Creating Community for Adults with Developmental Disabilities in the Bay Area
The Arc San Francisco is more than a service provider - it’s a community of possibility. With deep roots in equity, self-determination, and lifelong learning, The Arc SF partners with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to help them design their futures and lead transformative change in their communities.
Founded: 1951
Location: San Francisco, Burlingame & Marin, CA
The Arc SF began working with UpMetrics in 2023 as part of our Bay Area Cohort.
Mission
To partner with adults with developmental disabilities as they design their futures and transform our communities through lifelong learning and self-determination.
Vision
Values
Justice
Belonging
Personal Agency
Leadership
Interdependence
Programs & Impact Approach
The Arc San Francisco offers a comprehensive suite of programs designed to support adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in living full, self-directed lives. Every program reflects their commitment to equity, empowerment, and inclusion.
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Health & Wellness: Supports participants in navigating the healthcare system through advocacy, case management, and health education—ensuring equitable access to quality care and promoting long-term well-being.
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Residential Services: Provides safe, inclusive housing options that promote independence and community living, with personalized support for each resident’s needs and goals.
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Lifelong Learning: Offers engaging opportunities for personal growth through arts, academics, life skills, and social-emotional learning—encouraging creativity, confidence, and connection.
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Workforce Development: Prepares participants for meaningful employment through job readiness training, internships, and partnerships with over 75 inclusive employers, helping individuals build fulfilling careers.
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Community & Belonging Programs: Initiatives like ArtReach and Friends Like Me create joyful spaces for connection, creativity, and self-expression, while the Client Advisory Committee (CAC) empowers self-advocates to shape programs and policies.
Using Data & UpMetrics to Drive their Mission Forward
From Anecdotes to Evidence
Before UpMetrics, The Arc SF tracked basic participation data manually—numbers like program enrollment or services delivered. But they knew that wasn’t enough to capture the full picture, especially in programs like health advocacy, where outcomes are deeply personal but also systemically significant.
Without a centralized system, it was difficult to communicate their full impact to funders, stakeholders, or the broader community.
A New Framework for Learning and Growth
With UpMetrics, The Arc SF now has a structured way to define what matters, measure outcomes, and tell their story. The platform allows them to:
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Track meaningful metrics (e.g., supported medical appointments)
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Visualize data through real-time dashboards
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Share impact more effectively with funders and stakeholders
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Identify opportunities for program expansion and improvement
Turning Insight into Impact
With UpMetrics in place, The Arc SF has been able to shift from anecdotal evidence to actionable insights. In their Wellness Program, data revealed that staff supported over 300 medical appointments in a single year—highlighting the scale and significance of their health advocacy work. Being able to track and report these outcomes has helped them demonstrate not just the quantity of services delivered, but the tangible difference those services make in the lives of participants.
This kind of data-driven visibility allows the organization to more effectively communicate its impact to funders and stakeholders, while also identifying opportunities to strengthen and expand programs.
Across all service areas—from housing to employment to lifelong learning—The Arc SF is combining real-time data with personal stories to guide continuous improvement and ensure that every program aligns with the needs and goals of the people they serve. With a more complete picture of their impact, they’re not only delivering better support, but also building a stronger case for systemic change.
What’s Next
Looking ahead, The Arc SF plans to continue expanding its use of data across all program areas—beyond wellness—to tell a more complete story of impact.
Impact data is helping them:
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Strengthen fundraising by showing outcomes clearly
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Highlight successes across residential, learning, and workforce programs
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Identify service gaps and scale what’s working
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Make the case for inclusive, participant-driven change
The Arc SF's Advice to Organizations Wanting to Improve Impact Measurement
When it comes to impact measurement, The Arc SF encourages other organizations to think about how data can tell your story—not just to funders, but to every audience you serve. Whether you're engaging board members, program staff, families, or potential partners, different groups need data delivered in different ways.
Presenting insights in a digestible, meaningful format helps ensure that your message lands clearly—and supports stronger communication at every level, from internal decision-making to external storytelling. The right data, shared the right way, doesn’t just inform. It inspires.
