Unpacking Cincinnati’s Funding Oversight: Transparency, Accountability, and Reform

This week on “Citizen Watchdog with Todd Zinser,” is a discussion of Cincinnati’s 200 non-profit and other external grantees. Our examination is just beginning, but we have already found 2 potential conflicts of interest and over a million dollars paid to a private venture capitalist over the past several years. It is not common for a city to pay public funds to a venture capitalist.

One important development is a recent report from the city’s Internal Audit Manager issued on April 27, 2025. She audited a “Leveraged Support” partner that has been receiving $250,000 a year from the city for many years. The report includes serious findings, especially for an organization that has received more than a million dollars from the city over the last several years.

1. Contract management review and oversight need improvement. Among the findings is missing documentation for $14,000 spent during the two years audited. 2. Payroll journals contain insufficient information to determine whether contractual terms are upheld. This is a major finding. This means that the non-profit is not able to support its reimbursement claims for the time its employees spent working on city-related matters 3. A 3rd party is unable to verify the terms of the contract. This is a major finding: This essentially means that the non-profit is “un-auditable.” 4. The contract language should be updated. This suggests that the terms of the funding contract between the city and the non-profit has simply been copied from one year to the next without being updated. Remember that this is only 1 audit of more than 200 non-profits and other external organizations that have been receiving city funding for many years.

https://youtu.be/QiBELQv7UHE