Doing Good

Doing good while doing well has always been at the foundation of Strategic Leisure's purpose. This philosophy was well ingrained in Michael McCall, working for a decade in Jim Rouse's very large shadow, as Jim walked this talk everyday of his life. Decades before establishing The Enterprise Foundation, Jim Rouse strove first to do good for the people for whom he developed his projects, second to do good by the employees and partners with whom he teamed to manifest those projects, and once those worthy objectives were achieved, Jim appreciated profit as the reward.

We endeavor to play by this philosophy; and, while there are no plans to start our own foundation anytime soon, we would like to introduce you to a cause we know to be working and worthy of everyone's support.

David M. Erickson is, in a very special way, a housing developer; but his real not-for-profit business is saving lives. In 1986, David co-founded and is President of Samaritan Inns Inc., an incredibly successful social service company that houses those without homes, instills hope for those that seem hopeless, and ekes out humanity through the cracks of thick, emotional callouses. In the trenches of the free worldÕs capital, the Washington DC based enterprise has flourished, strategically positioning its products and services in the vast voids of what once was a safety net of governmental social systems.

Now, after more than 15 years and a portfolio of nine Samaritan Inns, and having literally pulled thousands of souls out of the life and death obscurity of cold cardboard hovels and into the life enhancing embrace of safe harbor homes, David and his management team of urban missionaries are rolling-out their concept. Samaritan Inns is mentoring local groups around the country, and "franchising" its methods for mitigating madness, staving off chronic illness, and dissipating despair in a structured, supportive residential process. Though the ROI is higher than anything else on Wall Street, Samaritan Inns Inc. will not be this yearÕs IPO darling.

David and his team need and merit our help. Several strategic drivers make Samaritan Inns an excellent choice for philanthropic investment:

• Firstly, this is not a plea for angel funding, nor a pitch for mezzanine financing, as Samaritan Inns is no startup. Samaritan Inns is a well-established organization, with a proven business model, and proprietary, successful strategies in need of rollout resources. It is a horse with a string of winning races.
• Secondly, the market for Samaritan Inn' products and services will, unfortunately, never be vanquished; the company has a well-respected first mover advantage; and, the competition, though not too stiff, is always welcome to the marketplace of the homeless.
• Thirdly, David Erickson is an extraordinary man of tremendous capacity. Knowing David for forty years, we know things that you should know, we are eager to tell, and are sure to embarrass this amazingly humble man. In college David triple majored in Economics, History and Political Science, graduating with a 4.0, and then from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government with a Masters degree in Public Policy. David is the recipient of the 2001 Ashoka / US Fellow award for Social Entrepreneurship awarded to people whose "ideas have the potential to powerfully-impact the nation's social sector;" the 1998 Meyer Foundation "Washington-area Leader for the 21st Century;" and, a 1979 Ford Foundation Summer Fellow working in Pakistan (among many other accomplishments and credits). In short, David is a world-class rider who has hand reared a thoroughbred organization in service to those who so desperately need help.

We invite you to explore the work of Samaritan Inns and consider making an investment (as we have and will continue to make), not just in an organization or in a dynamic leader, but in the thousands of good, if troubled, people; the lost souls who live and die amongst us, everyday on the streets and in the alleys of America.