Rules Committee approves amendments and forwards ordinance to centralize nonprofit reporting and set $100,000 threshold

The Rules Committee on June 12 accepted amendments and forwarded an ordinance to the full Board that revises the Administrative Code to centralize nonprofit reporting and limit the city’s required reporting to organizations receiving more than $100,000 annually.

Sponsor Supervisor Asha Safai said the legislation follows reporting by local media and controller audits that identified gaps in nonprofit oversight, and is intended to centralize basic economic and governance information with the city administrator, require that an organization be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) and be registered with the California Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts where applicable. The ordinance also requires an annual economic statement and gives the controller authority to periodically review compliance and report noncompliant organizations to the city administrator, mayor and Board.

City Controller Ben Rosenfield said he worked with the sponsor and the city administrator and that the amendments are intended to improve transparency while minimizing paperwork and acknowledging reasonable staff efforts to comply. Public commenters endorsed the goal of transparency but urged caution: Debbie Lerman of the San Francisco Human Services Network noted many nonprofits’ delinquent status can stem from state processing delays or recent form changes and urged alternative compliance options so vital services are not disrupted; David Pilpel suggested the committee consider how the $100,000 threshold relates to the $250,000 threshold in Administrative Code Section 12L.

The committee voted to accept the amendments and then moved the ordinance, as amended, to the full Board with a positive recommendation (Walton: aye; Safae: aye; Dorsey: aye).

What’s next: The ordinance will be considered by the Board of Supervisors; if adopted, the city administrator and controller will publish rules and begin centralized collection and public posting of required nonprofit information.