Habitat for Humanity International founder Millard Fuller has formed a new organization to raise money for the home-building charity that fired him, but the move could trigger a legal fight over Fuller's use of the Habitat name, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The new organization, Building Habitat, will raise funds for local chapters of Habitat for Humanity, and has already received a $1 million pledge from Aflac founder Paul Amos. According to Fuller, $500,000 of the gift will pass through Building Habitat to the Columbus Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Ohio over the next two years. The remaining $500,000 will go to Building Habitat over five years. "Building Habitat is not intended to compete with Habitat for Humanity," said Fuller. "Rather we seek to be a companion to it and to similar organizations that are working to eliminate poverty housing."

But Americus, Georgia-based Habitat for Humanity has expressed concern over Fuller's use of the word "Habitat" in the new organization's name. Chris Clarke, a spokesman for the organization that Fuller founded in 1976, said that its lawyer had notified Fuller that the organization will "take whatever action is necessary" to safeguard its trademark-protected name. "While we welcome anyone's efforts to provide support for the important work of this global housing ministry," Clarke said, "we also believe it is in the best interest of our affiliates and the homeowners they serve that there be no confusion with regard to the name of Habitat for Humanity."

Fuller's dismissal in January after more than a year of controversy sparked by allegations that he sexually harassed a female colleague — a charge never substantiated and which Fuller denies — may have created a rift in the organization's fundraising base. Ted Stanley, a Connecticut businessman who has given Habitat several million dollars, told the Journal-Constitution that he had withdrawn his support for Habitat for Humanity International and pledged it to Building Habitat to protest the "shabby" treatment of Fuller. "I can't believe they would do what they did to the man who founded and built [the organization]," said Stanley.

According to Clarke, Habitat for Humanity plans to announce "a significantly expanded relationship" with one of its largest partners. He added that Habitat has received $41 million to build houses for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, surpassing its $25 million goal, and that former President Jimmy Carter will continue to lead an annual Habitat project bearing his name, with trips planned to Michigan and India.