[Discussion] [Development] Example nonprofit: GridAlternatives.org

Wed Jun 20 11:27:59 PDT 2012

hi Grant,

Thanks for writing that case study.  It was really informative.  I will see
you tonight at 5 pm at the Roastery.

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 7:23 AM, Grant Bowman <grantbow at partimus.org> wrote:

> Last night I volunteered to attend a volunteer Grid Alternatives
> orientation for a nonprofit located on the Oakland/Emeryville border. It is
> located not far from where I worked for two summers during college with my
> father.
>
> gridalternatives.org       twitter.org/gridalternative
>
> I do not know how much of this example can or should be thought about for
> use in how Partimus operates. I did want to share my experience in the
> hopes some of it will be useful to us as we grow. If anyone has any related
> thoughts or questions please let us know.
>
> There was a requested donation of $20 which I chose to pay. The sign in
> sheet had name, email and donation columns. A labeled donation bucket with
> a slot for the money was next to the sign in sheet. A person from their
> development staff was there. Nobody was turned away if they did not donate.
> Twice during the presentation they pitched their annual Solarathon event
> where volunteers raise at least $250 each in order to participate and
> donate their time installing solar panels on 13 homes over a weekend after
> a lot of prep. This is similar to how habitateb.org does their annual
> Buildathon where three homes are built in a weekend start to finish.
> Companies can pay to sponsor solar teams during these events. Wells Fargo
> and many solar manufacturers sponsor these events. Banquets, prizes and
> tours of what they do take place. Media is invited.
>
> Back to the class. There were about 20 people attending. One was from the
> California PUC, the agency that oversees electric power distribution to
> residential and business customers. I think there are lessons the computing
> industry can learn from the electric power industry. Half the class
> attended due to a job training program called the Center for Employment
> Training. I will be exploring more about them soon. The director of the
> Grid Alternatives office welcomed us trainee volunteers, thanking us for
> our support.
>
> The trainer was an experienced volunteer. She presented about the
> organization founded in 2004 by Tim Sears and Erica Mackie who "scratched
> their own itch" installing solar for themselves and their friends. The
> slides described the solar panel industry and the low income home owners we
> were all there to serve. The environmental justice angle was given as a
> reason for the excitement around solar electricity. There are state and
> federal subsidies that apply to qualifying home owners that help make these
> installations possible: CSI, MASH, SASH, NSHP, a 30% federal tax credit,
> etc. This group focuses on low income home owners and applicable programs
> though there were questions about all these subsidy programs from the
> audience. There is no cost to the home owner for these solar panel
> installations. Average low income home owner electric bills are 20% of
> previous bills, an 80% savings.
>
> Grid Alternatives have installed 2050 solar panel systems all over
> California and have trained over 1900 volunteers to date. They target 1000
> installs this year from five CA offices, 200 installs coordinated from the
> Oakland office. 13 of those installs will be complete during their annual
> fundraiser event in San Jose around July 21st.
>
> Generally there are more trained volunteers than there are opportunities
> to install solar panels as a volunteer over two days. The team structure is
> informative. Each site is managed by an installation supervisor, a staffer.
> There are two teams of volunteers (roof team & ground team) led by
> experienced volunteers called team leaders. The projects are described in
> the pictures of the slides. Systems consist of solar panels, inverters, cut
> off switches and tie ins to the building electric system. Net Metering
> takes place. This is how it works for a home owner.  On the monthly
> electric bill the net amount of electricity used is either a positive or a
> negative number. At the end of the year these totals are added up and a
> payment is either made to the home owner or the home owner pays for the
> electricity they use above and beyond the electricity generated by the
> solar panels and used.
>
> The "gamification" around volunteering is fascinating to me. Professional
> solar installers get one of several certifications to legally do what they
> do in California. One of these professional certifications requires on the
> job hands on experience. Volunteering gives credit toward this
> certification. I guess many volunteers do not go on to become certified
> solar installers but some do. After volunteering in five installations and
> demonstrating mastery in a number of different skills to installation
> supervisors one is eligible to become a volunteer team leader. Up to 10
> installations can be required to gain enough credit in order to be able to
> take the test to become a certified solar installer.
>
> This month the volunteer coordination system was moved from a system of
> email and spreadsheets to an online web based system.
>
> Regards,
>
> Grant Bowman
> Director, Partimus.org
>
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>

-- 
Christian Einfeldt
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