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Scampering around the ankles of prestigiously-named charitable giants are innumerable non-profits that impressively operate on a shoestring budget, which might be laudable were it (survival) not the lone accomplishment between them and irrelevance.

Project H Design is certainly not one of these unfortunate many.  I’d like to think that as a matter of progress-per-dollar, it accomplishes its humanitarian aims with an efficiency the Ford, Gates, and MacArthur Foundations might applaud.

Emulating Architecture for Humanity’s (AFH) successful model, Project H hosts an informal network of designers (industrial, furniture, and otherwise) who contribute ideas and donate time to develop all manner of projects, often through partnerships with other non-profit groups such as Engineers without Borders.

Ongoing projects include the development of an adjustable version of the rugged Whirlwind Wheelchair produced by Whirlwind Wheelchair International, an improved, more portable version of the Hippo Roller (a durable device used in Africa that transports more water more efficiently), and re-purposing donated furniture into seemingly mundane second lives as kitchen tables for refugees in the Bay Area.

All of this is done very cheaply; according to the New York Times, it’s first-year budget was $46,000, which didn’t prevent it from completing or starting 32 projects.  It helps that its founder, Emily Pilloton (an Inhabitat alum), takes no salary, borrows AFH office space, and lives the good life in an Airstream trailer on a friend’s property.

Although I don’t expect her to go without a salary when Project H can afford it, it would be great if Ms. Pilloton can avoid following the usual path of a growing non-profit (i.e., accumulating fixed costs such as office space and multiple paid employees); part of what makes Project H so appealingly efficient is its simple strategy of linking designers with other organizations to accomplish discrete goals and not being afraid to tackle small, humble projects such as the kitchen table program or designing a durable “math” playground out of $75-worth of tires.

Project H’s willingness to try improving people’s everyday-existence regardless of what part of the day is improved, is the sort of incremental, bit-by-bit humanitarian approach I like; it proves that changing the world doesn’t necessitate world-changing ideas.

Image courtesy of ProjectHDesign