Looking to spend their money where it counts, many social service groups can't afford to spruce up drab offices and dreary living spaces used by clients, much less hire an interior designer. Threadbare carpets, crumbling window coverings and mismatched furniture are standard.

Determined to combat soul-sapping gray walls and bargain-basement decor, a group of civic-minded design professionals called Philanthropy By Design has set out to reinvigorate the interiors of Bay Area nonprofits, one space at a time. Since 1987, volunteer designers have brought color, warmth and style to some 100 homeless shelters, mental health facilities and other humanitarian agencies -- from the Ann Martin Children's Center in Oakland to the San Francisco Food Bank.

"Our environments are really important to the way we function, the way we feel about ourselves," says Diane Nicolson, president of Philanthropy By Design. "That's what's so important about what we do."

Here's a sampling of Philanthropy By Design projects that are in the works:

• Marin Services for Women in Larkspur, which provides chemical dependency recovery services for women and their families, will receive color palette, space planning, furniture, accessories and more from Philanthropy By Design.
• In Oakland, Jubilee West Inc., which provides job training, self-improvement classes and activities for adults and young people, is getting a futuristic but functional makeover in the basement of a Victorian house. Metallic wall coverings, a panel of video screens and computer work stations are planned.
• Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo offers temporary housing for homeless families. The
  Philanthropy By Design team wants to create a sitting area with soft, durable sofas and wall and floor coverings in a soothing palette where families can talk and relax together in a homey setting.

Many projects, such as Woodroe Place in Hayward, come with plenty of refurbishing needs and no refurbishing budget. A care facility, Woodroe Place gives people struggling with mental illness a temporary, structured place to live before they make the transition to living on their own.

It's in pretty bad condition," says volunteer project manager Danielle Schneeloch, an Alameda resident who runs Danielle Designs in San Francisco. "The rugs are bad, the furniture is falling apart. The bathrooms haven't been updated since the 1970's."

On a brief tour of the living areas, Schneelock and a staff member point out cracked tiles and eroding grout in the shower room, tattered comforters and scuffed-up wooden furniture in the bedrooms, stained carpets, a bathtub that can't hold water and a leaking dishwasher. After seeing the bedraggled state of Woodroe Place for the first time, one designer left the facility with tears in his eyes. Revamping bedrooms and bathrooms at the facility will help Woodroe Place meet its goal of providing people with a safe and secure environment for healing, says senior mental health worker Claudia Sanders.

As with every Philanthropy By Design project, the makeover tam met with Woodroe Place's staff members to find out what changes they'd like to see. Next, the designers drew up a wish list of materials and supplies to share at the monthly Philanthropy By Design board meeting. At meetings, designers and other volunteers mix and match donated furniture, flooring and paint with the projects that most need them. When necessary, they pick up the phone to solicit donations from manufacturers, businesses and individuals.

In the case of Woodroe Place, the first order of business was to find someone with carpeting to spare. Once details about the carpet, such as style and color, are determined, Scheeloch and three fellow designers will pick a color scheme for the walls. Then they'll track down a new sofa or two, 14 twin beds, several desks, two new bathtubs with shower stalls and some cheery artwork to smarten up the group home.

Donations for these and other commercial quality items are gladly accepted from all sources, Nicholson says. "If it's something we can't take, we would be very honest about it," she says. When the group can't accept an item, it generally refers the giver to an organization that can. Nicolson adds that Philanthropy By Design also needs professional tile and caret installers, plumbers and other tradesmen willing to donate their skills.

Philanthropy By Design grew out of the excesses of the late 1980s. Aware of a growing stockpile of furniture left over from bank, hotel and general business acquisitions and sales, Nicolson's colleagues in the Hospitality Industry Association sought to put the items to good use. Joining forces with the design community, they formed Philanthropy By Design to connect the unused beds, drapery and coffee tables with havens for the homeless, hospices, women's shelters and other nonprofit institutions.

"It was sort of a Robin Hood approach to life," Nicholson says. At its height in 1999-2000, Philanthropy By Design boasted an approximately $200,000 budget, a full time executive director and a few part-time workers. Last year the group worked with a $12,000 budget and an all-volunteer corps. Next year, they're aiming to boost the budget to $75,000 through fund-raisers such as a Feb. 12 Valentine's auction event and a Nov. 8 program at the San Francisco Design Center, during which design studios will provide design and home remodeling consultations to the public for free or for a $20 donation to Philanthropy By Design.

"Shortly after 9/11 and the dot-com drop-off, (donors') priorities changed," Nicholson says. "(But) the need was still there and didn't go away." Less money for individual projects means designers must exercise their creative muscles more strenuously.

"I have to figure out some really interesting ways to use store-bought curtains -- is there a way we can tweak these? -- and the bedding," says Schneeloch about the Woodroe Place project. "It kind of goes back a little bit to when I was in high school and college and I didn't have money. You decoupaged the shoe boxes."

At Real Options for City Kids, or ROCK, in San Francisco's low-income neighborhood Visitacion Valley, Philanthropy By Design gave neighborhood children something they wouldn't have otherwise: A youth center. ROCK recently took over the basement of a 1950s church that hadn't been used for six months. With no money to fix up the back half of the space, it was destined to become extra offices, ROCK program director Heidi Kilgore says.

"They did everything," Kilgore says. "They made our project possible. They provided everything we needed." The basement, with its six small windows once sported dull whitewashed walls and a putty-colored composite tile floor. Today, fresh white paint accented with random splatterings of red, blue, and yellow paint cover the walls and plush carpets invite kids to sit on the floor with a board game and neat desk areas make a place middle school-age children don't mind doing homework at.

"It's pretty much everything we wanted," Kilgore says. It's bright, fun, youth-hip and friendly." She adds, "It's a reminder that there's an abundance of resources that need to be channeled from the people who don't need them anymore to the people who can't operate without them."

To contact Philanthropy By Design, call 552-1772 or e-mail pbdsf@pbd.org.