Millard & Linda Fuller

Founded Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization, with "open arms" to all who want to be involved, that builds affordable houses with families who need adequate shelter. Proclaiming a message of faith, hope, and love, the Fullers have inspired thousands of volunteers and other supporters who share their dream of a world where all people have at least a simple, decent place to live.

"We have the know-how in the world to house everyone. We have the resources in the world to house everyone. All that's missing is the WILL to do it."

— Millard Fuller

Linda Fuller
Born: February 17, 1941 Birmingham, Alabama

Millard Fuller
Born: January 3, 1935 Lanett, Alabama

Millard and Linda Fuller are founder and co-founder of Habitat for Humanity International (Habitat), a Christian organization established to eliminate homelessness and substandard housing wherever they exist. Habitat uses donated money and materials, together with volunteer labor to build or renovate dwellings that are then sold at cost to needy families that pay for them with no-interest mortgages.

With Millard Fuller as President and Linda Fuller playing a key role as well, Habitat has witnessed exponential growth. In its first 15 years of existence, between 1976 and 1991, Habitat built a remarkable 10,000 houses in the U.S. and overseas. But that success was only a prelude to the dynamic growth that would follow. It would take Habitat just two more years to match that track record by building another 10,000 homes and only 14 more months to construct the next 10,000. Today, Habitat has built more than 200,000 homes for families in more than 1700 U.S. cities and 99 other countries. It is now the 15th largest home- builder in the US and builds at least one house every 23 minutes of every day somewhere in the world.

Millard Fuller was born on January 3, 1935 in the cotton-mill town of Lanett, Alabama. His mother died when he was three and Millard Fuller formed a particularly strong bond with his father who would teach him well the lesson of capitalism. In fact, it was at the age of just six, that Millard Fuller first tasted the business success he would later experience, when he realized a profit from raising a pig under his father's tutelage. After completing his undergraduate degree at Auburn University, Fuller attended the University of Alabama Law School. In 1959, while a senior in law school, he married Linda Caldwell.  In January 1960, he graduated from law school. Millard Fuller, together with Morris Dees, a fellow law school student, focused his attention on a fledgling company, Fuller & Dees Marketing Group. By 1964, the success of their company had made both men millionaires. Millard and Linda Fuller enjoyed a life of comfort and wealth with all the trappings of success. However, as the business expanded and prospered, the Fullers' marriage suffered.

In a desperate attempt to resolve the widening gap between them, Linda Fuller separated from her husband in late 1965 and sought the advice of a minister in New York City. Millard Fuller joined his wife there and, after a few days of soul-searching, they reconciled, agreeing to reestablish their lives based on the Christian values with which they had grown up.

At this emotional turning point in their lives, the couple decided to turn away from the business Millard Fuller had devoted himself to. Dramatically, the Fullers' sold their interest in the business and all of their material possessions and donated the entire proceeds to Christian agencies.

The Fullers then went on a quest to find their mission in life. Fate led them to visit Koinonia, a commune-style Christian community founded by biblical scholar Clarence Jordan. Koinonia was organized in 1942 under the Christian principles of nonviolence, racial equality and common sharing of material goods. The intended brief visit turned into a month and the Fullers embraced this new, simple lifestyle. Although the Fullers left Koinonia at the end of the month, they would return three years later and apply their business skills and innate leadership to Clarence Jordan's innovative ideas for helping others. The Fuller's adaptation of Jordan's concept for providing adequate housing for poor people would ultimately be the genesis of Habitat for Humanity.

In the interim, the Fullers devoted their efforts to raising money for church supported schools and activities. During this time, they visited schools, hospitals and agricultural projects in several African nations.

When they returned to Koinonia in 1968, together with Clarence Jordan, they initiated several partnership enterprises including a nonprofit ministry that would build housing for needy people, charging no interest and adding no profit. The Fullers learned the business principles of home building by participating in the construction of nearly 30 houses for needy people on the Koinonia site beginning in 1969.

The Fullers returned to Africa in 1973 and applied their house building talents there. With a $3000 grant from the Koinonia community, they established a program to construct small, concrete-block houses for needy families. Although the houses had no electricity or running water, they proved to be far better than the mud and dabble, palm-thatched hovels in which the owners were previously living. During the three years the Fullers lived in Zaire, they built 114 houses based on the home building lessons they had learned at Koinonia.

Also in Zaire, the Fullers established several other programs to assist the needy. Their "Rise Up and Walk" project raised funds for the purchase of artificial limbs for those in need. They also initiated a program to collect used eyeglasses from churches in the United States and distribute them at minimal cost to those in need in Zaire. Proceeds from the sales were used to finance the construction of additional homes.

The Fullers were convinced that their housing model could be adapted and extended to meet similar needs all over the world. Returning to Koinonia Farms in 1976, they began work on creating a new, independent organization, Habitat for Humanity International. Their model called for the establishment of affiliate groups across the world, each group to be internally financed and responsible for developing housing projects as dictated by local conditions and needs.

Habitat's success received national prominence and support when, in 1984, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn participated in their first Habitat work project. The Carter's personal involvement in Habitat's ministry brought national visibility to the organization and sparked interest in Habitat's work across the nation. Habitat experienced a dramatic increase in the number of new affiliates around the country.

The Fullers founded and built Habitat for Humanity with the ambitious goal of eliminating poverty housing. For 29 years, the Fullers guided the organization as it made remarkable progress toward that goal, providing decent homes for nearly a million of the world's poor. However, in 2005, the Fullers were fired by the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity over an unproven allegation of inappropriate conduct  against Millard and ongoing philosophical differences over the direction of the organization's future.

The Fullers immediately rebounded from this setback. Focused on their goal to end poverty housing, they formed a new organization, The Fuller Center for Housing. The Fuller's new enterprise provides funding and other support for Habitat for Humanity affiliates and other organizations working to provide decent housing for people in need around the world.

The Fullers live a life of modest means in Americus, Georgia. They draw nominal salaries. Both feel that they have everything they want by living a life based on Christian values and thus consider themselves rich in ways other than  material possessions.

Millard and Linda Fuller have authored more than a dozen books and received many awards acknowledging their life of service to others. Together, they co-authored The Excitement is Building , a chronicle of Habitat for Humanity's success. Millard Fuller has written a number of other books about Habitat for Humanity including A Simple Decent Place to Live, The Theology of the Hammer, No More Shacks!, Love in the Mortar Joints and Bokotola. Linda Fuller edited Habitat's Partners in the Kitchen cookbook series which includes the titles From Our House to Yours and Home Sweet Habitat and in 2005, Linda Fuller co-authored the book Woman to Woman Wisdom with Bettie Youngs and Donna Schuller. Millard and Linda Fuller were the 1994 recipients of the prestigious Harry S. Truman Public Service Award. In addition, Millard Fuller received the Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1996, was named Builder of the Year in 1995 by Professional Builder Magazine and received the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from both the State of Georgia and the King Center

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