The taxpayer-backed Baltimore Children and Youth Fund spent about $50,000 to send more than a dozen adults to a South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this year, including expenses for steak and seafood, according to documents obtained in a public information request by Spotlight on Maryland.
BCYF received $16 million Baltimore City tax dollars in the fiscal year 2026 budget — funding that is guaranteed each year through the Baltimore City charter to support local youth programs. The organization is more than 99% funded by Baltimore City tax dollars but operates as a nonprofit that is not required to undergo regular performance audits like city agencies.
Spotlight on Maryland reviewed hundreds of documents revealing how BCYF paid for 15 people, including members of its staff and grantees to attend the South by Southwest education conference in March for four days. Taxpayer dollars funded hotels, flights and meals for the trip.
Specific expenses included a $2,675 group dinner in a private room at Canje, a Caribbean restaurant. One attendee expensed a receipt at the Commodore Perry Estate for a $75 steak and $26 grilled cheese. An expensed receipt at The Boiling Crab included $76 for snow crab, crawfish and fried oysters. One expensed DoorDash order at Shake Shack totaled $44.
Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway, who previously worked as a nonprofit executive at Chesapeake Conservancy, said BCYF should be more careful about how it spends taxpayer dollars, especially amid a budget shortfall and cuts to federal grants.
“We are in a critical moment here in Baltimore, and our young people need us,” Conway told Spotlight on Maryland. “When you’re playing fast and loose with money that should go to kids, that has a real impact. There’s some kid that was not able to find summer camp because we decided to go to South by Southwest, and we decided to have a meal that was very expensive.”
A BCYF spokesman emphasized that they attended South by Southwest’s education conference.
“In March 2025, Baltimore City and Youth Fund attended SXSW EDU, an event focused on bringing together educators, community leaders, and entrepreneurs to share their expertise and engage in discussions about empowering youth through education and skill-building,” he told Spotlight on Maryland. “It is not the film, TV, or music festivals by SXSW.
“During their time at the event, our attendees gained new strategies for youth-led advocacy and tools to help local organizations work effectively together, all designed to be brought back and implemented in our neighborhoods,” the BCYF spokesman continued. “These kinds of events offer Baltimore youth leaders the rare opportunity to learn from national experts, as well as gain national visibility for their organizations, opening up the door for increased resources for the youth they serve.”
When asked what new strategies BCYF learned in Texas and applied to Baltimore, the BCYF spokesman did not respond.
Amanda Beck, a professor at Georgia State University who specializes in nonprofit accounting and reporting, said more information is needed to know whether BCYF’s trip will benefit Baltimore.
“I think that the total price tag is reasonable if they’re getting the value and the education out of that trip,” Beck told Spotlight on Maryland. “Whether or not that conference did deliver the value is something that we would only know if we were actually there.”
Spotlight on Maryland reviewed a document of BCYF’s “informational meeting” about its trip to the South by Southwest conference. However, the portion on the conference “benefits” was redacted.
Other documents obtained in the public information request show that expenses for the conference were listed under BCYF’s “contractors and providers.”
BCYF provides grants to organizations in the Baltimore area that provide programs for youth. However, BCYF’s latest nonprofit tax form for fiscal year 2024 shows 63% of its funding went to grants, with the remaining funds used for administrative costs.
Erica Harris, a professor at Florida International University who focuses on nonprofit accounting and governance, said BCYF may have learned important lessons at South by Southwest but should find ways to increase its spending on grantmaking to local organizations.
“I probably would like to see more than 60% spent on the end users and the program participants,” Harris told Spotlight on Maryland. “But I can’t deny that best practices and learning about best practices in the delivery of your programs can be money well spent in terms of the operational efficiencies of the organization.”
Documents obtained in the public information request show that BCYF President Alysia Lee canceled her returning flight to Baltimore then expensed a $224 flight to El Paso, Texas. A BCYF spokesman said the flight did not violate its policies.
“Travel itineraries originating from or returning to cities other than Baltimore were approved only when the total cost of such travel did not exceed the cost of a comparable round-trip fare between Baltimore and Austin,” the spokesman told Spotlight on Maryland. “Any further travel beyond those changes was covered by the individual, not by the organization.”
One document obtained in the public information request listed how much money attendees expensed for food. However, some of the attendees are redacted and Lee is not listed.
BCYF’s latest nonprofit tax form from 2024 shows Lee was paid more than $200,000.
Spotlight on Maryland reached out to Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott and City Council President Zeke Cohen asking if they approve of BCYF paying for an out-of-state trip. Cohen’s office declined to comment. Scott’s office did not respond.
The BCYF trip to Austin, Texas, was not an isolated incident.
BCYF took a trip to New Orleans as a part of its capacity building initiative in April, one month after the South by Southwest conference. The organization took another capacity building trip to Alabama in February 2024. The National Council of Nonprofits defines capacity building as “an investment in the effectiveness and future sustainability of a nonprofit.”
BCYF paid for its racial equity committee to attend the Facing Race conference in St. Louis in November 2024.
Spotlight on Maryland reviewed thousands of records obtained in public information requests that revealed BCYF spent about $300,000 on the four trips, which were taken over a 15-month stretch. Each trip was for adults only.
Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by FOX45 News, The Baltimore Sun and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.