By Gabe GreschlerPublished Aug. 12, 2025 • 2:10pm
The financial entanglements between a former San Francisco department head and a nonprofit executive, which set off a scandal last year, was closer than previously thought, according to a document filed Monday by city attorneys.
Sheryl Davis, a longtime leader of the city’s Human Rights Commission, resigned in September after The Standard reported that she lived with James Spingola, head of the nonprofit Collective Impact, during the same period in which she directed six grants worth millions of dollars to his Western Addition-based organization.
The revelations pushed former Mayor London Breed to force Davis’ resignation, though Breed later acknowledged she was aware of the pair’s relationship. The scandal placed major scrutiny on the Dream Keeper Initiative, Breed’s signature program that allocated tens of millions in grant funding for the Black community — some of which Davis approved for Spingola’s nonprofit.
But Davis’ living situation with Spingola was only the tip of the iceberg, according to the city attorney’s office.
In the filing, city attorneys say Davis signed official state nonprofit forms for Collective Impact while she was a city employee and remains a signatory on the nonprofit’s bank account. Additionally, Collective Impact continues to carry a corporate credit card with Davis’ name.
Davis was an employee of Collective Impact from 2011 until she joined the Human Rights Commission in 2016.
In October, The Standard reported that Collective Impact had reimbursed Davis for thousands of dollars in software subscriptions and other expenses while she was working for the city.
The new details emerged ahead of an administrative hearing, set for Monday, to consider Collective Impact’s bid to regain access to city funding after losing that privilege in response to a slew of additional allegations in March that Davis used city cash to pay for her son’s UCLA tuition, leverage her position for personal enrichment, and secure upgrades for first class airfare, among other charges.
Collective Impact will have a chance in the hearing to rebut accusations that it misused city funding and defend itself against other allegations. It’s unclear when a determination on whether the nonprofit can receive city funding again is expected.
City attorneys called Collective Impact an “irresponsible contractor.”
“Collective Impact repeatedly violated state law, the San Francisco Municipal Code, and the terms of its various grants,” the city alleged in the filing. “It misappropriated public funds to provide gifts to Davis and her son. Davis then made funding determinations that favored Collective Impact. Collective Impact also invoiced ineligible expenses, and submitted a false claim.”
On Tuesday, City Attorney David Chiu said Collective Impact received public funding to provide services to “vulnerable San Francisco kids, not be a personal PR firm and travel agency for Dr. Davis, who James Spingola has lived with for years.”
He added, “Collective Impact wasted public dollars, neglected its responsibilities as a City contractor, and failed the children it purports to serve. All City contractors have a duty to ensure public funding is used as intended to deliver high-quality public services.”
Lauren Kramer Sujeeth, an attorney for Collective Impact, said the nonprofit “has acted lawfully and in full transparency.”
She added, “For nearly two decades, Collective Impact has delivered essential programs to the youth of the Western Addition. If there are deficiencies in the City’s nonprofit oversight processes, those are matters for the City to correct – they should not be used to penalize an organization that is faithfully fulfilling its mission and delivering measurable benefits to the black and brown community.”
But in its own filing ahead of Monday’s hearing, the nonprofit’s attorneys denied the city’s accusations from March, claiming that those charges relied on “pure speculation under the guise of circumstantial evidence.”
The attorneys said Collective Impact’s inability to receive city funds has put significant strain on the organization. It has spent roughly $2 million in private funding to keep programs alive but warned that it could shut down by October, resulting in “injurious effect on many Western Addition youth and families.”
In May, Mayor Daniel Lurie proposed merging the Human Rights Commission and the Department on the Status of Women, another agency that has faced questions over spending, as part of a broader plan to root out corruption and misspending in City Hall. Supervisors later approved the plan.