Meet Lindsey Kruger | Nonprofit Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lindsey Kruger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsey, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind the success of NIVAS is this: smart people with huge hearts will back you if your head and heart are in the right place. Not everyone feels connected to the well-being of folks in faraway places, but those who do are a force to be reckoned with. I’ve been lucky to have the most amazing group of experts, volunteers, and funders come together to develop practical solutions for families experiencing poverty and communities battling natural disasters. When it comes to the world’s injustices, if you can keep the ball rolling in an effective direction, good people will get behind you to help push.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Back in 2011, I worked on a school construction project in the Himalayas of Nepal. A group of designers and architects went over from Denver to build it, and during our time there I began to scratch the surface of understanding that people there don’t have much support or resources when it comes to housing. Most were living in pretty inadequate dwellings, but still working hard and hoping their kids would gain a strong education. Kids and families were struggling against their living conditions in spite of all their effort. After returning to volunteer for other nonprofits on construction projects, two Denver contractor friends and I decided to start a nonprofit that’s sole purpose was to help folks improve their homes so that they could succeed in their work, education, and health.

At first fundraising was completely foreign to us, so we were flipping houses in Denver to fund programs. Through that and a few donations, we were able to conduct a program that resulted in around 500 toilets being built over a 9 village district not far from Everest Base Camp. We flew out to celebrate and two weeks later a 7.8M earthquake struck destroying more than half a million homes. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us.

Since then, we’ve learned the art of fundraising and have been 100% dedicated to helping families build new disaster-resilient homes on their heritage land and to develop income sources that will support them going forward. It’s been a wild adventure. Hundreds of people have joined us on the US side, which has allowed us to reach thousands of people with housing, advocacy, good jobs, and skills development. We’ve grown so much and it’s all because people believe in what we are doing. I have to say, we are lucky there are so many good people out there. We’d be no where without them.

We got to where we are today through honesty, integrity, and sheer determination. Even though we were operating on less than $50k for the first few years, we’ve never once considered giving up. It’s pretty easy to keep your eyes on the prize when giving up means children won’t have a home to live in. Talk about pressure! Needless to say, it’s easy to stay motivated in this line of work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have big love for Denver, even through all its changes over the decades. Some spots I would recommend include Bang Up to the Elephant on Pearl for fun tropical eats, any Queen City you can find, and just walking everywhere! There’s lots to see and enjoy along the way.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
An incredible handful of folks have been here to advise and support us all along this decade-long journey and we are wildly indebted to each of them. Today I’m going to give this ShoutOut to Ken Storm of Storm Form a home design/build company in Longmont, CO. Ken was an original co-founder of NIVAS and has been along for this wild ride since day one. Ken has backed NIVAS as we’ve navigated constructing toilets and homes in super remote areas, developed programs for earthquake reconstruction, and endeavored to support single moms on their journey to homeownership. I can’t thank Ken enough for his perseverance and belief in this work.

https://www.buildzoom.com/contractor/storm-form-llc

Website: www.nivas-built.org

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nivasbuilt/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/52180867

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nivasbuilt

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpkDH3l2jn3oakKYK5Ho5Mg

Image Credits
Alice Carfrae Aneel Katwal