Sam Spade's San Francisco

Because AIDS, drug abuse and health maintenance are all hot issues for Queer Folk, it makes a lot of sense to see the big nonprofit merger that's taking place. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is merging with Magnet and with the Stonewall Project. It's a win-win deal for everybody.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) gets a needed dose of relevancy by joining forces with the Stonewall Project. Stonewall operates tweaker.org, which is out there on the front lines of fighting methamphetamine abuse among us Queer Folk. Michael Siever has been doing an outstanding job of leading the Stonewall Project. Their model works! Being connected to the Stonewall Project is very good for the SFAF image.

Magnet is another plum for SFAF. Magnet entered the market as a community health clinic four years ago. In that time they have become a very integral and important part of the Queer Folk community. Magnet's biggest problems have been good management and money. They haven't had enough of either, but Magnet has a very good reputation among most Queer Folk here in San Francisco.

SFAF will be the catalyst to allow all three nonprofits to begin freely using and sharing their resources. It will also allow them to maximize their budgets and that will permit them to develop a new and more sophisticated management and oversight structure.

Once that new structure is in place, we should begin to see some very cutting-edge kinds of services being offered to us. That's just the kind of performance people want to see before making serious charitable or volunteer commitments. This merger also creates a very solid and highly attractive entity when it comes time to write grant proposals. The new troika makes it possible for them to go after grant money that may not be available to them individually. It gives them the edge to win foundation money in a tight economy with stiff competition.

The merger seems to be a great deal for everyone involved. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this deal happen.