Designs Done Pro Bono: Architects, engineers share skills with nonprofits

Nonprofit building projects feature the work of local architects and engineers, and in many cases, designers lend their talents to community organizations. The Kitchen Inc.’s medical center, the green renovation and expansion of the Discovery Center and Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield facilities are among recent construction projects for which design work was donated or discounted.

“It’s a way for a service company to give back to the community,” said Rod Finkle, president of Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc. “Organizations couldn’t do it without help.”

Malone Finkle donated 100 percent of its engineering design services to The Kitchen, as did Stephanie Ireland’s architecture firm, Ireland & Associates Inc., for improvements to its medical clinic.

Finkle said the value of his firm’s services on the clinic project were valued between $10,000 and $20,000, and Ireland said her donated fees were worth about $35,000 during a two-year period.

“In the business world, it gets down and dirty sometimes, and we have to remember why we’re here,” Ireland said.

In addition to donating her services and enlisting Finkle’s help, Ireland also brought on other donors, including DeWitt & Associates, Engineers Reprographics Inc. and the city of Springfield, which discounted its permit fees.

Rorie Orgeron, CEO and executive director of The Kitchen, said the clinic office used to be a flashback to the 1960s, and while patients still appreciated its services, they’ve definitely noticed the recent improvements.

“Now patients come in and say, ‘Wow, this is just like a real medical clinic,’” Orgeron said.

Ireland currently is working on designs for The Kitchen’s dental clinic and with St. John’s to bring a Ronald McDonald House to its campus.

Meanwhile, Finkle currently is discounting his firm’s engineering services about 5 percent for the Southwest Missouri Humane Society Inc.

Emily Fox, executive director of the Discovery Center, noted that “100 percent donations are unusual unless the project is something small within the building.”

Finkle’s firm discounted services between 15 percent and 20 percent – roughly $10,000 to $20,000 – when working with the Discovery Center on its green building project.

Architect Ron Slone, principal of Slone Architects, said his firm discounted services 17 percent when working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield on all three of its facilities – most recently, the 22,000-square-foot, $2.2 million Henderson Unit in Grant Beach Park.

“We interviewed for the first Boys & Girls Club project, and they asked if we would be willing to donate or reduce fees,” Slone said. “We’ve been around since 1979, and no one had ever asked us before.”

Slone also donated preliminary architectural design for the Junior League’s Isabel’s House project, which eventually worked out to about 15 percent of the total fee, which was not disclosed.

Nancy Brown Dornan, who was president of the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust 1993–2007 and guided the $8.3 million renovation of the historic Gillioz Theatre, said Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. discounted its services during the theater’s revitalization.

“We were very grateful to have them on the job. They stuck with us through very difficult times, and the fact that they were able to carry us was significant,” Dornan said.

Tim Rosenbury, executive vice president of Butler, Rosenbury, said the firm charged a standard fee on its Gillioz work, instead of a fee that reflected the scope of the project.

“As the Gillioz proceeded, there were times when there were no funds to pay for our services,” Rosenbury said. “We had to make a decision how to respond. We realized our efforts were helping make the project successful, so we decided once we were in it, we had to go with it.”

Rosenbury said his firm is careful in choosing pro bono or discounted projects simply because he feels “donated services create an unconscious conflict of interest.”

Ireland said her company treats donated work like any other project, but with a caveat: “You also have to balance. I can’t do everything for free, or I can’t pay employees.”