SF nonprofit circus adds a special Boondoggle side-show
Image by Sergio Bertolini
Hey, where do we send our resumes? An SF nonprofit gets caught expensing tequila shots at Kaliwa, first-class round trips to O'Hare, and (the one we want the most) tickets to Soul Train. SF Standard unpacks the grift.
A nonprofit tied to an evolving City Hall scandal failed to inform state officials about its close ties to a former San Francisco department head and sponsored a separate organization that spent money on steakhouse dinners, liquor, and first-class flights, The Standard has learned.
James Spingola’s Collective Impact, an organization that has received $7.5 million from Mayor London Breed’s flagship Dream Keeper Initiative, has said since 2021 in nonprofit renewal forms required by the California attorney general’s office that it had no conflicts of interest.
However, records show that Spingola shared a home with the Dream Keeper Initiative’s key decision-maker, Sheryl Davis, since at least 2021. Davis, who resigned last week as head of the city’s Human Rights Commission and personally signed off on $1.5 million in contracts to Spingola’s organization, also did not disclose her relationship with the nonprofit executive to City Hall officials, a Standard investigation found.
“It’s a very big deal,” said Joan Harrington, a nonprofit ethics expert at Santa Clara University, of Collective Impact’s filings with the state. “I don’t think there is a way to answer ‘no’ with what was going on.… That is significant that the staff answered that question in a way that appears to be untruthful.”
After auditing a random sample of transactions from the Human Rights Commission, the city controller’s office concluded in July that Collective Impact “is not properly monitored” by Davis’ department.
The Standard has found that another nonprofit, Both Sides of the Conversation, submitted invoices for Dream Keeper Initiative funds spent on expensive meals, liquor, and travel.
Led by Jon Henry, Both Sides of the Conversation says its mission is to “increase mobilization of advancement in Black and Brown communities by providing a safe space for conscious dialogue concerning the needs, systemic barriers, resources, and remedies.”
The invoices submitted by Both Sides of the Conversation include:
$3,443 for first-class flights: a round-trip ticket from Chicago to San Francisco, a one-way ticket from Chicago to San Francisco, and a flight from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
$218 for a Blacklane “luxury chauffeur service” ride in Washington, D.C.
$281 at San Francisco’s Old Clam House for crab cakes, pan-roasted salmon, and wine. Only one person is noted on the receipt.
$1,420 at Kaliwa, a Southeast Asian restaurant in Washington, D.C. Tequila, bourbon, and wine account for $108 of the bill.
$532 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Walnut Creek for three guests ordering $50 plates of seabass, lobster macaroni and cheese, crab cakes, and barbecued shrimp. The bill includes $74 for cognac. The invoice is labeled as an “event consultant dinner” but the physical receipt says “Boyd Birthday.”
$307 at Chicago-based steakhouse STK.
$88 for one person at Afro-Caribbean restaurant Salamander in Washington. The bill includes tequila.
$256 for tickets to “Soul Train” in San Francisco. A Facebook photo of Henry that was reviewed by The Standard shows he attended the event.
“From an ethical perspective, it is very difficult to defend this,” Santa Clara University’s Harrington said of Henry’s invoices. “Someone has to be responsible for that executive director.”
Read the whole thing here.
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