PLATINUM2023

SELF HELP ENTERPRISES

Visalia, CA   |  www.selfhelpenterprises.org

Mission

Working together with low income families to build and sustain healthy homes and communities.

Ruling year info

1965

President/CEO

Tom Collishaw

Main address

PO Box 6520

Visalia, CA 93290 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

94-1592676

NTEE code info

Housing Development, Construction, Management (L20)

Disaster Preparedness and Relief Services (M20)

Housing Search Assistance (L30)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Register now

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

The problem we focus on is safe, affordable housing for low-income families. Originally this was for farmworker families in the Central San Joaquin Valley which is a rich agricultural region of the State of California. The SHE mission statement reads" Working together with low-income families to build and sustain healthy homes and communities."

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Mutual Self-Help Housing

Self-Help Enterprises can make the dream of becoming a homeowner a reality for low-income families in the San Joaquin Valley. Through our program, eight to twelve families are grouped together and agree to help each other build their houses with skilled onsite supervision and guidance of Self-Help Enterprises construction staff.

The homes are built under the mutual self-help method of construction where each family is required to contribute a minimum of 40 hours a week working on all the homes for a period of 9 to 12 months. Family hours can be provided by the owners-to-be, any household member 16 years of age or older and approved helpers. Together, families pour foundations, frame homes, install electrical wiring, hang doors and windows and even lay tile and paint.

These labor hours, or “sweat equity”, are used as the down payment on their new home, reducing costs for a new home they could otherwise not afford. Self-Help Enterprises also assists each applicant with securing the loans needed to build their home. Special financing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State of California makes these homes affordable.

Participants choose from three and four bedroom floor plans, which include a dishwasher and range, two car garages, landscaped front yard, and energy-efficient features.

What makes the program so successful is that the participating families not only work on their own home, but everyone works on every house in the building group and no one moves in until all houses are completed, creating a community bond.

Self-Help Enterprises does more than work with families to build a new, safe place to call home. Families are witnesses to the results of hard work and personal investment. Their homes stand as living proof that they and their children can shape their own futures.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of housing units built

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Mutual Self-Help Housing

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Units are new, single-family mutual self help homes and new rental housing units.

Total number of counseling sessions performed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Economically disadvantaged people

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Homeownership counseling and education.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

See the mission statement above. We strive for safe, healthy and affordable homes for all low-income families in our service area.

Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) mission for the last 50+ years has been low-income housing. SHE was the initial organization to focus on self-help mutual housing where families work on their own homes in addition to their neighbors homes to build community as well as contributing their "sweat equity" to the down payment of their financing. SHE has helped build over 6,200 homes for low income families in this program.

Since initially becoming a non-profit in 1965, SHE has also focused on affordable low income apartment complexes through acquisition and rehabilitation of existing complexes or the development of new sites that are all under a 55 year commitment to affordability. We currently have 1,458 units over 31 sites in seven counties.

A focus over the last thirty+ years has been the rehabilitation of single family homes in collaboration with various cities within our eight county area of operations. To date we have rehabilitated 6,600 homes.

SHE has also worked in community development around water and sewer issues in many small communities in our service area.

With almost 150 employees working in the various departments of the organization SHE has developed expertise in the many areas we address in the mission statement. SHE was the initial self-help business model back in the 1965 days of the initial organization. Since then we have continued to develop programs and expertise to address many issues in low-income communities and help them to develop needed leadership to address their specific needs.

SHE has accomplished much since our inception in 1965 and is poised to have an even greater impact through our real estate development and self-help mutual homes program. Above we noted various levels of accomplishment in different areas of our strategic plan.

Financials

SELF HELP ENTERPRISES
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.

Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

SELF HELP ENTERPRISES

Board of directors
as of 08/02/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Martha Renteria


Board co-chair

Yolanda Meraz

Olivia Gomez

Kayode Kadara

Lupe Martinez

Yolanda Meraz

Martha Renteria

Dolores Salgado

Susan Zachary-Kreps

Tim Denton

Tina Sumner

Mike Carnes

Harold Liles

Steve Montes

Gary Rodriguez

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/2/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 08/02/2023

GuideStar 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

Data
  • 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 disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • 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.