Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller has launched a new nonprofit to continue his life's work of constructing housing for the poor, the Associated Press reports.

Fuller, who was fired by Habitat in January, said the new Fuller Center for Housing will continue to work with charitable groups, including some Habitat affiliates, on creating new housing for the poor, and will do "a lot of the same work with a lot of the same people..." Fuller had originally called the new organization Building Habitat, but Habitat for Humanity objected to the use of the word "Habitat" in the new organization's name.

Fuller also told the AP that the Fuller Center — whose first two grants will help a Habitat chapter build a new home in Montezuma, about twenty miles north of Americus, Georgia, where both organizations are based, and assist Koinonia Partners, an inter-racial farm community near Americus that inspired the idea for Habitat for Humanity in the 1960s, to repair homes — already has received about $2 million in pledges.

Habitat for Humanity was founded by Fuller and his wife in 1976. The organization, which has built nearly 200,000 homes for more than a million people around the world, fired the Fullers in January after more than a year of tension sparked by allegations that Fuller sexually harassed a female colleague. Habitat's board concluded there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge, and the official reason for the dismissal was a pattern of divisive and disruptive comments.

Atlanta homebuilder John Wieland donated money for the Fullers to buy and renovate their new headquarters building. "I think he's a charismatic individual and there aren't many of those," Wieland said. "He founded the movement. A lot of people do good things; there aren't many people who found a movement."