A Maryland nonprofit currently facing a series of transparency concerns was chosen by the Baltimore City government in 2021 to help manage millions of federal tax dollars after no other organization bid for the job, according to a Spotlight on Maryland investigation.
The Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) has sent about $57 million tax dollars since September 2022 to the Connections Thru Life (CTL) nonprofit. CTL receives the tax dollars through its role as the fiscal agent of the federal Ryan White HIV program in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
Some experts in nonprofit accounting practices expressed concerns about CTL’s transparency issues, including its delayed tax reports, its ties to a for-profit firm and tax liens filed against its only disclosed employee. The experts also questioned the way that CTL gained its contract with Baltimore City.
BCHD released a request for proposal for the Ryan White program fiscal agent services in December 2021. A spokeswoman for BCHD told Spotlight on Maryland that “only two vendors applied” and “one withdrew late in the process” — leaving CTL as the only option.
BCHD’s request for proposal stated that “the successful bidder will have extensive experience complying with state and federal funding reporting and accounting requirements, will receive and disburse funding to sub-recipients at the direction of the Ryan White Program.”
Maryland business records show CTL was formed in December 2021 — the same month BCHD released the Ryan White request for proposal. The IRS did not recognize CTL as a tax exempt nonprofit until February 2022 — one month before the fiscal agent services were scheduled to begin.
Erica Harris, a professor at Florida International University who focuses on nonprofit accounting and governance, said BCHD’s request for proposal appears to show it was looking for a more qualified fiscal agent than CTL.
“With respect to CTL, it does sound like they [BCHD] were looking for a more built out organization that would have been able to provide some details about how they were going to handle the account, especially when the account was so large,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland.
The Ryan White program run through BCHD provides services for those living with HIV in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard and Queen Anne counties, in addition to Baltimore City. CTL disperses grants to participating organizations and provides accounting services.
Amanda Beck, a professor at Georgia State University who specializes in nonprofit accounting and reporting, said BCHD did not have to choose CTL as its fiscal agent.
“This is not a competitive bidding process — it’s not a good position for the city to be in to only have one bidder,” Beck told Spotlight on Maryland. “If it doesn’t get the type of bids that it wants or that it thinks are required to do the job that it’s looking for, then it doesn’t have to choose somebody. It can extend the window, or it can decide to go another path.”
The Associated Black Charities (ABC) nonprofit worked as the previous fiscal sponsor of the Ryan White program in Baltimore from 2014 to 2022, according to a Spotlight on Maryland review of its nonprofit tax forms. ABC states on its website that it sent a letter to BCHD in February 2022 “asking to be removed from consideration to continue work as the fiscal agent for the Ryan White HIV Assistance fund.”
ABC was tied to the “Healthy Holly” scandal that led Mayor Catherine Pugh to resign in 2019. The nonprofit disclosed that it received $87,180 between 2011 and 2016 to pay for Pugh’s book. Nearly $10,000 of the book money was used to pay for “general support” and later returned to donors, ABC claimed in 2019.
CTL is scheduled to use about $500,000 tax dollars to pay eight employees for work related to the Ryan White program in the Baltimore metropolitan area from March 2025 to February 2026, according to the nonprofit’s latest contract with Baltimore City obtained by Spotlight on Maryland.
CTL’s latest nonprofit tax form from 2023 listed 17 employees but only names one: Antawan Anderson, who is listed as the nonprofit’s president. Anderson heads a for-profit accounting firm called Anderson & Company that shares an Owings Mills office suite with CTL.
Spotlight on Maryland reviewed legal documents from 2012 to 2020 that show Anderson paid about $30,000 in tax liens, most of which was owed to the State of Maryland. One case included a garnishment of Anderson’s wages and property, as well as a show cause order for contempt after he failed to appear in court.
Anderson did not respond to requests for comment about his tax liens.
A spokeswoman for BCHD, when asked about Anderson’s tax liens, emphasized that the department’s fiscal agent contract “is with Connections Thru Life, not Mr. Anderson personally.”
“BCHD followed City processes for contracting with Connections Thru Life,” the BCHD spokeswoman told Spotlight on Maryland.
Beck and Harris said BCHD should have at least considered potential concerns about Anderson’s history of tax liens.
“I think it is important to consider all of these angles, particularly when you’re in a position where there are apparently no other competitive offers on the table for you to get these services from,” Beck told Spotlight on Maryland.
“It’s concerning when it’s the only organization that has bid for these kinds of services,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland.
When asked why a nonprofit is needed to conduct the Ryan White program accounting, BCHD’S spokeswoman told Spotlight on Maryland that “BCHD is currently building its capacity to bring the work in house.”
A spokesman for Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry encouraged more “work in-house” for Baltimore City government programs.
“While not speaking directly to the Connections Thru Life, Inc. agreement, the Comptroller broadly believes that the City should bring more of its administrative work in-house and rely less on third-party vendors,” Henry’s spokesman told Spotlight on Maryland.
The comptroller’s spokesman declined to comment on whether Henry believes CTL is being transparent with how it uses taxpayer money.
Harris encouraged BCHD to stop using a nonprofit as the fiscal agent of the program and take on the services itself.
“Taking out some of those layers would certainly provide some more transparency and provide better information to the public but only if the city is really equipped to do that,” she told Spotlight on Maryland.
Harris and Beck cited additional transparency concerns at CTL, including how the nonprofit has yet to publish its 2024 nonprofit tax form. CTL’s 2023 nonprofit tax form does not list how much each Ryan White grantee received, which is a requirement from the IRS.
“I’d say the organization is certainly lacking in its transparency to the public as it relates to how and what programs are being funded and specifically who’s taking care of those funds and where the fiscal responsibility lies within the organization for providing and dispersing those funds,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland.
CTL does not appear to have a website.
Anderson did not respond to requests for him to provide CTL’s nonprofit tax form for 2024.
When asked if CTL is being transparent with how it uses taxpayer money, a spokesman for Mayor Brandon Scott told Spotlight on Maryland that “like all applicants that serve as financial agents on behalf of the City, Connections Thru Life was selected after undergoing the normal due diligence review for a contract with the City.”
“As the administrator of the Ryan White Program, Connections Thru Life is also required to comply with all state and federal reporting and accounting requirements,” Scott’s spokesman continued.
Each member of the Baltimore City Council did not respond to the following questions:
- Do you believe Connections Thru Life is being transparent about how it manages tens of millions of taxpayer dollars?
- Are you concerned that the Baltimore City Health Department needs a nonprofit to manage its federal funding for the Ryan White HIV program?
A spokeswoman for the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the Ryan White program within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that the agency closely monitors its tax dollars nationwide.
“HRSA is committed to ensuring that people with HIV have access to high-quality, comprehensive medical care and essential support services,” the spokeswoman told Spotlight on Maryland. “Through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, HRSA directs federal funds to the areas of greatest need, prioritizing core medical services. HRSA carefully allocates and monitors funding to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used appropriately, in compliance with legislative and program requirements, and in ways that directly advance the goal of combating the HIV epidemic.”
Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C.
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