Caring For Denver is cutting off the booze tab. The foundation says it will stop reimbursing alcohol purchases after a city audit flagged questionable administrative spending and lapses in how grants were vetted. The move is meant to shore up trust in how voter-approved tax dollars are handled, even as the foundation and the auditor continue to argue over what other reforms are actually needed.
What the audit found
The Denver Auditor's office reviewed a sample of 734 administrative expenses and found that 598 were meal reimbursements, including more than 200 paid to one executive. About 75 of the items included roughly $3,130 in alcohol. The audit also identified at least 10 grants that did not align with the city ordinance and documented grantees that submitted falsified, misleading or incomplete applications. Those findings and the auditor's recommendations are laid out in the Denver Auditor's report.
Foundation response
Executive Director Lorez Meinhold told council members the foundation's administrative budget is roughly $2.5 million and that alcohol reimbursements averaged about $1,000 a year, a small share of overall administrative spending. Meinhold said the foundation will recommend changing its policy to stop alcohol reimbursements going forward, while disputing parts of the audit's interpretation. As reported by Axios, Caring For Denver disagreed with seven of the auditor's 15 recommendations.
Council and auditor reaction
City Council members praised the foundation's mission but pressed its leaders on why more of the auditor's recommended reforms were not adopted. Auditor Timothy O'Brien said rejecting seven recommendations is unusual and raises stewardship concerns, noting that "many of those expenditures were one person having dinner and drinks." Denver7 covered the hearing and the auditor's comments.
Why this matters
The fund comes from a 0.25% sales-tax increase approved by voters and set up to expand behavioral-health and substance-use services; Caring For Denver had awarded more than $185 million to about 270 organizations as of Dec. 31, 2024, according to the auditor's materials. At that scale, gaps in vetting, documentation and allowable administrative spending matter for how city tax dollars are funneled into Denver's mental-health safety net. Local investigative reporting has previously raised questions about transparency and unvetted grantees, which gives the new audit renewed weight for policymakers and advocates; see reporting by CPR News and earlier coverage in a prior oversight story, as per Hoodline.
What to watch next
The auditor's office says it will follow up on recommendations at a later date, and the foundation's contract with the city runs through mid-2027, giving officials a runway for closer oversight and potential contractual changes. Policymakers will be watching whether Caring For Denver adopts tighter vetting, clearer documentation practices and more of the auditor's controls ahead of that follow-up review; Denver7 notes the auditor plans the subsequent review.
