Normally, Habitat for Humanity's Hemet/San Jacinto office pays full price at Home Depot for materials to help build new homes for low-income families.

But the agency saved nearly $2,000 on solid oak kitchen cabinets it bought last year from Chinese manufacturer Artisan Products. Habitat made the purchase through a bulk buying program created by Materials Matter, a three-year-old nonprofit in Corona. Seven other nonprofits participated in the kitchen cabinets acquisition, jointly purchasing 35 L-shaped, 10-foot-by-10-foot cabinet sets.

Loads of cabinets arrived between April and June this year. They typically retail for close to $3,000 a set, a cost reduced to about $1,000 for the bulk purchase by the nonprofits.

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Photo By Dan Elliott

Materials Matter sells supplies to the public for 50% to 80% off.

"We would do it again, and again and again. ... This was really a benefit," said Sharon Desgro, executive director of Habitat's Hemet/San Jacinto office.

Habitat for Humanity is an international nonprofit that relies on volunteer labor, donated money and materials to build inexpensive homes for low-income families. Habitat sells the homes at cost to the families, who help volunteers build the houses.

Habitat finances home sales with affordable loans. The mortgages vary from seven to 30 years on homes that range in price from $800 in developing countries to an average of nearly $60,000 in the United States, according to Habitat's Web site.

The nonprofit uses mortgage payments to build more homes.

The Hemet/San Jacinto Habitat office dedicated the new house with its oak kitchen cabinets July 14. The agency will use savings from the cabinet purchase to buy materials for more new homes, Desgro said.

Materials Matter in Corona provides building supplies acquired from donations and salvaged from de-construction projects to Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofit organizations around the country and the world. It also pools nonprofit agencies to negotiate discounted bulk purchases from manufacturers and other building material suppliers.

Its Home Improvement Outlet sells flooring, cabinets, hardware, doors, windows bathroom sinks and faucets and other items. Home Depot, Lowe's Corp., Price Pfister, Black & Decker and other retailers, manufacturers and distributors donate surplus or slightly damaged items which the nonprofit gives to other nonprofits or sells in its store at 50% to 80% off regular retail prices.

Materials Matter also sells items from salvage expeditions that it can't donate to other nonprofits.

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Photo By Dan Elliott

Customer Louise Jones, left, and store manager Dan Arguello at Materials Matters in Corona.

The store is open to the public seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Materials Matter has distributed nearly $2 million worth of materials to nonprofit organizations throughout California and hopes to double that number over the next 12 months, the organization said in a May release.

Materials Matter got its start in 2004 as the Habitat for Humanity Resource Center. Jason McKinstry, the organization's president, and Alison Riback, its vice president, are former Habitat for Humanity staffers. They founded the building supplies nonprofit in an effort to streamline the acquisition of building materials for Habitat offices, which typically procured materials on their own.

"In our respective work, we realized there was such a need" to bring organizations together to acquire supplies, Riback said. They soon realized other nonprofits also needed the service.

The organization's board of six directors decided in January to officially broaden its focus and serve all nonprofits in need of building supplies. On May 10 the organization announced its new name, Materials Matter and a corresponding new Web site.

The board consists of representatives from The Capital Group Cos., Capital Guardian Trust Co., Lennar Family of Builders, Alcon Laboratories, BHN LLC and accounting firm Dutch Consulting Group.

McKinstry organized the bulk kitchen cabinet purchase from the Chinese manufacturer and expects to handle another bulk purchase of cabinets and possibly faucets in the next month or so.

McKinstry utilizes interna- tional contacts he made during a 14-year career as a national sales manager for electronics company Poterans. He was in sales prior to his work with Habitat for Humanity's Santa Ana office.

He volunteered for Habitat while on a leave of absence from his sales work and then applied for a position with the nonprofit. He ultimately served as a vice president overseeing a retail store and aiding materials purchases.

The organization has eight, full-time paid staff members.