Atlanta Start-Up Changing How Nonprofits Fund Rebuilding

New Story is similar to one of the largest nonprofit house building organizations, Georgia-based Habitat for Humanity, in that it builds homes for families who can’t afford to, but the similarity ends there.

The new company relies on crowdfunding to raise the money to rebuild one house at a time in a disaster zone.

Co-founder Brett Hagler first thought about creating the initiative while volunteering in Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 2010. The company is still focused on helping homeless families in Haiti.

“We crowdfund houses for homeless families living in danger around the world,” Hagler explained during an interview on “A Closer Look.”

“We take their picture and their story and we put it onto our website. So a donor’s able to come onto our site and see exactly who needs their help, read their story, and then know where 100 percent of their donation goes.”

Hagler said eventually New Story hopes to apply this approach to rebuilding efforts in Nepal after the recent earthquakes there that killed thousands of people and left thousands more homeless.

Hagler explained how New Story’s funding process works and more on “A Closer Look.”