Shanti is a pioneering nonprofit that builds human connections to reduce isolation and improve quality of life.
We believe that meaningful relationships are essential for navigating life’s most difficult challenges. Every day, we ease the invisible suffering that can accompany isolation or illness, and combat it through the power of personal connection. Because when we take care of each other, we make San Francisco a healthier and more compassionate community, for everyone.
Our Mission
Shanti exists to enhance the health, quality of life and well-being of people with terminal, life-threatening or disabling illnesses or conditions. Through a continuum of services, including in-home and onsite patient and care navigation, emotional and practical support and preserving the human-animal bond, Shanti strives to achieve the highest medical and quality of life outcomes for San Francisco’s most vulnerable.
Our Values
Cultivate Compassion
Support Unconditionally
Honor Human Dignity
Champion Differences
Take Care of Each Other
Cultivate Compassion
Cultivate Compassion
It’s one thing to have compassion, it’s another to define and develop what it means to be compassionate. We provide our community with the tools and support they need to show up for others, fully and compassionately.
Support Unconditionally
Support Unconditionally
Navigating illness and isolation can be confusing, scary, and bleak. We respect and unconditionally support everyone’s personal decisions about their health and well-being.
Honor Human Dignity
Honor Human Dignity
We whole-heartedly believe every human is worthy, no matter their circumstances. That’s why we honor people at all phases of their lives and show them the dignity they rightfully deserve, when they need it most.
Champion Differences
Champion Differences
The beauty of San Francisco lies in its diversity. From differences that can be seen, to those that exist on a nonphysical level, we not only support, but actively encourage diversity. It’s what makes our city feel like home.
Take Care of Each Other
Take Care of Each Other
To be able to take care of others, you must first take care of yourself. Strength and unity are essential to a healthy organization, and we build one another up to better advocate for those within our community.
Working Together
- We embrace the Shanti model of peer support, which advocates listening, speaking, and acting from the heart in service to other people.
- We create relationships based on the Shanti model that are actively demonstrated by mutual respect, positive regard, non-judgmental behavior, genuineness, acceptance of differences, empathy, and intention to be of service.
- We acknowledge the unique value that each of us contributes to the success of Shanti, and we respect each other as individuals.
- We assert that mindful, honest communication accelerates, enhances, and enriches our potential as individuals and as an agency, and we are committed to listening to each voice.
- We celebrate diversity as a strength, and we encourage learning from others who may be different from us. We provide a safe place for diversity to flourish.
- We share in this community of Shanti as an inclusive agency; we also respect that at times we each need to set boundaries without fear of being cast out.
- We take pride in our commitment to our work and we honor the generous gifts of time, energy, and humor that our colleagues bring to our mission.
- We affirm that each department and program at Shanti acts as a pillar that supports an architecture of compassion.