Daily Real Estate News  |  October 4, 2005  |   a la mode Founder's Disaster Relief Mission Is Personal Shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, Dave Biggers opened up his wallet and contributed $150,000 to the REALTORSŪ Relief Foundation. It’s the largest single contribution to the fund. But the founder and chairman of Oklahoma City-based real estate technology company a la mode inc. did something more than that: He challenged his employees, clients, and the vendors he works with to open up their wallets, too. The goal was to raise an additional $250,000 for the American Red Cross. If they came through, he would come through with a $250,000 matching grant, for a total contribution of $500,000. A few weeks later, the challenge was met. Contributions and matching funds to the Red Cross through his challenge totaled more than $530,000. “We’re not trying to be do-gooders,” says Biggers, who launched the company 20 years ago as an electronic forms provider for appraisers and now provides Web and other digital products for different areas of real estate, including brokerage and mortgage lending. “The people in the impacted states are our customers and clients. There are thousands of them there. So we went out to the rest of our clients and others and said, ‘Help us help our colleagues.’ The fact is, if they’re wiped out of business for good, everybody loses.” To reach as many of its clients as quickly as it could, the company inserted a solicitation for contributions in pop-up messages in its e-commerce technology and other products. The pop-ups are the principal way a la mode communicates technology updates to its clients. “We don’t use the pop-ups for anything but support issues, like if our Internet provider is down. We felt it was right to make an exception for something like this.” The pop-ups proved to be an effective way to get the word out. “Once the pop-ups appeared, the donations poured in,” says Biggers. “The really amazing thing isn’t the big donations but the number of small donations,” says Biggers. “When people are donating $25, you know it hurts them, that every dollars counts, and yet they’re still giving.” The company is deferring payments from its clients in impacted states indefinitely, and Biggers recognizes that it could be a year or more before some clients are in a position to make payments again. “We know we’re looking at a very long-term position here,” he says. a la mode also is asking its contacts if they have, or know of any, positions available for displaced industry professionals. And it has opened its own doors, making jobs available in technical sales and support and marketing. “Living in Oklahoma City, through the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building as well as devastating tornados, I know what sort of hospitality the nation, and this industry, extends during a disaster,” says Biggers. “We’re just trying to help any way we can.” The company continues to encourage donations. You can donate to the American Red Cross through a la mode’s Web site. You also can donate to the REALTORSŪ Relief Foundation at REALTOR.org. The RRF is administered by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORSŪ, which has pledged that 100 percent of all donations will go directly toward relief assistance for Hurricane Katrina victims in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. To date, the RRF has collected nearly $4.8 million. The real estate industry as a whole has donated nearly $13 million toward all hurricane relief efforts, including to RRF. —Robert Freedman for REALTORŪ Magazine Online