The nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners Inc. has pledged $4 billion to an ambitious plan to create, preserve or retrofit 75,000 green homes and community and commercial buildings within the next five years.

The organization announced the plan yesterday with the help of high-profile backers that include the Home Depot Foundation, which provided a $1.5 million grant toward the initiative, and the Kresge Foundation and the Kendeda Fund, which each contributed grants of $1 million to launch the fundraising effort that is intended to fuel the transformation.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council were also on hand to voice their support for the initiative.

As part of the drive, Enterprise issued a national call to the public, private and nonprofit sectors to make all new and existing affordable housing green by 2020 -- and to help the organization build on the $4 billion commitment.

The nonprofit has set an even tighter timeline for its own operations. "We want everything Enterprise touches to be green by 2013," said Charles R. Werhane, president and CEO, Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.

The nonprofit released a study yesterday, "Incremental Cost, Measurable Savings: Enterprise Green Communities Criteria" in conjunction with its initiative. The research, a look at 27 affordable housing developments in the United States, found that estimated lifetime savings from green and affordable housing exceed the initial investment necessary to create it.

The study provides "all the proof we need that fundamental change is possible and on the way," said Doris W. Koo, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. "We like to say that we had a hunch five years ago when we launched the first phase of Enterprise Green Communities -- and that hunch is going to take best practices and make them common practice."

The organization was founded in 1982 by Jim and Patty Rouse and was initially called the Enterprise Foundation. In the years since, it has become a major source of capital, as well as expertise, for affordable housing and community development.

With various partners in the public and private sector, the group says its work has resulted in more than 14,600 energy efficient, healthy and green homes in some 355 developments in 33 states. Total investment has exceeded $10 billion and yielded 257,000 affordable homes across the U.S., according to the organization.

Jim and Patty Rouse are the grandparents of actor-director Edward Norton, who is a trustee for Enterprise.

Photo by Jackson Smith -- Courtesy of Enterprise Community Partners Inc.