Report Warns S.F. Nonprofits Could Wither and Die Due to Lack of Funding. S.F. Organization That Wrote Report Withers and Dies Due to Lack of Funding.

Now this is ironic!

Those looking for an example of irony not involving diabetics being flattened by insulin trucks will be disappointed. No, it was not an example of irony when the city's Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management released a hefty report warning that the San Francisco's nonprofits are in extreme danger of shutting down due to lack of funding -- and then, almost immediately, shut down due to lack of funding.

We can't think of words describing this course of events other than "bummer," "downer," and "get used to it."

The report, issued by the organization formerly housed at the University of San Francisco, notes that a tightening up of the monetary spigot has forced the city's 2,229 registered nonprofits and 862 foundations to hit the fund-raising trail -- and spend less time serving the needy folks who depend upon their services.

And, according to the study, this is not a trivial amount of people: Perhaps 40 cents of every human services dollar spent in San Francisco is shelled out by nonprofits. Also, with thousands of nonprofits employing tens of thousands of locals, a number of local jobs are on the line.

"Nonprofits were already struggling before the currently economic crisis," said the report's lead author, USF Professor Carol Silverman said. "Now, donations are down even further. There are going to be closures, but we don't know exactly who is going to close."

Silverman hopes the fate of San Francisco's nonprofits can serve as "a cautionary tale" to those in the rest of the nation. It was left unsaid that the fate of San Francisco's Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management could do the same.