About Millard Fuller

"I see life as both a gift and a responsibility. My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help his people in need."

Millard Fuller is the founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity International. His 29-year leadership forged Habitat into a worldwide Christian housing ministry building 200,000 homes with projects in 100 countries worldwide. Former President Clinton has said, "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Millard Fuller has literally revolutionized the concept of philanthropy."

Fuller founded Habitat with his wife, Linda, in 1976. He travels and speaks worldwide and has earned international recognition for his work advocating decent, affordable housing for all. In September 1996, former President Bill Clinton awarded Fuller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Clinton says "Millard Fuller has done as much to make the dream of homeownership a reality in our country and throughout the world as any living person." 

From humble beginnings in Alabama, Millard Fuller rose to become a young, self-made millionaire. A graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., and the University of Alabama Law School in Tuscaloosa, he and a college friend began a marketing firm while still in school. Fuller's business expertise and entrepreneurial drive made him a millionaire at age 29. But as the business prospered, his health, integrity and marriage suffered.

These crises prompted Fuller to re-evaluate his values and direction. His soul-searching led to reconciliation with his wife and to a renewal of his Christian commitment.

The Fullers then took a drastic step: They decided to sell all of their possessions, give the money to the poor and begin searching for a new focus for their lives. This search led them to Koinonia Farm, a Christian community located near Americus, Ga., where people were looking for practical ways to apply Christ's teachings.

With Koinonia founder Clarence Jordan and a few others, the Fullers initiated several partnership enterprises, including a ministry in housing. They built modest houses on a no-profit, no-interest basis, thus making homes affordable to families with low incomes. In 1973, Fuller moved to Africa with his wife and four children to test their housing model. The housing project they began in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), was a success in that developing nation.

Fuller became convinced that this model could be expanded and applied all over the world. Upon his return to the United States in 1976, he met with a group of close associates. They decided to create a new independent organization: Habitat for Humanity. For the next 29 years, the Fullers devoted their energies to the expansion of Habitat for Humanity throughout the world.

In 2002, Fuller and his wife were awarded the Bronze Medallion from the Points of Light Foundation in Washington D.C., honoring their pioneering work in service and they have received many other achievement awards and more than 50 honorary doctorate degrees for his outstanding leadership toward meeting the goal of eliminating poverty housing worldwide.