors for larger repairs. Before any work begins, an occupational therapist reviews the home and helps us choose changes that fit the person who lives there.

Most older adults want to stay at home. A fall can change everything. A loose rail, a dark hallway or a slippery tub can be the start of a long hospital stay or a move out of a home someone has lived in for decades. Many older homeowners live on fixed incomes and cannot pay for even small repairs. Others do not know who to trust to come into their home.

With this grant we will make safety repairs in about 90 homes in Year 1. Every home gets a safety visit, and each repair is written down, explained to the homeowner and checked after it is done. We do not promise that a repair will prevent a fall. We promise careful work, fair treatment and a follow-up visit.

Our Year 1 budget is about $245,000, growing to about $322,000 by Year 5 as we add a second technician and reach more homes. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 3 full-time staff in Year 1 and 4 by Year 3.

We are asking the Peach State Aging Foundation for $70,000 for our Program Coordinator and for repair materials such as grab bars, railings and ramp parts, for July 2027 through June 2028. The area agency on aging, health systems, businesses and neighbors also give, so this grant is one part of a shared funding plan.

I am Lillian Hayes, the Executive Director. The numbers in this proposal are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end, not promises.

Company Description

Home Safe Neighbors is a nonprofit organization in Georgia. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. Every older adult should be able to live safely in their own home, whatever their income.

What we do.
- Visit the homes of older adults and people with disabilities who have low incomes, with an occupational therapist who reviews the home and recommends changes.
- Install grab bars, handrails, lighting, non-slip surfaces and simple ramps using our own trained technician and volunteer teams.
- Pay licensed contractors directly for larger repairs that need a license, such as electrical or plumbing work.
- Follow up after each repair to make sure it works and the homeowner is satisfied.
- Connect homeowners to other help, such as meals, transportation and health services.

What we do not do. We do not give medical advice, and we do not replace a doctor or therapist. We do not take on repairs that require a license we do not hold. We do not give cash to homeowners. We do not work on a home without the homeowner's written permission, and we do not take any payment or gift from the person we serve.

How we got here. A group of retired tradespeople, nurses and neighbors began fixing grab bars and rails for friends and neighbors. The requests grew faster than we could handle, and we kept a list of who we visited, what we did and what people told us. This proposal asks for support to turn a volunteer effort into a program with a coordinator, a paid repair technician and a steady supply of materials.

Nonprofit status. Our 501(c)(3) determination letter and board list are in the attachments. If your own organization is new, the funding section includes a note about using a fiscal sponsor.

Problem & Opportunity

Older adults want to stay in their homes. Many of those homes were not built for the changes that come with age. A tub with a high edge, stairs without rails, a dark hallway or a doorway too narrow for a walker can make a familiar house dangerous.

Falls are a common reason older adults lose independence. A fall can mean a hospital stay, a long recovery and sometimes a move out of the home. Many of the changes that make a home safer are small and affordable. For older adults on a fixed income, even small repairs can be out of reach.

What gets in the way.
- Cost. A grab bar, a handrail or a ramp can cost more than a month of income.
- Trust. Older adults are targeted by dishonest sellers. Many are afraid to let a stranger into their home.
- Knowing what to do. People do not know what to ask for or who to call. They do not know that an occupational therapist can help.
- Finding someone to do small jobs. Many contractors avoid them.
- Time. After a fall or a hospital stay, changes are needed fast.

What we hear.
- A woman in her eighties says she holds on to the kitchen counter to reach her bathroom.
- A veteran says he has been meaning to put a rail on his back steps for two years and cannot afford it.
- A daughter says she lives far away and worries every day.

We do not claim that a few repairs will prevent every fall. We believe that practical, careful help can make a home safer and give older adults and their families more confidence, and that a small program run well can do real good.

Products & Services

Home Safe Neighbors makes safety repairs through a careful process that treats each home and each person with respect.

How the program works.
1. Referral and request. Homeowners contact us directly or through senior centers, clinics, home health agencies, congregations and the area agency on aging. We confirm that the homeowner meets our income guidelines, which our board sets and reviews each year.
2. Safety visit. Our coordinator and a contracted occupational therapist visit the home with the homeowner and, if the homeowner wishes, a family member. They look at bathrooms, entrances, stairs, lighting and floors and make a written list of recommended changes in order of importance.
3. Plan and permission. We explain each recommended change, answer questions and ask for the homeowner's written permission before any work begins.
4. Repairs. Our technician and trained volunteers install grab bars, handrails, lighting and simple ramps. When a repair requires a license, we pay a licensed contractor directly.
5. Follow-up. After the repair we check that it works as intended. We call a month later and visit again if something needs adjustment.

Safety and respect. Our technician and every volunteer pass a background check and wear identification. Two people work in each home when the work is extensive, and we never ask for money or gifts. Homeowners decide what they want. We explain the options and respect their choices.

Fair priorities. We start with the changes most likely to reduce risk, such as grab bars, rails and lighting. We save larger projects for when funds allow.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that a repair will prevent a fall. We do not promise that we can fix every problem in a home. We promise careful work, honest communication and follow-up.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Older adults ages 60 and over and adults with disabilities who own or rent their homes, have low incomes and want to stay in their homes safely. Eligibility is based on income guidelines our board sets, and we serve renters with the landlord's permission.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every home in need, so we plan from what we can see. In our volunteer effort so far we received more requests than we could fill and kept a waiting list. The area agency on aging and local senior centers tell us they hear from older adults every week who need a repair they cannot afford. For Year 1 we plan to repair about 90 homes. By Year 5, with a second technician and more volunteers, we plan to repair about 220 homes a year.

Where homeowners come from.
- Senior centers, meal programs and area agencies.
- Clinics, hospital discharge planners and home health agencies.
- Congregations, neighborhood associations and libraries.
- Family members who live far away and call on behalf of a parent.
- Neighbors who tell neighbors.

Who else benefits. Families benefit from peace of mind. Health systems benefit when fewer patients return after a fall. Neighborhoods benefit when older residents can stay.

What the numbers mean. Each home is a person. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can do this work carefully.

Competitive Landscape

What exists today, and how we are different.

1. Private contractors and handymen. They can do the work. Many homeowners with low incomes cannot afford them, and some are wary of letting a stranger in. We do not compete with private contractors and refer families who can pay.

2. Government programs. Some programs pay for home repairs for older adults, and they can be very helpful. Eligibility, waiting lists and the kinds of repairs they cover vary. We tell homeowners about these programs and help them apply, and we fill gaps while they wait.

3. Other nonprofits and volunteer repair groups. Some groups repair homes once a year in large events. We work with them and focus on small, safety-focused repairs and follow-up all year.

4. Home health agencies and therapists. They recommend changes and do not usually install them. We work with them to put recommendations into action.

5. Doing without. Many homeowners go on without a needed repair because they cannot afford it.

What makes us different.
- A paid technician and trained volunteers who come back for follow-up.
- A therapist's review of each home before work begins.
- Direct payment to licensed contractors when a license is needed.
- A focus on small, high-value safety repairs.
- A clear process that treats homeowners with respect.

We have spoken with other repair programs and agencies to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How homeowners and volunteers will find us.

Reaching homeowners.
- Referral partners. We will meet with senior centers, meal programs, area agencies, clinics, hospital discharge planners and home health agencies. We give each partner a one-page referral form and a named contact.
- Community places. We will leave large-print flyers and a phone number at libraries, congregations, pharmacies and neighborhood centers.
- Home safety talks. Free talks at senior centers on the most common hazards and what to do about them.
- Word of mouth. Many homeowners will hear from a friend. We thank them and never pressure anyone.
- A simple website and phone line, with large print and text options.

Reaching volunteers.
- Invite retired tradespeople, veterans and congregations to volunteer.
- Offer a short orientation, a background check and safety training.
- Give each volunteer clear roles and thank them regularly.

How we decide who we serve. We use a simple application and review requests in the order received. We prioritize homeowners who have fallen recently, have been discharged from the hospital or have a documented mobility need, and we keep a waiting list when funds are used.

Keeping partners informed.
- A short quarterly update with counts of homes repaired and what homeowners said.
- A yearly gathering to thank volunteers, partners and homeowners.

What we watch. Requests, homes repaired, time from request to repair and homeowner feedback. We use that to decide where to focus.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the Program Coordinator and Home Repair Technician, buy the van and tools, finalize the homeowner agreement and privacy policy with our attorney and sign partner agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Begin safety visits and repairs.
- Months 4 to 10: Complete visits and repairs, hold volunteer build days and follow up on each home.
- Months 11 and 12: Survey homeowners and partners, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. We work from a small shared office and a storage space for materials, with a van for the technician.

Equipment. We buy about $30,500 of equipment once at the start: a used work van with shelving ($18,000), power tools, levels and installation tools ($10,000) and a laptop and tablet ($2,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Coordinator, paid $42,000 a year, schedules visits, manages volunteers and works with partners. The Home Repair Technician, paid $40,000 a year, leads repairs. We add a second technician in Year 3.

Safety and privacy.
- The technician and every volunteer pass a background check and wear identification.
- Volunteers work under the technician's direction, and work at heights follows safety rules.
- We install grab bars into solid framing and test each one.
- We keep homeowner information in a secure system, share it only with permission and follow the privacy rules that apply.
- Our written safety plan names 911 for emergencies.
- We never ask for money or gifts and never give cash to homeowners.

Payments. Repair materials are about $40,000 in Year 1, licensed contractor payments about $28,000, occupational therapy home assessments about $9,000, vehicle and mileage about $7,000 and administration and insurance about $12,000.

Evaluation. We count homes visited, repairs completed, time from request to repair and follow-up visits. We ask each homeowner whether they feel safer and whether we treated them with respect. We share results with our board and funders twice a year.

Management & Organization

Lillian Hayes, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I spent years working with older adults and saw how many falls could have been prevented with a simple change. I will learn the licensing and safety rules that apply to our repairs and stay in close contact with our insurer and partners.

Program Coordinator. The coordinator schedules safety visits, manages volunteers, tracks repairs and works with partners. We will hire someone with experience in senior services or home repair programs and strong organizational skills. Paid $42,000 a year, this position is part of our grant request.

Home Repair Technician. A skilled tradesperson who leads repairs, trains volunteers and checks each job. We will hire someone with several years of experience in carpentry or general repair, and paid $40,000 a year.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a retired contractor, an occupational therapist, a nurse, a senior center director, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney and a homeowner we have served. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and reviews our safety plan. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. Representatives from the area agency on aging, a health system and a faith community give guidance twice a year.

Why we can do this. We have run a volunteer repair effort with a waiting list, built relationships with partners and written a clear safety plan. We are starting small and growing as we show we can serve homeowners well.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Make safety repairs in about 90 homes.
- Complete a safety visit with an occupational therapist for every home before work begins.
- Complete repairs within 30 days of the visit for at least 80 percent of homes.
- Follow up with every homeowner within 30 days of the repair.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 90 percent of homeowners who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Requests, visits and repairs completed, from our records.
- Time from request to repair.
- Homeowner feedback, from a short, confidential form.
- Partner feedback, collected twice a year.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 110 homes.
- Year 3: About 150 homes and a second technician.
- Year 4: About 185 homes.
- Year 5: About 220 homes.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the coordinator and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are behind, we will adjust our outreach, our volunteer schedule or our repair priorities before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 54 percent of our budget, down from about 62 percent in Year 1, as the area agency on aging, health systems and individual donors give more. We will also look for local and state programs that fund home repair for older adults and follow their rules before counting on them.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $70,000 from the Peach State Aging Foundation for a Program Coordinator and repair materials such as grab bars, railings and ramp parts, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Coordinator salary, $42,000.
- Supplies: Repair materials such as grab bars, railings and ramp parts, $28,000 (other funds add $20,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 46% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $245,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $8,900 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grants $152,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for), area Agency on Aging and Health Partners $58,000; individual and Business Donations $35,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $52,000; program Coordinator $42,000; home Repair Technician $40,000; repair Materials (grab bars, railings and ramp parts) about $40,000; licensed Contractor Payments for Larger Repairs about $28,000; occupational Therapy Home Assessments about $9,000; vehicle and Mileage about $7,000; administration and Insurance about $12,000; about $8,900 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $45,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $18,000 for used work van with shelving; $10,000 for power tools, levels and installation tools; $2,500 for laptop and tablet for home assessments and records; $6,000 for opening stock of grab bars, railings, ramp parts and fasteners; $2,800 for attorney review of the homeowner agreement, liability waiver and privacy policy; $2,000 for van lettering, flyers and a simple website; $4,200 for background checks for the first staff and volunteers and first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($45,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $57,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $103,000. We start with $20,000 from our founding board and $85,000 in startup support from a local community foundation, a health system partner and individual donors, $105,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $245,000 in Year 1 to about $322,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $152,000, $156,000, $170,000, $172,000 and $174,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: area Agency on Aging and Health Partners from $58,000 to $96,000; individual and Business Donations from $35,000 to $52,000. Our surplus is planned at about $8,900 in Year 1, about $15,700 in Year 2, about $17,900 in Year 3, about $17,900 in Year 4 and about $18,400 in Year 5. We add a second repair technician in Year 3 as the number of homes grows.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $79,700, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $9,800 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per home. In Year 1, our total costs are about $2,700 per home served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more homes served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $1,400 per home.

After the grant. The area agency on aging, health systems, businesses and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Homeowners and volunteers share their stories, and businesses and congregations can sponsor a build day or a set of repairs by name. We will look for local and state programs that fund home repair for older adults and follow their rules before counting on them.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- An injury during a repair. Training, protective gear, supervision, insurance and a written safety plan.
- A repair is done badly. The technician checks each job and we follow up with every homeowner.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every staff member and volunteer.
- Demand grows faster than funds. We use a waiting list and prioritize homes at highest risk.
- A technician leaves. We train volunteers on common repairs and keep a list of licensed contractors.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of participants and a small team, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from the area agency on aging, senior centers and health partners.
- Your homeowner agreement, liability waiver and privacy policy.
- Your income guidelines and application form.
- Your safety plan, volunteer training plan and background check policy.
- A sample safety visit checklist.
- Quotes for equipment and materials.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $152,000 in Year 1, growing to $174,000 in Year 5.
- Area Agency on Aging and Health Partners: $58,000 in Year 1, growing to $96,000 in Year 5.
- Individual and Business Donations: $35,000 in Year 1, growing to $52,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $52,000; program Coordinator $42,000; home Repair Technician $40,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: repair Materials (grab bars, railings and ramp parts) $40,000; licensed Contractor Payments for Larger Repairs $28,000; occupational Therapy Home Assessments $9,000; vehicle and Mileage $7,000; administration and Insurance $12,000. These grow between 4% and 7% a year.
- Equipment: $30,500 at the start, then $3,000 to $4,000 a year.
- Startup costs: $45,500, paid once from $105,000 in startup money.
- Homes repaired: about 90 in Year 1, growing to about 220 in Year 5.
- Each home receives a safety visit with an occupational therapist before work begins and a follow-up visit afterward.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs