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At Ounce, every data point represents a person: a family securing food assistance, a senior getting to their medical appointment, or a household keeping the lights on through winter.
When you're coordinating critical services for 20,000+ residents across affordable housing properties in more than nine states, spreadsheets don't cut it. You need infrastructure that moves as fast as the communities you serve—and proves your impact to the partners who make it possible.
That was the challenge facing Rachel Munsie, CEO and Co-founder of Ounce, as she scaled a startup built on a radical premise: embed community support directly within affordable housing to transform outcomes in health, stability, and quality of life.
When you can show a housing partner that you prevented evictions through early intervention, that changes the conversation entirely.
But scaling this vision required more than good intentions. It demanded measurable data to prove impact—and the infrastructure to act on it.
With Sigma powering its operations, the Ounce team evolved from tracking services to anticipating needs and preventing crises, making them Sigma’s winner for this year’s Social Impact Award. When you can show a housing partner that you have driven hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of public benefits back into their residents’ pockets , that changes the conversation entirely.
Before Sigma, Ounce's data infrastructure couldn't keep pace with its mission. Community Navigators—the trusted advocates embedded in properties across the country—were tracking thousands of resident interactions across disconnected spreadsheets. Property reports took days to generate. By the time insights reached housing partners, they were already outdated.
The inefficiency wasn't just operational—it was existential. Housing developers needed transparent, timely reporting to understand the value of resident services. Without it, resident services looked like a cost center rather than a strategic investment.
Partners would ask about impact, and the team would struggle to pull manual reports from multiple sources. This process was not sustainable for a team trying to transform an entire industry's approach to resident services.
Housing developers needed transparent, timely reporting to understand the value of resident services.
The breaking point came when Ounce started expanding rapidly. Their manual processes couldn't scale. They needed a data platform that could match their velocity without sacrificing the human-centered approach that defined their work.
When Rachel led the search for a new data solution, she needed something that could transform Ounce's operations, from frontline service delivery to executive reporting.
From day one, the requirement was clear: the system needed to be intuitive for everyone. Community navigators, program managers, housing partners—they all needed to work with data directly, without technical barriers.
Sigma delivered that rare combination: power without complexity. By connecting directly to Ounce's Databricks warehouse, Sigma gave the team real-time access to unified data across all their systems in one place.
Sigma has bridged the gap between technical and non-technical users.
- Brooke Watson, Product Lead at Ounce
The Databricks integration was crucial. Sigma's live connection meant the team could surface new data quickly in a clear and actionable way. There was no waiting for ETL processes or manual updates.
But what really sold the team was Sigma's spreadsheet interface. When they saw Sigma, it clicked instantly. They could filter, sort, and explore using skills they already had. No SQL required.
The transformation was immediate and profound. Report generation dropped from days to minutes. Manual reporting fell by over 80%. Ounce credits Sigma to helping with their 3x growth in states served and 300% increase in resident reach—all within a year. But the real revolution happened in how Ounce repositioned resident services in the market.
Before Sigma, resident services looked like overhead to many developers. Now the team walks into meetings with dashboards showing exactly how their work drives property performance—including dollars back in the pocket of residents and improved resident satisfaction.
We're now able to provide real-time visibility into the resident services happening on the ground, which has been a major unlock in showing our value to housing developers.
- Pooja Mehta, Head of Business Development at Ounce
The platform has become particularly powerful for proactive intervention. Using Sigma's advanced analytics features—including value-at-risk analysis and writeback capabilities—Ounce can identify residents likely to lose benefits before a crisis hits.
"Sigma has helped Ounce expand our custom reporting for housing clients,” said Pooja Doshi Mehta, Head of Business Development at Ounce. “We're now able to provide real-time visibility into the resident services happening on the ground, which has been a major unlock in showing our value to housing developers."
This seamless integration has transformed the frontline team's operations. Community navigators spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with residents. Program managers can monitor outcomes across properties in real time. Housing partners get timely and accurate updates on their portfolios.
The live connection with Databricks lets us surface new data quickly in a way that's both clear and actionable.
- Brooke Watson, Product Lead at Ounce
"Sigma has bridged the gap between technical and non-technical users, making it easy for the team to build reports and run analyses,” said Neal Plofker, Head of Service Design & Delivery. “The live connection with Databricks lets us surface new data quickly in a way that's both clear and actionable."
The governance layer has been equally critical. With Sigma's granular data governance—including row-level security and custom user roles—Ounce can give different stakeholders exactly the access they need.
Housing partners see only their properties. Community navigators access only their residents. It's the perfect balance of transparency and privacy.
The metrics tell a story of explosive growth and deepening impact:
But for Rachel and her team, the transformation goes deeper than operational metrics.
That $200 per month that the team helps families secure? It's groceries for a family of four. It's keeping the heat on. It's a senior paying their rent on time and preventing delinquency. Every efficiency gained through Sigma translates directly to human impact.
The platform allows us to measure resident impact with precision, identify gaps where additional support is needed, and continuously refine our service offerings to maximize positive outcomes for the families we serve.
- Rachel Munsie, CEO and Co-founder of Ounce of Care
“The platform allows us to measure resident impact with precision, identify gaps where additional support is needed, and continuously refine our service offerings to maximize positive outcomes for the families we serve,” Rachel said. “This data-driven approach ensures we're not just providing services, but truly making a difference in people's lives.”
The platform has also unlocked new partnership opportunities. With real-time, transparent reporting, Ounce can demonstrate its value to healthcare organizations, government agencies, and larger housing developers who previously wouldn't have considered resident services.
The team is having conversations they couldn't have had before. When you can show measurable ROI on resident services—access to benefits, housing stability, financial and social growth, etc.—doors open.
Looking ahead, Ounce is exploring how Sigma's AI capabilities can further amplify its impact. They're particularly excited about using predictive analytics to identify at-risk residents before a crisis strikes.
The team is starting to see patterns—missed appointments, benefit lapses, changes in engagement—that can signal someone heading toward instability. Earlier intervention can prevent significant hardship.
The team is also building out its custom data offering for partners, using Sigma as the engine for a new revenue stream. Housing developers want this level of insight across their entire portfolios. Ounce is essentially productizing their data infrastructure, turning internal capability into an external service. Sigma makes that possible without massive engineering investment.
Sigma provides the foundation to grow from 20,000 residents to 200,000 without losing what makes it effective—that human connection backed by data-driven insights.
There's also potential to expand the model nationally. With proven infrastructure and measurable outcomes, Ounce can replicate its approach in new markets faster than ever before. Sigma provides the foundation to grow from 20,000 residents to 200,000 without losing what makes it effective—that human connection backed by data-driven insights.
For Rachel Munsie and her team at Ounce, Sigma represents more than a technology upgrade. It's validation that data and compassion are complementary tools for social change.
The organization is proving that you can run a social impact organization with the same data rigor as a tech startup.
Sigma has been transformative for our work across affordable housing properties.
- Rachel Munsie, CEO and Co-Founder at Ounce
"At Ounce of Care, we believe that accessing and understanding data is critical for measuring meaningful impact in our communities,” Rachel said. “Sigma has been transformative for our work across affordable housing properties, giving us deep insights into the services our team provides and their real-world outcomes.”
As Ounce continues to grow, they're staying true to their founding belief: that embedding support directly within communities can transform outcomes. Now they have the data platform to prove it, scale it, and replicate it nationwide
Read the winners of Sigma’s annual Data Impact Awards here.
Ounce of Care is a community-based service model that partners with affordable housing developers, local organizations, and healthcare partners to bring health and social services directly to residents. They combine highly trained Community Navigators with custom technology and reporting tools to redefine how resident services are delivered. From benefits navigation and service referrals to on-site events, Ounce helps address the biggest barriers to stability and upward mobility. Their mission is to transform how underserved communities access vital support and life-changing resources.
