Studies & Findings
Catalyst Fund has invested over $300,000 in Research & Development to generate critical data and help Sonoma Valley’s nonprofit sector plan for the long term. We fund R&D because philanthropy’s greatest impact often lies in building solutions that don’t yet exist—not just sustaining the ones that already do.
Commissioned
Studies
2025
The State of Aging in Sonoma Valley
Early in 2025, our The State of Aging in Sonoma Valley white paper revealed a major demographic shift: one in three Sonoma Valley residents will be a senior in 2030. To support long-term planning, Catalyst Fund commissioned a Sonoma Valley Senior Needs Assessment that describes the needs that older adults have, identifies the strengths and challenges of the current system, and importantly, presents a series of recommendations.
2025
The Sonoma Valley Housing Affordability Roadmap
This deeply researched study by Sonoma Valley Collaborative describes 8 strategies that together reimagine housing affordability in Sonoma Valley. The Roadmap names the organizations best positioned to lead each strategy, estimates costs for each strategy, and identifies cost-saving synergies among the strategies.
The goal of this study is to provide clarity and actionable direction on this complex topic. The Roadmap details the strategies that, if we act on them together over the next three years, are the most effective at improving housing affordability in Sonoma Valley.
Food Security Study
2023
Building on lessons from our Covid-19 pandemic response—when demand for food support remained high even as other needs eased—the Catalyst Fund commissioned an in depth analysis of food-related trends, needs and resources in Sonoma Valley. The study gathered input from 314 Spanish and English speaking households and convened local food assistance providers as a unified task force to map needs, resources, and system gaps. The findings informed our Food Security Initiative and continue to guide long-term strategic planning for Sonoma Valley’s food system.
Sueños de Sonoma
2022
Catalyst funded a community survey by On the Margins for Sueños de Sonoma Collective, a partnership between Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and La Luz Center, to understand post-pandemic community needs through an asset based model grounded in radicle imagine and hope through “freedom dreaming”. The Study lead to the creation of the Ready to Learn Collaborative in 2023, which has been instrumental in increasing resources and programming for Sonoma Valley students who need social-emotional and mental health support.