A local nonprofit that has had its hands in many prominent projects around San Francisco, and that was linked to the Mohammed Nuru corruption scandal, appears to be under a significant financial burden after some of its funding disappeared.
The San Francisco Parks Alliance, which has worked in tandem with Department of Rec & Parks and the Department of Public Works for many years, in addition to funneling donated funds to multiple neighborhood groups, has long been known as a fairly well-heeled organization. Their annual Party for the Parks fundraiser in September is always a who's-who of the traditional society pages in SF, and the group's work only grew during the pandemic as more public spaces were activated for residents' use.
But as the Chronicle reports today, with their growth and success came some very high operating expenses, and perhaps the city audit of four years ago combined with the crackdown on corruption at another SF grant-giving agency has not done the Parks Alliance any favors in terms of cashflow.
The alliance underwent a round of layoffs late last year, losing eight staff members, and six more were let go this month — leaving a staff of just nine full-time staff and four part-timers, per the Chronicle. And, longtime CEO of the alliance Drew Becher resigned in February, and a new leader has been installed, Robert Ogilvie.
Belt-tightening and a cash crunch over the last year or so has led to some organizations who "store" funds with the alliance telling the Chronicle that they fear losing their funds altogether if the nonprofit falls apart. As one of its services to local groups, the Chronicle explains, the Parks Alliance helps to raise money for them and holds their cash accounts, removing the burden of the smaller groups having to apply for nonprofit status themselves.
Ogilvie tells the paper, "I don’t think we’re facing an existential crisis. These are tough budgetary times in the city of San Francisco. They are for everybody. … I think we are recalibrating, we are tightening our belt, we’re fundraising and we’re going to get through it."
But when asked by one neighborhood group, the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, if it could immediately access the $100,000 it should have in the alliance's accounts, Ogilvie responded, "I would appreciate the time to do some more fundraising."
The Parks Alliance serves a vital purpose in being able to collect private donations for parks projects and funnel these to the Rec & Parks Department — monies that, as a city agency, the department couldn't raise on its own. Many cities have these "friends of" organizations that help support things like libraries and museums.
But an audit in 2021 found that the group had inappropriately taken in about $3.5 million in anonymous donations, and that these donations might have been part of the pay-to-play culture cultivated by former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru. A federal investigation had also found that Nuru had a $1 million "slush fund" administered by the alliance, which he could use as he pleased for his department's parties, swag, and other expenses, and which was used by contractors like Recology to curry favor with Nuru.
After the audit, the alliance agreed to accept no more anonymous donations over $100.
Some corruption allegations at another city entity, the Community Challenge Grant Program, resulted in that program being shut down last year — and program director Lanita Henriquez was arrested on bribery charges. That program was providing the Parks Alliance with a reliable funding source, as the Chronicle explains, and the alliance's management failed to adjust how money was being spent after losing these funds.
It's unclear exactly how much grants and donations have gone down in the last couple of years, but the alliance says that it still takes in about $2 million per year.
We can probably expect that this story doesn't end here, and certainly seems to be part of the long tail of that now five-year-old FBI probe and its after-effects. But as North Beach parks advocate and onetime supervisor Julie Christensen tells the Chronicle this week, "If everybody cuts and runs and [the Parks Alliance] dies, it’s going to be very bad for San Francisco."
Photo: David Vives
