The Development Of Curry Senior Center On The San...

I interviewed three nonprofits located in the San Francisco Tenderloin Neighborhood. These non-profits varied in staff size, budget, and services they provide, but serve similar communities. The communities these organizations serve connect them as a network. However, they are fairly interdependent of each other, therefore the organizations are only loosely coupled (Perrow, 1972, p.196). Based on my interviews, the organizations shared similarities in influences that affected adaptations to their environments. However, their coping strategies varied in their adaptation. Variables that influenced the life cycles and the success of these particular non-profits were securing organizational funding, investing in staff leadership, and responding to political environments. Obtaining and securing financial support for each organization was an important underlying factor in each of the organization s success. Curry Senior Center stated government grants are extremely important while private foundations and donations were secondary source of funding. Curry stated that 68% of funding comes from governmental grants. For both St. Anthony’s and The Gubbio Project, both agencies strongly rely on private foundations and donations for funding. Since there is no reliance on government financial support, both of these agencies have taken different strategies to obtain new funding. Recently, St. Anthony’s increased its engagement with corporations as a new income stream, however is unsure