Sigma Magazines Case Study
OVERVIEW
In 2007 Organization X (OX), one of San Francisco’s largest social service organizations, confronted several challenges. For more than 50 years the organization provided services to people experiencing poverty or homelessness and the need for affordable housing, healthcare, food, clothing and drug treatment programs was growing rapidly.
The organizations facilities were scattered across two neighborhoods in San Francisco and were composed of a residential facility for aging women, a central building that, when built in the 1950s was designed only for a small free meals program and administrative offices. The aging central facility had been converted into spaces that contained one of the city’s largest free health clinics, the city’s largest free meals program, a social work center and a job training and employment program. Additionally, the organization ran a free clothing and furniture program and two drug and alcohol recovery programs- one based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco and the other an organic dairy farm in Sonoma County- an hour and a half drive from OX’s offices. The organization was also responsible for a small donated house a four-hour drive away in Lake Tahoe that was rented to OX staff for recreational purposes.
Because of its commitment to address the socio-economic and political factors that underlie the causes of poverty, and because of the organization’s stated desire to influence public policy on these issues without accusations of bias, OX did not accept government funding. The organization relied mostly on individual and in-kind donations and the support of thousands of volunteers annually. With an annual budget of more than USD$20m, OX had an increasingly aging donor base with more than 40% of annual revenues derived from willed trusts and bequests. The organization, through its dairy farm recovery program, entered into partnerships with a local milk distributor and hoped to expand into butter production.
In 2007 Organization X (OX), one of San Francisco’s largest social service organizations, confronted several challenges. For more than 50 years the organization provided services to people experiencing poverty or homelessness and the need for affordable housing, healthcare, food, clothing and drug treatment programs was growing rapidly.
The organizations facilities were scattered across two neighborhoods in San Francisco and were composed of a residential facility for aging women, a central building that, when built in the 1950s was designed only for a small free meals program and administrative offices. The aging central facility had been converted into spaces that contained one of the city’s largest free health clinics, the city’s largest free meals program, a social work center and a job training and employment program. Additionally, the organization ran a free clothing and furniture program and two drug and alcohol recovery programs- one based in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco and the other an organic dairy farm in Sonoma County- an hour and a half drive from OX’s offices. The organization was also responsible for a small donated house a four-hour drive away in Lake Tahoe that was rented to OX staff for recreational purposes.
Because of its commitment to address the socio-economic and political factors that underlie the causes of poverty, and because of the organization’s stated desire to influence public policy on these issues without accusations of bias, OX did not accept government funding. The organization relied mostly on individual and in-kind donations and the support of thousands of volunteers annually. With an annual budget of more than USD$20m, OX had an increasingly aging donor base with more than 40% of annual revenues derived from willed trusts and bequests. The organization, through its dairy farm recovery program, entered into partnerships with a local milk distributor and hoped to expand into butter production.