LIFT GARAGE
Safe Cars Secure Lives
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Lack of access to affordable transportation can be a significant barrier for people finding or keeping jobs, maintaining child car, attending school, keeping medical appointments and more. When a vehicle breaks down and people don't have the money to repair it this can begin a downward spiral into deeper poverty, despair and homelessness.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Automotive Repair Services
At The Lift Garage, we provide professional car repair at a 67% discount from market rate repair. We charge only $15/hr for labor, plus the cost of parts with no mark-up.
Free Pre-Purchase Inspections
When customers are looking to buy a "new" vehicle, we encourage them to bring it to our shop to look it over before they buy it. We look for any major issues and discuss with customers to help them invest in a car that will get them further down the road.
Basic Car Care Classes
Once a month we host a Basic Car Care Class, which teaches about vehicle components, car tips, and basic car maintenance. These classes are to make people more familiar with their car in order to maintain safety and security in their vehicle.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsAverage wage of clients served (in dollars)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Automotive Repair Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Automotive Repair Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Lift Garage is working to move people out of poverty by providing low cost car repair, free pre-purchase inspections and honest advice. We believe that safe cars lead to secure lives.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
All customers who qualify for our services pay $15/hour for labor (compared to $100/hr or more for market rate rent) and parts at cost without any mark up on the parts.
These prices allow customers to pay 25-30% of market rate for the same repair, allowing them to get back on the road to stability more quickly.
We also offer free pre-purchase inspections to customers whose cars may not be able to be repaired and need to procure a different one. We want to ensure that the limited money our customers have go to purchasing the most sound car they can for their money.
We offer free monthly car care classes to ensure that people have a good working knowledge of their vehicle's operations.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our founder and Executive Director is a trained automotive technician in addition to having a background in ministry and social work. We operate a full-service auto repair shop that offers many of the same services that a market rate shop offers. We have five full-time auto technicians, 2 service writers and support staff to ensure that we are providing top-quality auto repair and customer service.
We now have a solid history of successful fundraising with an individual donor base of over 1400 individuals in 2020, a 30% increase over the previous year. We've developed key partnerships in the community and have a solid media strategy.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since opening our doors in 2013, The Lift Garage has saved low income Minnesotans over $1,000,000 in car repair costs. We've completed thousands of repairs, offered our free classes to almost 500 people and have completed several hundred free pre-purchase inspections. Despite all of this, the demand for affordable car repair remains great. As of 2022 we are booked out about 6 weeks on average.
We know that this is a problem and despite a 97% growth rate since 2013 (average of 17.6%/year) we have not even come close to meeting the need that exists in our community for affordable vehicle repair. We continue to strategize about ways to meet this demand, not only considering expansion but also assessing efficiencies and other systematic changes that can be made.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
LIFT GARAGE
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Lynn Altmann
David Telep
Salo
Susan Milnar
Toro Companies
Tim Suggs
Turbo Tim's Anything Automotive
Lynn Altmann
Medica
Andrew Sveen
Stephanie Zahrbock
Ted Mandrovelis
Collins
Jonna Kosalko
Coldwell Banker
David Bipes
Zac Willette
Consultant
Jordan Simon
Polaris
David Stevens
Wells Fargo
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/18/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.