For nearly two years, a shrouded city audit hung over San Francisco’s African American Arts and Culture Complex. The financial probe has finally wrapped up and offers clarity to how the 37-year-old institution handled millions of dollars in city funding — and how effectively the city oversaw the grants it awarded, while the nonprofit operated under twin sisters Melonie and Melorra Green.
The final report, published Monday by the city’s Controller, found that five of nine final financial reports relating to the examined grants were submitted late, by between nine and 240 business days. The delays were partly driven by confusion over reporting requirements, errors in grant agreements approved by the San Francisco Arts Commission and late payments to the center and, in turn, to the organizations, projects and individuals that received funding through it.
While the report determined that the AAACC was given responsibilities that it was not equipped to handle, the report did not find that the nonprofit misspent city money or failed to complete the activities outlined in its grant agreements. Auditors generally found that the center completed the required work and met the documentation requirements they reviewed. But management gaps at AAACC contributed to mistakes in its financial reporting that put its administration of city grants at risk, while weaknesses in the Arts Commission’s grant-making and oversight systems further complicated the process…