Statement by Supervisor Joel Engardio
January 12, 2023

Time to Stop Paying the Nonprofits Fleecing City Hall 

The San Francisco Standard recently reported on City Hall’s lack of oversight of nonprofits. This is exactly what I told the 600 people at my inauguration for San Francisco supervisor. It was the loudest cheer of my speech. Residents care about competence and we must deliver!

The San Francisco Standard investigation showed that “$25 million in taxpayer dollars last year to dozens of charities that were blocked by state law from receiving or spending funds…As of early December, the city had active contracts with nearly 140 nonprofits that failed to comply with state registration requirements, potentially leaving San Francisco on the hook for over $300 million with scofflaw charities.”

Read the full report.

The week before the San Francisco Standard published its investigation, I addressed the problem at my inauguration on January 7, 2023. Here’s what I said:

“Let’s identify and shut down corrupt nonprofits that fleece City Hall.

We need to measure every city-funded program for success. And only pay for what works.

Because every dollar we waste is a dollar that could have gone to help someone in need.”

When I talked about safety and education in my inauguration speech, the audience applauded and even cheered. But the line that got the biggest cheer was about stopping nonprofits from fleecing City Hall.

I repeated those remarks two days later at my first Board of Supervisors meeting on January 9. 

I also added: 

“As a board, we should take reports by our city controller very seriously. If the controller is finding problems with where we’re spending money, we need to take action. 

We will have a lot of tough decisions about the budget in the coming months. It would be a shame to make cuts on a successful program when we haven’t first stopped paying for things that don’t work.”

Read the city controller’s report about the 600 nonprofits that City Hall contracts with for a cost of $1.4 billion.

The report mentions some who are problematic. We must ensure we do not fund the bad apples. Especially since we face a budget deficit. Let's make sure we fund the good nonprofits and the programs that are proven to work!

Watch video of my full inauguration speech and read transcript.