Grand jury urges overhaul of nonprofit grant procurement; supervisors request mayor's reforms

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Sept. 18, 2025, heard the civil grand jury's "Capacity to Serve: Setting Social Services Nonprofits Up for Success" report, which found that an overcomplicated grant procurement system, uneven department capacity and inadequate tools are hindering timely and effective use of more than $1 billion in nonprofit-contracted social services. The committee filed the hearing and sent a response resolution to the full Board of Supervisors.

The jury's presenter, Nicholas (Nick) Weininger, described three core problems: insufficient nonprofit management capacity to handle large, complex contracts; procurement rules that have become fragmented by repeated carve-outs; and monitoring and audit systems that can take years to correct serious nonprofit mismanagement. "When we looked into this... we talked to a lot of people across the city," Weininger said. "There's a lot that requires first-principles thinking about procurement with integrity and efficiency."

Why it matters: City departments now route roughly a billion dollars a year through nonprofit contracts (about 20% of social-services…