Joy Venturini Bianchi has long been known around San Francisco as a fashion icon in thick oversized glasses, a perennial presence at red carpet galas, and as the proprietress of a nonprofit appointment-only store in NoPa that sells lightly used high-end clothing donated by her socialite friends like Ann Getty as well as internationally-known designers like Stella McCartney. But several Chronicle reporters have been sniffing around the charity she helps run, of which the couture shop is one fundraising arm, called Helpers Community Inc., formerly known as Helpers of the Mentally Retarded, and the resulting exposé is fairly damning, if not all that shocking given that it's a small non-profit run by wealthy socialite fashion icon.

The 78-year-old Bianchi has been on the board of Helpers since the 1960's, and the organization used to own several residential homes for the developmentally disabled around the vicinity of Golden Gate Park. The last of the homes, besides the Fulton Street property where Helpers House of Couture resides, was closed in 2002, and it seems that over the last decade and a half the organization has struggled somewhat to fulfill its mission of giving grants to organizations and individuals who provide services, housing, or residential care to the developmentally disabled. Between 2002 and 2009, the Chronicle reports, the organization, with a $6 million endowment, gave nothing to any other charitable organization, and since 2009 it has been giving grants to a handful, having distributed about $405,000 over the last seven years — the bulk of it to a Massachusetts nonprofit called Medical Missions For Children, which doesn't actually aid the developmentally disabled, but funds surgeries for children born with facial deformities in third-world countries, though some of these kids have additional disabilities.

Meanwhile, Helpers and Bianchi have done a great job fundraising, taking in about $820,000 in 2015 alone. And Bianchi herself gets nearly $200,000 in annual compensation as the nonprofit's paid executive director, making her one of the best paid heads of a nonprofit in the city — and it should be noted that that sum far exceeds what the organization gives in grants each year, though that number has risen in the last two years.

A nonprofit, in order to retain its tax-exempt status, should be giving away about 65 percent of its revenue each year, but it looks like Helpers has been sitting on a considerable amount of cash and assets for well over a decade and not doing much to fulfill its promise to donors.

And it's the fault of the organization's five-person board, which includes Bianchi and her longtime friend, Peggy Bachecki.

Having been given an advance look at the Chronicle's findings, State Senator Mark Leno suggested that while Bianchi's work with the developmentally disabled, dating back to 1960's, was pioneering, "It would appear that the board is in need of a serious governance makeover."

In an October interview with the Chron, Bianchi only said, "We’re very happy with what we’re doing," and assured the reporters that during years when no money was given out, "we were fiscally responsible for our donors’ money, and they trusted our judgment to find where those dollars — according to our standards — would make a difference in the lives of those who are developmentally disabled."

We probably haven't heard the last of this mini-scandal, which follows quickly on the heels of the dustup surrounding some curious financial dealings of fellow "defiant" socialite Dede Wilsey at the deYoung Museum.

Related: Oh Dear, Dede: As She Predicted, Wilsey Is Staying In Charge Of Museums Board