San Francisco’s Department on the Status of Women appears to have violated local laws by approving a $30,000 overpayment to a political nonprofit with close ties to a city official who is currently suspended, an investigation by The Standard has found.
A review of contracts and invoices for last spring’s Shift Happens women’s policy summit — an eight-hour event that cost almost $620,000 and featured massages and a fashion show — found that Ignite National received $100,000 to put on the event. The payment was 43% more than what was allowed in the contract.
A source with knowledge of the situation said Kimberly Ellis, the department head who was placed on paid leave almost two weeks ago, overruled an employee who raised concerns during a budgeting reconciliation process and forced through the excess payment.
Ellis, who did not respond to requests for comment, had done business with Ignite before. The nonprofit paid her consulting company, Southern Belle Strategies, $10,000 or more shortly before she took a job with the city in 2020, according to city records.
Since her suspension, a slew of reports have uncovered a pattern of curious spending by Ellis’ department. The list of eyebrow-raising expenses include an $85,000 contract for a “dear friend” who took part in a fancy staff retreat near Tahoe, a similarly expensive glamour photo shoot for staff and oversight commissioners, and the one-day Shift Happens conference, which included extravagant purchases on food, flowers, a DJ, plane tickets, and staff hotel stays in the face of the city’s looming billion-dollar budget crisis.
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Last week, The Standard obtained a trove of documents that the department previously claimed did not exist. Contracts and invoices for the 2024 Shift Happens conference show that Ignite was originally slated to be paid $50,000 for administrative costs, equaling 10% of an event budgeted at $500,000. The payment for Ignite’s “in-direct costs” increased to $70,000 when Ellis and the city attorney’s office signed off on an amended grant agreement on April 12, 2024, which raised the total cost of the conference to $700,000.
However, records suggest the nonprofit actually received $675,000 from the city to cover all costs related to the event. A detailed invoice shows the nonprofit reported spending just over $519,891 but failed to return the appropriate amount of excess funds.
When it came time to reimburse the city, another invoice from Ignite dated June 25, 2024, shows that the nonprofit only sent back $55,108.92, leaving it with exactly $100,000 in remaining funds. The nonprofit filed records with the California attorney general’s office showing that it received a grant from the city and county of San Francisco totaling $619,891.08, which is exactly $100,000 over the cost of the Shift Happens conference. The reimbursement Ignite gave back to the city would raise that total to exactly $675,000.
Amanda Conlee, chief operating officer for Ignite, did not respond to The Standard’s requests for comment Monday. A spokesperson for the nonprofit’s CEO, Sara Guillermo, sent a text message saying Ignite “did receive a grant and followed all guidelines.” The message added that the nonprofit would have no further comment.
Ellis would not have been able to award the no-bid contract for Shift Happens to Ignite without getting approval from the Commission on the Status of Women, which oversees the department and is chaired by Sophia Andary. In a possible conflict of interest, the commission signed off on the contract for Shift Happens, and Andary was then paid a $1,000 speaker fee.
She declined to answer questions when reached by phone Monday evening, referring all inquiries to the city attorney’s office.