A unique new philanthropic initiative from Michael Hsu Office of Architecture (MHOA) is offering nonprofits in the Austin, Texas area the chance to win a $20,000 pro-bono consultation in the interests of providing much-needed space to organizations affected by the city’s rapid transformation into a new capital for America’s high-tech industries. 

The firm recently announced it will be accepting design proposals for what is now its second iteration of the Design for All Partnership "seed program" that last year afforded the organization Austin Angels the chance to construct a new foster care facility at a vacant former church lot in the Buda neighborhood.

"A lot of these nonprofits are having a hard time finding affordable space," MHOA founder Hsu told the Austin Chronicle of his firm’s endeavor. "And there's all sorts of challenges in trying to build something even if they do find a space because it's so time-intensive. There's a lot of hidden costs, and part of this [partnership] is our hope to just be a guide to help demystify what they can do on a certain site to meet their mission."

Hsu added: "One of the reasons we're interested in jobs like this is as real estate gets more and more expensive, how can we at least try and help some people to seed or stay in town, so they can be closer to the communities that they're serving? We don't even have to be the architect that goes and executes the project. It's really like, 'Here's what we can do for you, and you can go forward and make your own decision.'''

Proposals from any 501(c)(3) organization registered within a 50-mile radius of either Houston or Austin will be accepted through May 19th. As per their stipulation, submissions should be limited to master planning projects of 50-acre sites or smaller, and architecture or interior design projects should be less than 20,000 square feet.

Application documents can be submitted here.