BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
A Santa Clara County program in which individual supervisors choose nonprofits to receive county funds has again come under fire from a civil grand jury, which said that without changes, the program may seem like political favoritism.
The Board of Supervisors will consider a response to the new grand jury report on Tuesday (Aug. 11).
The five supervisors have given out as much as $11 million combined in a single year in what are known as “board inventory items.” Each board member is given an amount to spend during the annual budget process and chooses nonprofits to receive the money. Selections by the individual supervisors go to the full board for approval.
The idea of the program is for community nonprofits to be able to access funding without jumping through a lot of hoops. But the civil grand jury, which serves as a local government watchdog, found in a 2024 report that supervisors don’t use a consistent process for deciding who gets the money. And there’s little follow-up on whether the funds have been used as intended.
“Without a fundamental change in how the program is managed, it continues to have the appearance of being a tool for political favoritism,” the grand jury said in its 2024 report, which recommended scrapping the program if changes weren’t made.
The county rejected all five recommendations from the 2024 report. And after receiving a complaint from a “concerned resident,” this year’s grand jury decided to revisit the issue, issuing a new report on May 29.
Avoiding the appearance of favoritism
The new report concluded that the county by the end of the year “should establish comprehensive, consistent, objective and measurable criteria for the program to mitigate any appearance of political favoritism.”
The new report notes that the supervisors’ own management audit division conducted an audit of the program and made recommendations for improvements in a February report.
The audit found that grant recipients aren’t required to submit plans or budgets detailing how they will spend the money. The county usually doesn’t review the groups’ invoices and receipts.
“The lack of oversight and minimal documentation creates opportunities for misuse of public funds,” the audit said.
The grant program has been around in Santa Clara County since 1999 as “board inventory items.” Before that, it went by other names.
The number of funding awards has ballooned over the years. Nineteen items were approved in 2010-11; that number grew to 372 in 2025-26.
Total funding has varied, peaking at $11 million in 2015-16 and dipping to $2 million during the pandemic in 2020-21.
For the 2026-27 fiscal year, County Budget Director Ezequiel Vega recommended skipping the inventory items as a cost-cutting measure to help address a nearly $800 million budget shortfall. But supervisors voted to keep the program going with $5 million for the year.
The funds weren’t distributed evenly among the five supervisors this year. Instead, they were divided based on an “equity” measure: each district’s share of Medi-Cal enrollees. District 2 Supervisor Betty Duong got the largest amount: $1.8 million. District 5 Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, whose district includes Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos, got the smallest amount: $444,469.
Abe-Koga chose 35 recipients for the money. The Hakone Foundation is receiving $50,000 for the installation of energy-efficient landscape lighting at Hakone Estate and Gardens in Saratoga. The Los Gatos Thrives Foundation is receiving $35,000 for multi-generational mental health and wellness services.
A $10,000 grant is going to Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action for the “bring your own cup” initiative, which aims to reduce the use of single-use cups and straws.
A ‘trivial’ expense
As part of its investigation, the grand jury talked to supervisors about the grant program. Several said the $5 million spent this year on the program was “trivial” compared to the county’s overall $13.5 billion budget, the report said.
A proposed response to the grand jury report that supervisors will consider tomorrow noted that review of the county audit is already underway by the board’s Finance and Government Operations Committee. The committee is expected to continue its review in October.
Another grand jury recommendation is that consistent and objective criteria be used for choosing grant recipients.
The proposed response says such a change “is not warranted.” Each supervisor manages the program as they see fit, to best meet the needs of their district, the response says.
“Given the diversity within the county, the needs of the communities in each supervisorial district can vary widely,” the proposed response says.
Recipients of Abe-Koga’s money
| Proposal Name | Description | Allocation |
| Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) | Support AACI to act as a collaborative advisor and facilitator for the 2026 Health Summit | $30,000 |
| African American Community Service Agency (AACSA) | Support planning costs for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon and an internship stipend for a virtual reality project | $5,000 |
| Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice andEmpowerment | Support safe parking programs in District 5 | $30,000 |
| Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute (APALI) | Sponsor 2027 Asian American and Pacific Islander Public Policy Summit | $15,000 |
| Avenidas | Support creation of a digital video series to help residents and caregivers access aging- related resources | $10,000 |
| Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, Inc. (BAWSI) | Sponsor annual Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative gala | $5,000 |
| Canopy | Provide bilingual UC Climate Stewards Program to residents, providing education on sustainable urban forests | $8,000 |
| Santa Clara Climate Resilience Fund | Provide technical assistance to stakeholders on securing funding and developing workshops and webinars for capacity building related to climate resilience | $7,500 |
| Community Health Partnership, Inc. | Support leadership development for healthcare staff | $20,000 |
| Contemporary Asian Theater Scene, Inc. | Support the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival | $10,000 |
| Fishnet Outreach | Support food service operations, including delivery of groceries and resources | $5,000 |
| Fostering Promise | Create a Young Adult Advisory Council to better address the foster-care-to- homelessness pipeline | $10,000 |
| Hakone Foundation | Support installation of permanent energy-efficient landscape lighting at Hakone Estate and Gardens | $50,000 |
| History San Jose | Support the restoration of the Sakauye Farmhouse at History Park | $10,000 |
| Hope Services | Support expansion of services to provide new job opportunities to individuals navigating intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health needs | $10,000 |
| Korean American Community Service, Inc. | Support open community roundtables meetings located in District 5 and other engagement efforts to connect residents and community resources | $20,000 |
| Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley | Support the Path to Yes pilot initiative, to increase access to homeownership through education and information sharing | $25,000 |
| Latinas Contra Cancer | Sponsor a one-day Cancer Care Summit | $5,000 |
| Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation | Support the Passport Equity Fund that provides free, culturally competent passport workshops delivered through nonprofit partners | $10,000 |
| Los Gatos Thrives Foundation | Support multi-generational mental health and wellness services | $35,000 |
| Maitri | Support technology systems improvements and equip staff with tools to respond to technology-related abuse | $10,000 |
| Montalvo Association | Provide ticket subsidies through the Performing Arts Series for Students (PASS) program, allowing student access to events at the Montalvo Arts Center | $10,000 |
| Move Mountain View | Support safe parking programs in Mountain View and Palo Alto | $10,000 |
| Opportunities For Change (OFC) | Support Reentry Employment Pathways Program that prepares individuals to reenter the workforce | $5,000 |
| Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley | Provide repairs and accessibility modifications for District 5 homeowners | $13,469 |
| Rotary Club of Sunnyvale, California, USA, Foundation | Support the mobile medical clinic based at the Columbia Neighborhood center | $15,000 |
| San Jose Community Media Access Corporation, DBA CreaTV | Support expansion of CreaTV’s Summer Documentary Institute into a full year program | $5,000 |
| Second Harvest of Silicon Valley | Support purchase of food to be distributed through local partners to District 5 residents | $20,000 |
| Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network(SIREN) | Sponsor community leadership appreciation luncheon | $5,000 |
| Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) | Support administration and communication functions for SVBC’s local action teams | $5,000 |
| Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange | Support program development, volunteer coordination, and community partnerships in support of repairing and donating bicycles to the community | $5,000 |
| Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action | Support the “Bring Your Own Cup” initiative to reduce use of single-use cups and straws | $10,000 |
| Society of Heart’s Delight (SHD) | Sponsor SHD’s signature gala event | $3,000 |
| SOMOS Mayfair, Inc. | Sponsor Gracias a la Vida 2027 community celebration and fundraiser | $2,500 |
| SV@Home | Sponsor Women Leading in Housing Annual Brunch | $5,000 |
Same review needed for San Mateo measure K funds. Should not be able to allocate money to an organization endorse candidates.