Ellie Mae Sponsors Corporate Volunteer Day, Joins Habitat for Humanity in Building a 54-Home “Green Development” in Oakland

Nearly 20 percent of Ellie Mae’s in-house staff volunteers for one-day charitable housing project

PLEASANTON, CA—May 8, 2008—Ellie Mae, the award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, is supporting the East Bay affiliate of Habitat for Humanity by sponsoring a corporate volunteer day program. On May 7, 2008, 24 Ellie Mae employees spent the day giving back to the community by working at a 54-home Oakland Habitat for Humanity “green” development construction site, all on company-paid time.  Nearly 20 percent of Ellie Mae’s in-house staff participated in this volunteer effort. 

“We have enjoyed great success here in Alameda County, and we love giving back to the community,” states Sig Anderman, chief executive officer of Ellie Mae.  “We selected Habitat for Humanity as a beneficiary of our charitable giving program, not only for its mission of generosity within our own community, but also because we share a common commitment to helping families realize the American dream.”  Over the past 10 years, users of Ellie Mae software have processed over 40 million mortgages for homes across the U.S.  “We also appreciate that this volunteer effort allows us to be direct contributors to a community that’s right in the backyard of Ellie Mae’s corporate headquarters,” adds Anderman.

The work assigned to Ellie Mae’s 24 volunteers incorporated a number of homebuilding tasks, most involving the installation of exterior siding for a home at the construction site.  “Habitat for Humanity provided information on the family whose house we’re helping to build,” says Anderman.  “That personal touch makes our efforts feel even more tangible.  It’s nice for all of us to feel that we’re really making a concrete difference in the life of a very deserving family.” 

Ellie Mae also made a $2,500 contribution that will go directly to purchasing building materials and supplies used in construction.  The 24 Ellie Mae volunteers represent virtually every functional group within the company, including marketing, customer support staff, executives, product development, sales and quality assurance. 

“We’re really excited about our new partnership with Ellie Mae and we’re grateful for their generous donation and support to the community we both share,” says Eliza Schissel, resource development manager for Habitat for Humanity East Bay.  “Ellie Mae is setting a great example of how smaller, growing organizations can make a huge impact by extending a helping hand.”

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit nondenominational organization that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build more Habitat houses. Habitat has built more than 250,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1 million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.

“We’re very pleased to be supporting Habitat for Humanity by sponsoring a corporate volunteer day program,” says Anderman.  We’re hoping to once again raise the bar and set an example for other companies, no matter how large or small, that everyone can make a difference.” 

About Ellie Mae
Ellie Mae is an award-winning provider of software and services for the mortgage industry, offering comprehensive business solutions for mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers and lenders. The company's key offerings include the flagship Encompass^® Mortgage Management Solution, the Encompass WebCenter, Electronic Document Management (EDM), Encompass CenterWise™ and Encompass Closer. More than 150,000 mortgage professionals use the Encompass mortgage management solution, including two-thirds of the nation’s top 300 brokers and nine of the top 10. Ellie Mae is recognized for linking the many parties critical to the mortgage origination industry through its ePASS^® Network. One third of the nation's almost $2 trillion in new mortgages originated every year pass through the ePASS platform, enabling mortgage companies to easily conduct electronic business transactions with dozens of leading lenders and thousands of settlement service providers. Ellie Mae was founded in 1997 and is based in Pleasanton, California. To learn more about Ellie Mae, visit www.EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362.

© 2008 Ellie Mae, Inc. All rights reserved. Ellie Mae, Encompass, and ePASS are registered trademarks and Encompass CenterWise, and Ellie Mae Closer are trademarks of Ellie Mae, Inc. in the United States.

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