The BCI FairBuilding Network

Annual Progress Report and Statement of Accounts

Fiscal Year 2014/2015

A PASSION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

BCI’s FairBuilding Initiative pursues a vision to end homelessness by ‘turbo-charging’ procurement
for bottom-of-pyramid construction projects. Building on the BCI project leads model FairBuilding
acts as a catalyst that makes construction more affordable for the poor. On its state-of-the-art online
platform the FairBuilding Network brings together social developers, both commercial and non-for-
profit, with members of the building industry that are willing to push their social agenda by
contributing products and services well under their normal retail terms. With every single project
brought to fruition on the FairBuilding Network a small step is taken towards overcoming poverty
and homelessness. By scaling up and enhancing the accessibility of the building market for the poor
FairBuilding is changing the lives of the most disadvantaged people in the emerging world.

INTRODUCTION
We are pleased to share with you our first Annual Progress Report and Statement of Accounts for
BCI Foundation’s main initiative, the FairBuilding Network. And we are proud to note that we have
come a long way since the inception of the FairBuilding concept in 2013, and the formal launch of
the first FairBuilding Network in the Philippines in June 2014.

The driving motivation of our concept has certainly not changed: one of the most urgent and
prevalent infrastructure deficiencies in the developing world is housing. In the Philippines alone 22.8
million people - 25% of the country’s population live in slums or informal settlements. The
combination of widespread informal housing and the frequency and severity of natural disasters
makes human catastrophes a regular occurrence. In 2013, the category 5 super typhoon Haiyan
(Yolanda) devastated the Philippines, taking the lives of over 6000 people. The economic damage
was estimated at USD $14 billion. Human suffering was unfathomable. Millions lost their homes. The
rebuilding process is expected to take many years. Government funding and planning is not enough
to tackle these great challenges. Action is needed on many different levels of society. Together we
can rise to this challenge.
THE FAIRBUILDING JOURNEY – THE FIRST SPRINT
Positioned as a largescale innovative CSR initiative of BCI Media Group we started FairBuilding with
soaring goals and ambitious plans. It lies in the nature of such an undertaking that the project
incurred some early wins, some small breakthroughs but also road blocks and some setbacks.

From the outset we set up FairBuilding as a platform that would naturally attract willing buyers and
willing sellers and cause them to transact, ultimately aiding the main beneficiaries of the Network:
the poor whose construction projects were not attracting adequate attentions by the supply side of
the building market. By bundling and scaling up market demand from social developers (e.g. NGOs
such as Habitat for Humanity), we were hoping to attract socially sensitive suppliers willing to
provide discounted or free materials or labour for social projects.

As a first step we established the software solution: an online platform –the FairBuilding website –
that enables the communication and interaction between the different construction market players.
The backbone of the platform is a growing repository of social building projects that essentially
mirrors the BCI project leads database. Similar to BCI’s commercial project leads service the
database is accessible to building material manufacturers and suppliers, contractors, subcontractors,
engineers and designers, with one main difference: in contrast to the commercial BCI service, access
to the database is free.

The platform was launched in June 2014 at a highly visible launch event in Makati, with more than
100 invited guests in attendance. While the day marked a significant milestone on our FairBuilding
journey, it was only the start of our efforts to actually bring FairBuilding to life.

Our initial thrust was to populate the FairBuilding project database with social projects organised
and funded by NGOs. To that end we signed Memoranda of Understanding with eleven highly
reputable organisations whose projects we uploaded onto the FairBuilding Network (FBN) database.
At time of this writing these organisations have listed (and are promoting to the industry) 95
projects on the FairBuilding Network. These projects represent an estimated housing supply for
approx. 56,373 underprivileged families.

In order to avail the social developers of a broad array of suppliers providing discounted products
and services we invited 273 building industry players (called “FairBuilding Partners”) onto the FBN
platform. By listing themselves as FairBuilding Partners these firms have identified themselves as
being interested in working with NGOs on social projects and have indicated their willingness to
stretch their economic possibilities to help projects off the ground.

THE FAIRBUILDING JOURNEY – HURDLES AND INSIGHTS

So far, so good. Unfortunately, when the website went live, the FairBuilding engine failed to ignite.
Fairbuilding developers and partners were brought together but failed to do business. A detailed
analysis produced unexpected hurdles:

 Sellers’ market conditions in the Philippines dampened suppliers’ interest in NGO-organised

projects, as there was enough demand for their mainstream business.
  We picked up an undercurrent of lacking trust between social developers and suppliers –
causing the latter to refuse meaningful discounts or payment terms.
 Suppliers recognised the PR value of working with NGOs but didn’t see their projects as a
meaningful source of business.
 NGOs often needed products in remote areas where logistical issues stood in the way of
transactions.
 NGOs on occasion had their own established sourcing channels that stood in the way of
‘special deals’ with FairBuilding Partners

In summary, the incentive to transact was insufficient in the original open platform concept of
FairBuilding. To better understand the hurdles and barriers both from the perspective of the NGOs
as well as the construction companies FairBuilding initiated a two day Engagement Forum in June
2015. The workshops helped us refocus and develop a qualitative approach that recognised mutual
trust and commitment as the key foundation for an effective exchange between NGOs and industry
partners on the FBN platform. As a result we have begun to place more emphasis on establishing
relationships with and between individual NGOs and industry partners. We do so by strategically
creating an atmosphere of trust between the different partners based on a mutual understanding of
the aims and intentions the FairBuilding Network.

THE FAIRBUILDING JOURNEY – ONWARD AND UPWARD

Ultimately this new focus has contributed to the first exciting success stories of the FairBuilding
Network, which bode well for the future. Specifically we introduced the following tools and
activities:

 Accreditation: we encourage FairBuilding Partners to become ‘accredited’. By signing a

formal “Letter of Commitment” an accredited partner undertakes to grant specific discounts
(typically 20%) when supplying goods and services to FairBuilding projects. This makes the
supplier stand out as ‘committed to doing good’, and allows the NGO to zero in on preferred
partners when sourcing suppliers. – To-date FairBuilding boasts 23 accredited partners.
 NGO-specific workshops: we organise meetings between NGOs and accredited partners.
This allows the NGO to articulate specific needs associated with projects, and suppliers can
gauge if they wish to get involved and ‘do well by doing good’. We have organised three
workshops so far, in July 2015, October 2015, and February 2016.
 Project-specific ‘Speed-dating’ events: we organise small ‘intimate’ meetings between
NGOs and individual suppliers designed to introduce suppliers to specific project
opportunities. There have been 5 speed-dating events so far between September 2015 and
March 2016.
FAIRBUILDING IMPACT REVIEW

Between October 2015 and February 2016 the following nine (9) transactions were effected over the
FairBuilding platform, leading to tangible positive impact for the poor benefiting from the projects
that were thus completed either faster or less expensive:

Date NGO Supplier/Contractor Project Details

Oct 2015 Virlanie Boysen Masaya Homes 20% discount

Refurbishment

Oct 2015 Virlanie Phinma Babies and 10,000 php

Toddlers Home donation
(BTH)
Refurbishment

Oct 2015 Virlanie Floor Center Aime Home 200 pcs tiles
Refurbishment donation

Oct 2015 Habitat for Philips Habitat for 9,051 pcs light
Humanity Humanity ReStore bulbs were
Warehouse donated

Nov 2015 Base-Bahay Ambassador Construction of 21 20% discount

International, Inc. Duplex Homes on plumbing
supplies

Jan 2016 Virlanie Lexiar Handyman  BTH 15% discount

Refurbishment on total
 Warehouse packages
Construction

Feb 2016 Virlanie Boysen  BTH 20% discount

Refurbishment
 Warehouse
Construction
FAIRBUILDING PARTNERSHIPS AND RELATIONSHIPS
Between June 2014 and June 2015 we established relationships with the 20 organisations. We wish
to thank our esteemed Sponsors: Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc., Interface, Cemex, Kinski &
Bourke and Phinma Properties for their generous support.

GOVERNANCE - PROJECT TEAM AND ROLES

Our small but dedicated FairBuilding team consists of six people, headed by Matthias Krups, Founder
of BCI Foundation and FairBuilding Network.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2014/2015
The FairBuilding Network is managed and funded by the BCI Foundation Limited, an Australian
charitable non-for-profit organisation funded by BCI Media group PTY Ltd. The Directors of BCI
Foundation have approved the financial statements of BCI Foundation, comprising the balance sheet
as at 30 June 2015, the statement of comprehensive income and the statement of changes in equity
for the fiscal year.

The following overview summarises the source and use of income for the year:

Income
Income from main sponsor (BCI) $42,500
Income from other sponsors $25,500
Total Income $68,000

Expenditure
Expenses from continuing operations:
- Funds for projects $5,000
- FairBuilding administration and staff $45,500
- Launch event $10,000
- Website and database development $7,500
Total Expenditure $68,000
Total profit (-loss) for the year -
Other income (loss) -
Total Comprehensive Income/ (Loss) for the year -

A BIG ‘THANK YOU’ TO ALL STAKEHOLDERS OF FAIRBUILDING!

You helped to create an enabling atmosphere
for ‘construction with a conscience’

You sponsored projects and actions that support

families and children in need

You backed our activities that will enable more

support for projects in the future
Our terrific team of BCI Media Group living its socially progressive values !