Tipping Point Community

Daniel Lurie headed down Highway 101 in June 2009 to investigate a potential grantee in East Palo Alto, California. As he drove, he reflected on the progress that the nonprofit organization he founded, Tipping Point Community (Tipping Point), had made in just four years of fighting to reduce poverty in the local community. It had raised a total of more than $14 million for recipient organizations, including $3 million from its main donor event in April 2009, and its profile was gaining increasing recognition in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was thinking about Tipping Point’s most recent board meeting, where the board members were more relentless than ever regarding the organization’s strategy and results, particularly in the areas of performance measurement, sustainability, and key funding. Tipping Point had a tremendous amount of room for improvement and growth. It was difficult to quantify its impact on the target community, which despite Tipping Point’s efforts was struggling with homelessness, children in need of medical assistance, and limited mobility. With 600,000 people living in poverty in the Bay Area, Tipping Point’s goals would not easily be met.