Building Impact grew out of an innovative tenant amenity program created by Paradigm Properties in 1999. The program model was developed and refined in Paradigm’s portfolio of office buildings, and its proven success in creating new resources for the social sector and engaging previously unengaged companies and individuals was the catalyst for establishing Building Impact in late 2003.

As an independent 501(c)3 non-profit entity, Building Impact now partners with a core group of Greater Boston’s most philanthropic and progressive real estate companies called our Founding Real Estate Partners. These strategic partners provide us with philanthropic investment, feedback and access to their buildings in an effort to increase civic engagement in Greater Boston.

Today, we are operating in 26 buildings with access to over 300 companies and 6,600 individuals, 50% growth since January 2004. Equally exciting is that we have launched our program in eight new communities including Cambridge, Charlestown, Framingham, Lowell, Newton, Norwood, Waltham, and Woburn while continuing to grow in Downtown Boston.

Building Impact scales very efficiently. Our model currently generates 4x more resources for the community than the amount of philanthropic dollars that we raise to operate the organization. As we continue to scale, that ratio will get even better. Our current earned-income model provides over 35% of our revenues each year – this will also increase with scale. Our near term vision is to operate in hundreds of buildings in Greater Boston, channeling millions of dollars of previously untapped resources for youth, education, job training, community health and affordable housing programs. Further in the future, we hope to replicate the program nationwide.