Public Information about City Contracts with Nonprofits

Controller’s Office Information

The Controller's Office manages and creates programs, tools, and reports related to nonprofit contracting: 

• The Citywide Nonprofit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program sets policies, standards and guidelines and coordinates departments in nonprofit monitoring. The program offers training opportunities for City departments and nonprofits doing business with the City. The program currently publishes an annual report about the Fiscal Monitoring Program with an associated dataset of fiscal monitoring findings. 
• The San Francisco Nonprofit Spending and Contracts dashboards present summary data on Citywide spending on nonprofit contractors. 
• SF OpenBook is the City’s financial transparency portal and public database on Citywide spending and contracting. The Supplier Payments and Supplier Contracts search functions include nonprofit contracts.
• The Controller’s Office issues one-time reports and audits on nonprofit spending and performance. Find relevant reports using the Report Search tool. A selection of relevant reports include:
  • Report: Nonprofit Wage and Equity Survey
  • Report: FY 22-23 Annual Report of Citywide Nonprofit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program
  • Audit: The City Should More Effectively Evaluate the Impact of Services Provided by Community-Based Organizations 
  • Memo: Public Integrity Review: The Community Challenge Grant Program’s 2023 Solicitation Process Was Deeply Flawed and Needs to Be Redone Properly
  • Memo: Minimum Compensation Ordinance: Summary of FY19-20 Allocations 
• The Suspended and Debarred Contractors list documents all contractors, including nonprofits, that are not permitted to do work for the City for a variety of reasons ranging from mismanagement to fraudulent and illegal conduct. The list also includes an email notification feature to receive the latest updates on the status of City contractors.

Department Information

Many departments contract with nonprofit organizations to deliver essential services to the public. The departments that do the majority of the contracting publish relevant information about their work. The format and amount of information varies by department. 

This section provides guidance on how to find the following information about nonprofit contracts:

• Spending: Departments post information on spending on budget webpages, uploads of budget presentations, some annual reports, and/or financial dashboards. Many departments have this information available.
• Performance: Departments may include information on performance in annual reports, slide decks from public presentations, and/or performance dashboards. These resources may not explicitly call out nonprofit performance, but nonprofits are key contributors to many of the service area-level or department-level performance that reports and dashboards highlight. Many departments have some type of information on system, service area, or department performance. 
• Services: Departments publish information about core services on their Services or About Us webpages and in public reports. Most departments have this information available.

Seven departments administer approximately 90% of total City spending on nonprofit services. These departments post the following information:

• Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
  • Spending: HSH publishes a budget page that provides an overview of the current and past years’ budget information. They typically publish this under the HSH Budget page.
  • Performance: HSH maintains several dashboards on service area performance. Examples include the Homelessness Response System Monthly Report and the Inventory and Occupancy dashboards. They typically publish this on the Research and Reports page.
  • Services: HSH typically lists out all the services they offer under the Homelessness Response System page. Many of their services are delivered through nonprofit contracting.
• Department of Public Health
  • Spending: DPH typically publishes budget information on the About Us page. These include departmental budget information.
  • Performance: DPH typically publishes reports on the About Us section of the department’s website. These include annual reports, action plans, assessments, and other reports.
  • Services: DPH reports include information about the services they provide, as well as the Community Services section on their home page.
• Department of Early Childhood
  • Spending: DEC publishes links to committee meetings and presentations that include timely budget information.
  • Performance: DEC typically publishes annual reports that include their nonprofit service providers’ performance on their Our Impact page.
  • Services: DEC typically lists out all the services they offer under the What We Do tab. Many of their services are delivered through nonprofit contracting.
• Human Services Agency
  • Spending: HSA typically publishes reports on the Reports + Publications page. These include budget documents related to nonprofit contracting.
  • Performance: Also on the Reports + Publications page, HSA publishes program reports and annual reports. 
  • Services: HSA typically lists out all the services they offer on the Services page. Many of their services are delivered through nonprofit contracting. 
• Department of Children, Youth, & Families
  • Spending: DCYF typically publishes relevant dashboards and reports on their RFP Award Decision page. This includes funding amounts for specific nonprofits.
  • Performance: DCYF provides relevant information on nonprofit performance via two dashboards DCYF Grantees and DCYF Grantee Year End Reports.  The RFP Awards Decision page also includes relevant information on nonprofit performance related to the populations served.
  • Services: DCYF publishes a breakdown of the six service areas they fund on the Services We Fund page.  
• Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development
  • Spending: MOHCD publishes annual reports on their About Us page which have included a percentage breakdown of grants to nonprofit organizations.
  • Performance: MOHCD typically publishes reports on their About Us page. These include progress reports and testimonials on MOHCD’s programs. MOHCD maintains an Affordable Housing Dashboard that includes information about nonprofit affordable housing developers. 
  • Services: MOHCD typically lists out all the services they offer on their home page. Many of their services are delivered through nonprofit contracts.
• Office of Economic & Workforce Development
  • Spending: OEWD typically publishes budget town hall videos and presentations on their About Us page.
  • Performance: OEWD has a wide portfolio of services, only some of which are delivered by nonprofits, so a subset of reports are relevant to nonprofit spending. These include plans and reports related to San Francisco's Community Benefit Districts, public spaces, housing, and workforce development. OEWD typically publishes reports on their About Us page.
  • Services: OEWD typically lists out all the services they offer on their home page. Many of their services are delivered through nonprofit contracting.

Note: Department website links and descriptions current as of 12/09/24. To view all departments in the City, please visit sf.gov/departments.

Citywide Information

Other City agencies gather and publish information related to nonprofit contracting:

• The SF Open Data Portal hosts public datasets, including several related to nonprofit contracts. The “nonprofit” tag allows users to easily find relevant datasets, if the datasets include the tag.
• The Mayor’s Budget Book includes budget information for every department in the City. Departments may include specific information on nonprofit contracting in their sections. The publication also includes general information on contractual services.
• The Board of Supervisors Budget & Legislative Analyst provides analyses and audit reports on City departments and programs to the Board of Supervisors. The Budget and Legislative Analyst's Office issues many reports and audits related to nonprofit contracting. Examples of relevant reports include:
  • May 3, 2024 - Performance Audit of Permanent Supportive Housing Funds Administered by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
  • November 7, 2023 - Performance Audit of San Francisco Street Teams
• Visit Legistar, a library of City legislation, to search a library of City legislation the Board of Supervisors has considered or approved. This includes anything from legislation governing nonprofit oversight and contracting practices to Board approval of nonprofit contracts over $10 million. To find relevant information, search keywords such as "nonprofit," "grant agreement" and "contract approval.” Examples of relevant legislation include:
  • Resolution approving the grant agreement between the City and County of San Francisco and the non-profit Institute On Aging, for the provision of the Community Living Fund program (June 16, 2023) 
  • Ordinance amending the Administrative Code to clarify the Controller’s audit and monitoring responsibilities with respect to nonprofit organizations contracting with the City (March 22, 2024)

Nonprofit Information

Nonprofits may be required to publish information about their work with the City on their own websites. 

If a nonprofit organization received more than $100,000 from the City, the Annual Economic Statement Ordinance requires them to post financial disclosure information on their websites. Learn more about this ordinance by visiting the sf.gov page that explains the requirements. View the list of nonprofits that have posted the required financial information and submitted their website information. 

More Information

• View the Controller's Office Programs, Policies, and Information on Nonprofit Contracting page to learn more about the Controller’s Office’s work on nonprofit policy and oversight.
• Visit the Citywide Nonprofit Monitoring and Capacity Building Program to get more information about the Controller's Office's program coordinating nonprofit and contract monitoring and capacity building.
• View the San Francisco Nonprofit Spending and Contracts dashboards for summary data on Citywide spending on nonprofit contractors. 
• View an interactive directory of accounting firms interested in conducting nonprofit financial audits. Nonprofit organizations can use this to connect with auditors that meet their needs.
• Explore the Public Information about City Contracts with Nonprofits page for an overview of how to find more information about nonprofit spending, performance, and services.
• Learn more about City policies and legislation related to contracting with nonprofits.