Collective Impact, a nonprofit, has received $27 million in city funding since 2021.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Thursday that his office will begin and immediately stop the process of immediately stopping the impact of the group, a Bay Area nonprofit that is being scrutinized for abuse of city grants.
The ban means that nonprofits will be stripped of their privilege to bid or receive new city contracts or grants.
Collective Impact received urban grants for vulnerable youth and families in San Francisco. However, an ongoing joint audit and investigation by the San Francisco city’s law firm and controller firm revealed that collective impact had used city funds for a gorgeous gift to former San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) director Cheryl Davis.
Instead of using funds received on at-risk youth and families, the collective impact has poured tens of thousands of dollars into Davis’ personal business ventures, first-rate travel and even his son’s education at UCLA.
Davis worked as executive director for Collective Impact from 2011 to 2016. She shares her home and car with James Spingola, executive director of the nonprofit.
“The intensive impact has received more than $27 million in city grants to support the city’s most vulnerable since 2021,” Chiu said. “Our community deserves these resources and cannot allow public money to be diverted for personal benefits and self-promotion. All city employees are responsible for securing public funds aimed at providing high quality public services.”
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The Epoch Times contacted Davis and had a collective impact on him for the comments, but he had not received a response.
The City Attorney’s Office said these funds were allocated to have a positive impact on the community rather than enriching intermediaries.
“Misuse grants for the benefit of the individual or for the benefit of a select few people is not just a robbery of resources from those in need,” said controller Greg Wagner. “It erodes the confidence of those doing important jobs and unfairly casts a shadow over an organization counting all the dollars. Our residents deserve accountability.”
Davis did not reveal that she lived with Spingola despite signing seven contracts between the HRC and collective influence and awarding nonprofits millions of dollars with a clear conflict of interest.
Collective Impact has fostered Davis’ personal business ventures and spent public funds paying gifts from collective impact on Davis, including marketing costs for Davis’s book, podcast talent bookings, first class airfares to promote her books and podcasts, and luxurious accommodation.
Between 2022 and 2024, Collective Impact gave Davis and two other HRC employees thousands of dollars.
“Nevertheless, Davis has repeatedly made decisions that benefited the collective impact, such as signing grant agreements and approving grant spending,” reads a press release from the city attorney’s office.
Additionally, Collective Impact filed an inappropriate claim for a city refund, including more than $19,000 to pay the tuition fee for Davis’ son to attend UCLA graduate school.
Collective Impact charged the city with a $49,999.99 payment for Davis, Spingola and others to attend the 2023 meeting in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, despite expressly excluding travel and meeting fee funding.
The city’s lawyers’ office further found that the collective impact spent more than $75,000 on city funds in 2022 and 2023 on paying for employees, including executive directors and CFOs, in addition to more than five city employees. The nonprofit has also charged the city for its scholarship, despite being an illegal payment, as performance bonuses are also prohibited.
Davis resigned from the city in September 2024. The HRC and the Economic Workforce Development Authority ultimately terminated the contract with collective impact.
The Controller’s Urban Performance Unit collectively impacts the Tier 3 surveillance status, the highest risk category for nonprofits, and flags nonprofits for serious financial or programmatic concerns.
The city’s lawyers’ office explains the basis for the ban on collective impact in a press release, claiming that the collective impact violated the local government code through a gift to HRC employees, bribed Davis and supported and helped Davis’ conflict of interest in violation of the campaign and government code of conduct.
Additionally, collective impact filed bill payments for ineligible meeting costs, ineligible costs that violate grant terms, and illegal claims that were illegally paid in violation of city ethics laws in the campaign and government code of conduct.
The audit of HRC’s non-contract payments and all grants to collective impact from the four city departments remain ongoing.
