The former head of San Francisco’s human rights commission funneled public money into organizations she controlled and, at times, into her own pocket as part of a yearslong scheme that cost the city millions, county prosecutors announced this week.
Sheryl Davis, who led the commission from 2016 to 2024, is accused of steering millions of dollars to Collective Impact, a San Francisco-based nonprofit she previously ran as executive director, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. Davis was found to have maintained financial ties to the collective impact after her departure to the commission.
James Spingola, the nonprofit’s former executive director from 2019 to 2025, was also charged with four counts for his alleged role of aiding and abetting Davis’ conflict of interest in the government contracts, prosecutors said. Investigators say he was aware of Davis’ financial stake in the organization and her continued control over its finances.
The charges were announced following an 18-month long investigation that saw authorities serving more than 50 search warrants.
“These are not routine charges,” San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins said in a press conference. “Our investigation revealed that Davis was heavily involved in the decision making process surrounding the allocations of these funds from the very beginning”
The charges include conflict of interest in government contracts, misappropriation of public funds, perjury and accepting prohibited gifts, prosecutors said.
Collective Impact received roughly $8.5 million in city grant funding while Spingola was executive director between 2021 and 2024 through the city’s Dream Keeper Initiative, a program launched in 2021 to invest tens of millions dollars annually in Black communities, according to court documents. A bulk of those funds were distributed by grants approved by the human rights commission.
Jenkins alleges Davis remained a signatory on its bank accounts, directed spending, and used the collective impact nonprofit to cover personal expenses.
The affidavit describes what prosecutors call a “pervasive pattern of self-dealing,” including allegations that Davis directed city contracts to collective impact while sharing finances with Spingola. The two allegedly lived together, maintained joint bank accounts, and paid shared expenses such as flights and hotel stays.
Prosecutors also allege that another nonprofit, homeless children’s network, paid Davis’ son nearly $140,000 for direct contract work including “five presentation slides for a panel she was going to be on, for which Davis was a moderator,” said Jenkins.
During the same period she approved more than $3.5 million in contracts for the organization. That money was deposited into a bank account Davis jointly controlled, according to court documents.
Collective Impact also allegedly paid more than $45,000 to or on behalf of her son going towards payroll, back rent payments and graduate school tuition, according to Jenkins.
In addition, Davis is accused of using city funds for personal branding and public relations services, failing to disclose gifts, and facilitating the purchase of her own book by the San Francisco Public Library, from which she allegedly profited more than $5,000, according to court documents.
The city’s human rights commission declined to comment to The Times on the matter.
An email sent to the Collective Impacts email for information sent back an automated response to The Times, reading “I am no longer with the organization, but my heart and soul is forever with this organization and my community.” It then provided an alternate email address. A message to that email went unreturned Thursday.
Davis and Spingola were arrested Monday.
If convicted, Davis could face two to four years in prison and be barred from holding public office in California.