Close to three decades ago, Hearthstone and BUILDER joined forces to create an annual award that recognizes home builders who are dedicated to giving back and making a difference in their communities. For 2026, the Hearthstone BUILDER Humanitarian Award will honor its 27th inductee.
Since its inception in 1999, the award has highlighted numerous home building icons, from David Weekley to Larry Webb, and organizations, like Lennar Corp. and Meritage Homes, for demonstrating a lifetime commitment to public service and has contributed $7.9 million to various deserving charities.
The 2026 winner will be recognized during an in-person awards ceremony at the Builder 100 Leadership Summit, taking place May 4 to 6 in Dana Point, California.
Before the announcement next year, let’s reflect on some of the organizations and humanitarians we’ve celebrated in the past five years.
2025: The Lennar Foundation, the charitable arm of Lennar Corp., was awarded in 2025. Created in 1989 to give back to the communities in which Lennar builds, the foundation has focused on many causes including helping veterans transition to civilian life, offering job training to formerly incarcerated individuals, funding life-saving medical research, and more.
2024: Pat Neal was recognized in 2024 for his dedication to land preservation in his home state of Florida. During his development career, the founder and chairman of Neal Communities has balanced developing land for homes and preserving it for future generations.
2023: Recognized as a collective company, Meritage Homes has supported countless charitable causes in its 40-year history. Guided by its core value of “start with heart,” Meritage and its employees have contributed charitable funds and volunteer hours to support No Child Hungry, Operation Homefront, Arbor Day Foundation, and more.
2022: As a fourth-generation home builder, HistoryMaker Homes CEO Nelson Mitchell has a servant heart that has been passed down through generations. Under Mitchell’s leadership, HistoryMaker has raised more than $14 million dollars for children with disabilities, impoverished communities, veterans, and the homeless.
2021: Taylor Morrison’s chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer fosters a workplace that continually gives back. The company’s employee-value proposition, called TMLiving, includes daily huddles that allow employees to have regular conversations about everyone’s charitable efforts and provide inspiring examples of how team members give back to their communities.
2021: Edward Burr, the CEO of GreenPointe Holdings, started the Monique Burr Foundation for Children, an after-school program designed to educate and empower children against abuse, bullying and victimization, in honor of his late wife. The foundation has educated more than 5 million children in Florida.
2020: Pulte’s Built to Honor program constructs mortgage-free homes for military veterans and their families. Each home represents $400,000 in donations and gives U.S. veterans the chance to experience what some would consider the ultimate American dream: owning their own home.
2020: Great Southern Homes’ Michael Nieri has contributed to educational institutions that helped shape him, like Clemson University, and to local charities that will create a positive impact in the community in which he builds, such as Camp Cole and the Building Industry Charitable Foundation.
