The show’s over for that nonprofit that organized free movie screenings in SF parks, as the SF Parks Alliance has reportedly decided to dissolve amidst a criminal investigation and the allegation that they’d mismanaged millions of dollars.

It came as a shock when the SF Parks Alliance announced in early May that they were canceling the free “outdoor movies in the park” series Sundown Cinema this year, as that nonprofit could no longer bear the costs of the $30,000-$40,000 for each show. (There is still a free screening of Wicked this Saturday, June 7 as part of the summer-long Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, though the Parks Alliance’s name has been removed as a co-sponsor.)

But there had been indications for months that the SF Parks Alliance’s finances were a mess, especially after the organization laid off a chunk of its staff and their CEO quit, with whispers circulating that there may have been some financial mismanagement.

Those whispers weren’t exactly whispers anymore when SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’s office announced a criminal investigation into the Parks Alliance in late May. Just days later, Mayor Daniel Lurie cut off all city funding to the Parks Alliance.

And as of Tuesday morning, the SF Parks Alliance appears to have gone totally kaput. The Chronicle reports that the organization's board voted to completely shut it down the SF Parks Alliance, saying their reporting was “according to a person familiar with the matter” who was not identified. The SF Standard is reporting the same thing, also from an anonymous source, who may be the same anonymous source in both reports.

Tellingly, the Chronicle and Standard’s reports have been up for more than 12 hours now, and no one from the SF Parks Alliance has pushed back or denied any of it.

The SF Parks Alliance is not the same thing as the SF Rec and Parks Department. Rec and Parks is a city agency that cannot solicit private donations, while the Parks Alliance is a private nonprofit that can fundraise on behalf of city departments and hold money for smaller neighborhood groups or “Friends of the Park”-type organizations. The latter function saved the smaller groups from the hassle of incorporating as nonprofits or handling their own bookkeeping

But the risk in that arrangement is the larger nonprofit could just run off with your money. Indeed, the Chronicle published a May exposé showing that the neighborhood groups were being denied access to their own deposited money, sometimes even unable to get reimbursed for sums as small as $100. That report showed that the Parks Alliance had spent $3.8 million of those others groups’ money on their own operating expenses, and no longer had that money to disburse to the groups that had properly deposited it.

That Chronicle report obtained an email in which the Parks Alliance board said they were “contacting a highly recommended and experienced firm which specializes in non-profit liquidation,” though that firm’s services would cost them yet another $100,000 fee. And they admitted that liquidating would “substantially hurt many small businesses and organizations that will realize a significant loss, causing real hardship in already uncertain times.”

One wealthy family-run charity called the Baker Street Foundation has reportedly seen $2 million of its money disappear that was supposed to be spent on the construction of two new playgrounds at Dogpatch’s recently created Crane Cove Park.

"I wanted a [playground] here, that was what our money was for," said Baker Street Foundation board member Nicola Miner speaking to KPIX last month. "The money was not for general operating expenses. And so, I just feel a real sense of betrayal."

The Chronicle adds that another small organization called Sutro Stewards had about $175,000 deposited with the Parks Alliance, and now they’re not sure if they’ll see that money again.

“The board of trustees and former executive officers had a fiduciary duty to ensure that our restricted funds were not used beyond the scope of our projects,” Sutro Stewards committee co-chair Rasheq Zarif told the Chronicle. “The fact that it has been not only used, but depleted, shows gross negligence on their part... they should be held personally responsible for the losses that we’re all experiencing.”

So the SF Parks Alliance appears to be no more. But the organization figures to stay in the news, considering the District Attorney’s criminal investigation, a separate probe by SF City Attorney David Chiu, plus a set of hearings called by Supervisor Shamann Walton that are apparently set to start this Thursday, and, separately, Supervisor Jackie Fielder requesting a Budget and Legislative Analyst audit of not only the SF Parks Alliance, but also its relationship with the SF Rec and Parks Department.  

It should be mentioned that Supervisors Connie Chan and Aaron Peskin attempted to call out and/or investigate the SF Parks Alliance back in 2020, in connection with their revenue-sharing deal for the Golden Gate Park Ferris wheel that has since moved to Fisherman's Wharf. At the time, the supervisors cast suspicion on the Parks Alliance in general because of the revelation that they appeared to be keeping a $1 million "slush fund" for disgraced former Public Works chief Mohammed Nuru into which city contractors like Recology would deposit occasional, tax-deductible donations.

So this scandal is probably not going away, and could potentially grow even further.

Related: SF Parks Alliance Scandal Explodes, District Attorney’s Office Opens Criminal Investigation [SFist]

Image: SF Parks Alliance