High hopes for SF’s nonprofit bill to clean up scandals and improve efficiency in one fell swoop
An SF bill designed to help preempt scandals and inefficiencies among nonprofits is set to be signed by the mayor. It will impose audits and performance goals on 600 orgs taking over a billion dollars every year from taxpayers. And of all the scandals to highlight, SF Examiner’s Adam Shanks selects one associated with law enforcement. Still, here’s hoping?
The Board of Supervisors approved a bill on Tuesday that directs the Controller’s Office to establish “measurable performance goals” for The City’s contracts with nonprofits and annually review whether city departments are meeting their auditing responsibilities.
The legislation, sponsored by Supervisor Catherine Stefani, comes as a persistent wave of scandals has rocked city-funded nonprofits like SF Safe, the decades-old public safety nonprofit with close ties to the San Francisco Police Department that allegedly misspent more than $80,000 of city money.
The city relies on a bevy of nonprofits to provide social services, distributing more than $1.4 billion to some 600 organizations. However, there is no unified policy for grading those nonprofits and ensuring they meet their contract’s demands with San Francisco.
By standardizing processes around contracting with and evaluating nonprofits, the bill’s backers hope it will also make life easier for nonprofits. The legislation also requires nonprofits that receive more than $750,000 in city funding to submit a financial audit annually.
Stefani introduced the legislation last year but stepped back to make amendments after some nonprofits requested that it be amended to ensure it addressed concerns over racial equity.
Read the whole thing here.
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