When I first started thinking about launching a non-profit, I didn’t think it would be easy. However, having already mastered being a Cardiac Nurse, Real Estate broker, and being a Single Parent (of 2 wonderful daughters) it seemed very doable. How hard could it be? I was confident. I thought to myself: I can handle this.
I will share with you in this post the journey of planning, starting, and leading the Housing Consultants Group (Greensboro NC).
When did I start thinking in earnest about launching a non-profit?
It started as a thought after a meeting with a friend in 2002. She was a Lender for the Self Help Credit Union in Greensboro NC. She was telling me what a great year she was having. She told me that she had closed 50 loans after talking to 300 potential homebuyers. I wondered to myself: What happened to the rest?
- When I asked her what happened to the other 250 clients, she pointed to a box in the corner with their initial intake information. That’s when the light bulb went on in my mind. That’s when I began thinking: In all my years as a Realtor, I’d never closed on 50 homes in a year.
- As a real estate agent for 9 years at that time, my target market was always first-time Homebuyers.
Frankly, my love for educating first-time homebuyers had always superseded my desire to just sell someone a home. While they might seem very different at first glance, my work in nursing and real estate both involved educating people. My first job out of college was as a Critical Care Nurse at Moses Cone Hospital (Greensboro NC). Eventually, I found my love for education and nursing as a Cardiac Nurse (High Point NC). I feel that educating homeowners isn’t all that different from educating cardiac patients before and after surgery. Education is education. I have always operated in the “teach a man to fish” mindset.
So, as I reflected on that box (of loan paperwork) in the corner of my friend’s office, I came to a life-changing realization:
- I could help educate 250 families a year. I knew I would enjoy running a non-profit, housing organization a lot more than being in the “rat race” of real estate sales. It’s that simple. Guess what? Even if you win a rat race, you’re still a rat, right? I knew then what I wanted to do. The seed for the journey ahead had been planted.
- In the two years after that 2002 meeting, I did my due diligence and planning. I came to believe I could successfully run a non-profit organization which catered to the needs of home-owning or home-buying families in the Greensboro NC area.
Who am I? I live, work, and worship in the Greensboro NC area. Raised in the suburbs of New York City (Long Island), I received my bachelor degree in Nursing from the University of NC at Chapel Hill. When I graduated from college, I chose to stay in the South.
The journey
My journey started as a leap of faith and is now my passion! Seeing that box in the corner of my friend’s office moved me to think ‘out of the box’ – and launch, manage, and grow the non-profit organization I lead today. I am the Executive Director and Founder of Housing Consultants Group (HCG). Formerly known as Guilford County Homeownership Center, HCG has been serving the Triad area (in Central NC) since 2004. I have a great team of employees, contractors, and Board members that have allowed me to grow HCG to what it is today. This was not a one-woman journey.
- HCG has successfully assisted over 5,000 clients with first-time homebuyer workshops, financial capability courses and foreclosure and loss mitigation services, saving $41.8 million worth of properties. We’ve conducted 245 homebuyer workshops since 2010.
- On the occasion of the 10 year anniversary (2014), we celebrated the milestone and announced the name change of the organization. The prior year, by the way, we’d moved to a larger location in Greensboro NC. The fruits of the success of the 501 (c) 3 I launched two years after that ‘box in the corner’ epiphany described above was rapid growth – and the challenges that go with it.
Again, my journey started as a leap of faith.
The non-profit I lead is passionate about helping people as they navigate through the many stages of homeownership. My team helps families obtain, maintain, and sustain their homes by providing education and services tailored to our clients’ needs. The mission of HCG:
We impact homeownership by empowering transformation through financial stability and education.
While I didn’t think the journey would be easy, I had no idea how hard it would be! Do I have any regrets? No, none. The journey has been a mixture joy, pain, successes and failures. Every emotion necessary has been experienced; it’s part of why I believe the organization has been successful.
I read a quote a while ago which sums up how I operate:
“Don’t strive to be given what you can handle, but to handle what you’ve been given”.
I hope my journey inspires you.
Why did you start your Non-profit?
- Please feel free to leave a comment (see bottom of this post) or contact the Your Outcomes Well team (see Contact Us page).
In talking with my 3 brothers last month, I shared with them the eight (8) things I wish I’d known when I first launched my non-profit. I will share those with you too . . . in the upcoming weeks on this blog. In my next post, in a few days, I will write about one of the things I wish I’d known when my housing non-profit opened it’s doors: Working in your Gift. Thank you for visiting Your Outcomes Well.
Sofia S Crisp is happily married and is the proud mother of 2 grown daughters. She’s active in the lives of her parents (80+ years old). Executive Director of the Housing Consultants Group, she is a Registered Nurse and Real Estate agent. Earlier this year (March 2015), Housing Consultant Group was recognized as the “Spotlighted Agency of the Month” by The North Carolina Housing Coalition.
She holds several certifications through NeighborWorks America and is a graduate of the Guilford Nonprofit Consortium Executive Director Academy, the High Point University Nonprofit Management Institute, & the Duke University Certification in Non Profit Management.
She is very active in the community and her church, Oak Ridge First Baptist Church. Her community/church work includes Habitat for Humanity, Girl Scouts, & two church ministries: Nursing, Gospel Choir. Sofia is a former Director on the Board of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro and currently serves on their Family Service Committee; she also serves on the Board of Homes4NC.
Sofia has been a non-profit leader since 2004. Her organization’s website: www.housingconsultantsgroup.org
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Sofia is amazing! Always striving to be more and to inspire others to reach farther. Congratulations on your many achievements and thank you for inspiring all of us.
Congrats. Awesome and inspiring!!!
Loved reading your story Sofia! I remember us in real estate licensing class together over 15 years ago and you were a practicing nurse! Amazing how time flies. Sooooo inspirational! I’m excited and inspired to achieve my dreams as well!
Very impressive and inspiring!
I hope that your organization continues to be a huge success, because as you succeed, those associated with you will experience good success!
This is both an interesting and inspiring blog post. I look forward to reading more of your journey.
Hello Sofia! You are doing wonderful work! Please come back and visit Work-Net at the NCWorks Career Center!
Fantastic! !
I pray that your nonprofit take flight through Jesus name….I will be making a purchase for a house this summer…I will need pointers from you please.
I look forward to being a art of this new “big idea”! Great and informative piece.
Congrats! I do some work with non-profits here in Columbus and will definitely share. Your brother, Jeff and I are fellow Hamptonians. Look forward to continuing the connection.