Are you a journalist covering San Francisco elections this year? If so, your 2024 may be filled with hours trying to make sense of dense campaign finance documents and endlessly scrolling the sfethics.org website, scouring for the latest scoop. If navigating campaign finance data has ever given you a headache, or if you're an experienced journo in need of a light refresher, we’re here to help.

The Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter is teaming up with the San Francisco Ethics Commission to host a workshop to fine-tune your campaign finance skills ahead of one very busy election year.

In the 1.5-hour program, Ethics Commission staffers will explain local campaign finance rules, and give tips and tricks for navigating the sfethics.org website and its data dashboards. There'll also be a Q&A portion for all your burning campaign finance questions.

The event is free, and you don’t need to be an SPJ member to attend. But we do encourage you to sign up to become a member of SPJ NorCal to hear about our future events and support our work in the journalism community.

Transit access: KQED is within a stone’s throw of several Muni lines, including the 22-Fillmore, 33-Stanyan, 27-Bryant, and 9-San Bruno. It’s also a 15-minute walk from the 16th St. BART station.

About the Ethics Commission

The San Francisco Ethics Commission was created directly by the City’s voters with the passage of Proposition K in November 1993. Through its staff, the Commission is responsible for the independent and impartial administration and enforcement of laws related to campaign finance, public financing of candidates, governmental ethics, conflicts of interests, and registration and reporting by lobbyists, campaign consultants, permit consultants, and major developers.

Our mission is to practice and promote the highest standards of integrity in government. We achieve that by delivering impactful programs that promote fair, transparent, and accountable governmental decision making for the benefit of all San Franciscans. Public service is a public trust, and our aim is to ensure that San Franciscans can have confidence that the operations of the City and County and the decisions made by its officials and employees are fair, just, and made without any regard to private or personal gain.

About SPJ NorCal

The Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is a longstanding institution that works to support journalists based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and cities and towns throughout the region. We advocate on issues that affect full-time news staff and freelancers alike. We host conferences, programs, workshops and other networking opportunities to support professional growth and development.

For more than three decades, SPJ NorCal has hosted two annual awards banquets to highlight outstanding work. In the fall, the Excellence in Journalism Awards is held to recognize extraordinary contributions in news over the past year and to honor long-term accomplishments with accolades like the Career Achievement award. In the springtime, SPJ NorCal’s Freedom of Information Committee hosts the annual James Madison Freedom of Information Awards banquet to highlight journalistic work that has bolstered the principles of government transparency and accountability.

San Francisco Campaign Finance Workshop for Journalists