In its prime, Lawson was the flagship hotel property of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, an architecturally striking building two blocks from Chicago’s glittering Michigan Avenue. During the 30’s and 40’s, Lawson provided a fresh start for thousands of young men searching for work. Through the early 70’s its fitness facility was frequented by some of city’s most prominent businessmen. By the 1980s, however, the Lawson YMCA had become Illinois’ largest single room occupancy hotel and the fitness facilities closed. Serving low and fixed-income and homeless adults, Lawson had fallen on hard times and was in dire need of renovation. The Y secured a $10M federal HUD grant to upgrade the Y’s rooms and exteriors and needed an additional $4M from private philanthropy. Earning its income from rent and governmental rental subsidies, the Lawson YMCA lacked both a membership base and a board from which philanthropy would come naturally.