Building Bureau Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

1) Pro-bono or "low-bono" discounted design, planning, and fundraising services for nonprofit organizations 1A) Building Bureau (BB) continued providing construction administration services to the Bethany Mission Society for the Bethany Home for Children, a four-story orphanage for 100 children in southern India that was completed in August of 2024. 1B) BB also continued to provide pro bono architectural services to Tiger Track Nepal for the ecolodge and guest cottages under construction in Nepal. Home to a Community-Based Anti-Poaching Unit (CBAPU), the small complex is located just outside of Bardiya National Park, a conservation area in Nepal's lowland Terai region that is home to many endangered species of wildlife. 1C) For Mane Dada Organic in Nepal, Building Bureau continued to support the construction of a sustainable cottage in the Kavre Earth Village through site visits and construction administration services. 1D) For Tsering's Fund, a Montana-based nonprofit, Building Bureau continued to provide discounted design services for the Helambu Gaunpalika Hospital, a ten-bed medical facility in rural Nepal, a district underserved by healthcare. BB produced a design presentation and physical model for a public meeting on site with local stakeholders in January of 2024. The hospital, designed for sustainable materials like locally-sourced rammed earth walls and slate tile roofing, is currently in a fundraising phase. The facility will serve a population of 18,000 without direct access to healthcare. 1E) Building Bureau provided pro bono design services for a new 2,100 square foot health clinic, the Ekuwa Health Post, sponsored by Lakpa Nurbu Sherpa and his organization NPO Nepal. Ekuwa is very remote and lacks road access. Those seeking medical care must hike three to four hours down the hill to the nearest health post below. The new clinic will serve 100 local families. BB staff presented the health post design to the community during a public meeting in May of 2024. 1F) Building Bureau took on the pro bono design of a four-story dormitory and classroom block in urban Kathmandu for the Shree Mangal Dvip School, a Tibetan Buddhist school for underprivileged youth from remote mountain regions. The project includes two stories of classrooms, including an art and music room, plus two stories of dormitory and staff rooms. It will accommodate 250 students at a time. The project is currently in the early concept design phase. 2) Traditional market-rate architectural services for nonprofit organizations with project funding 2A) Building Bureau completed architectural design services for a 1,500 square foot welcome center that serves as an entry point to the nonprofit Namchak Retreat Ranch in rural Montana and its Buddha Garden and is open to hundreds of members of the general public per year. The project, designed using low-carbon, structurally insulated straw panels that were prefabricated offsite, began construction in November of 2023 and was opened in the summer of 2024. 2B) For Namchak Retreat Ranch on the same site, BB also began architectural services for a Three-Year Retreat, a secluded compound of six buildings, totaling 26,800 square feet, devoted to monastic life. The retreat buildings are clustered into two campuses, one for women and one for men. Each building will house a small cohort of ten students plus resident teachers, for a total of sixty retreatants at a time. 3) Research, education, and outreach Building Bureau staff continued to build partnerships with Montana State University in 2024. In the spring semester of 2024, BB was invited to be the Visiting Scholar at Montana State University's School of Architecture - a research-based position that focused on "construction ecologies" - the complex web of building supply chains from the extraction of raw resources, through production processes, to their use as architectural products in buildings - specifically in the context of the mountain west. Graduate students i

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 82.7%; rating input score 83
• Program expense ratio: 96.1%; rating input score 96

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 13.9%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 33.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 41.2% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 27.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 43.6% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings