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RESEARCH BRIEF − ROI PROJECT

Habitat for Humanity

AmeriCorps.gov

Program Description

Habitat for Humanity (HFH) is a nonprofit homebuilding program that 

operates on a national and international scale. It provides low-income 

families living in substandard housing with volunteer-built, rehabilitated, or 

repaired homes and affordable mortgages. Qualified families contribute their 

own labor—termed “sweat equity”—and work alongside volunteers to build or 

improve their homes. HFH homeowners also pay an affordable mortgage 

with no interest, receive financial education, and participate in home 

maintenance classes to learn how to meet the demands of owning a home. 

HFH AmeriCorps sites leverage AmeriCorps members and comprise the HFH 

AmeriCorps program. HFH AmeriCorps State and National members 

perform direct services including leading homebuilding and renovation 

efforts, planning and coordinating community projects, assisting in structure 

demolition, recruiting and educating qualified families, providing financial 

education and home maintenance classes, and training non-national service 

member volunteers.

AmeriCorps, the federal agency 

for volunteerism and national 

service, provides opportunities for 

Americans to serve their country 

domestically, address the nation’s 

most pressing challenges, improve 

lives and communities, and 

strengthen civic engagement. 

Each year, the agency invests 

more than $800 million in grants 

for local nonprofit, community, 

tribal, and state organizations; 

places more than 250,000 

AmeriCorps members and 

AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in 

intensive service roles; and 

empowers millions more to serve 

as long-term, short-term, or onetime volunteers. Learn more at 

AmeriCorps.gov.
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Return on Investment Analysis

To better understand the impact of HFH AmierCorps in relation to the program’s costs, AmeriCorps 

commissioned a return on investment (ROI) analysis by ICF, an independent research firm. ROI analyses of 

national service programs estimate the monetary value of benefits that a program generates for per dollar 

invested. The ROI analysis estimated HFH AmeriCorps’s ROI to be between $0.62 to $2.61 per funder dollar, 

depending on how long HFH AmeriCorps members experience increased earnings from their national 

service. The return on each dollar of federal support for the program is higher, between $0.92 and $4.14. 

These results are driven by favorable employment and education outcomes for HFH AmeriCorps members 

following their service, as well as savings in homebuilding and rehabilitation work by HFH homeowners. 

Overview of Benefits and Costs

To calculate the ROI, the program benefits were identified, quantified, and compared to the program’s costs. 

Benefits of HFH AmeriCorps include:

• Cost savings in buying new homes and rehabiilitating existing homes. HFH AmeriCorps 

homeowners benefit from these cost savings.

• Medical cost savings due to improved respiratory health of HFH household members. The net 

improved respiratory health reported by HFH AmeriCorps homeowners leads to medical cost savings 

that benefit HFH AmeriCorps household members, private insurance companies, the federal 

government, and other healthcare payers.

• Additional earnings by AmeriCorps members. Serving in AmeriCorps leads to increased wages

and reduced unemployment post-national service through skill acquisition, as well as increased 

educational attainment post-service.

• Living allowances, stipends, and education awards. AmeriCorps members receive living 

allowances and stipends during their national service and a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award after 

successful completion.

• Increased tax revenue for government. The government receives more income tax revenue from 

increased HFH AmeriCorps member earnings post-service, as well as additional sales tax revenue 

related to those earnings. Government also realizes tax revenue from the taxable living allowances, 

stipends, and education awards provided to AmeriCorps members.

• Reduced lifetime spending on corrections, public assistance, and social insurance. Because of 

the increase in secondary and post-secondary educational attainment for HFH AmeriCorps members, 

government spends less on these items. 

• Reduced federal spending on rental assistance. HFH AmeriCorps homeownership reduces usage 

of these federal benefits. 

Funding for the HFH AmeriCorps program totaled $8,795,423 and came from the following sources:

• Federal Government (AmeriCorps) - $5,9,33,696

• Host Sites - $2,861,727
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ROI Results

The table below shows the ROI results for HFH AmeriCorps. Each row represents a different ROI calculation 

depending on which benefits are considered (all benefits or only benefits to the federal government) and 

which funding is considered (federal funding only, or all funding including contributions and non-federal 

grant, other contributions, and program fees ). The ROIs are presented as dollars returned for every $1.00 of 

investment. The analysis used three different scenarios to estimate benefits under different assumptions. 

Specifically, the study assumed that increased earnings attributable to the programs last for one year (shortterm scenario), 15 years (medium-term), or 30 years (long-term).

ROI Calculation

ROI Scenario

Short-Term Medium-Term Long-Term

Total Benefits per Federal Dollar $0.92 $2.80 $4.14

Total Benefits per Funder Dollar $0.62 $1.81 $2.61

Federal Government Benefits per Federal Dollar -$0.25 -$0.02 $0.03

HFH AmeriCorps produced strong returns for the medium- and long-term scenarios when benefits to HFH 

AmeriCorps members, HFH homeowners and household members, state/local governments, and other nonfederal government stakeholder groups are included. This is indicated by the results of the total benefits per 

federal dollar and the total benefits per funder dollar ROI calculations for these two scenarios. 

In the short-term scenario—where benefits for only one year post-program are included—the ROI results 

indicate that there is a short-term loss to investing in HFH AmeriCorps. A negative ROI or one that is below 

$1 in the first year post-program is common in programs where there is an initial one-time investment made 

and benefits accrue in the following years. This is because it often requires several years of benefits to recoup 

the initial investment and generate positive returns, as indicated in the results for the first two ROI 

calculations for the medium- and long-term scenarios.

The magnitude of the ROI estimates are driven by the following factors:

• High educational attainment of HFH AmeriCorps members prior to service. The high levels of 

educational attainment of this cohort of HFH AmeriCorps members significantly increased the 

professional opportunity cost to HFH AmeriCorps members. 

• The employment outcomes of HFH AmeriCorps members. Past studies establish that AmeriCorps 

members experience increased employment and increased earnings post-service.

• Medium- and long-term accumulation of benefits. In the short-term, the three ROI calculations 

resulted in losses because only one year of post-program employment and earnings gains as well as 

other program benefits are factored in while the entire program cost is considered. Additionally, the 

short-term scenario does not include any lifetime benefits in terms of reduced spending on 

corrections, public assistance, and social insurance or increased tax revenue. As these benefits 

accumulate over time, the analysis shows positive returns. This is indicated by the ROI results in the

first two ROI calculations for the medium- and long-term scenarios (15 and 30 years post-program, 

respectively).

For more information, please contact evaluation@cns.gov.