Amy Andre, the executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, must resign. That's the option that will best serve the Pride Committee and more importantly the LGBT community, both of which deserve a world-class Pride Parade and accurate information from its leaders on the state of the organization.
Sadly, Andre has made excuses or stonewalled for nearly a year in an effort to cover up, confuse, and flat-out mislead the public about the Pride Committee's financial situation.
And the finances are not good. As we report this week, Andre has finally acknowledged the reality: Pride will have a budget deficit of $99,000.
We have been doggedly reporting on Pride for months, because at every turn we were met with either silence from Andre or deliberate misinformation. It is clear that she does not know how to conduct herself as an executive of a community organization that receives public funds.
And, we might add, we have always had open communication with Pride officials. We cannot recall a time in the last 14 years when the Pride Committee has been so out of touch with the gay media – the very media outlets it depends on to recruit volunteers, solicit partners for its beverage program, and build up excitement for the parade and festival.
Stalling and stonewalling
Up until last month, we had not spoken to Andre in person since she came to our office in February for an introductory meeting. At that first meeting, we realized there would be a learning curve because she could not provide even the most basic financial information about the organization.
In April, we started trying to contact her for information about Pride's budget. We got nowhere. In May, we left nine messages for her to contact us. We received no reply. Earlier this summer, Andre was in the room when a reporter went to Pride's offices to try to speak with her. The reporter was told by the former office manager that he could not set up a meeting until he talked to Andre. Andre was in the office at the time but refused to talk to the reporter, hence, a meeting could not be set up. This is how your SF Pride office operated this year.
Andre has instituted a policy that only she or board president Mikayla Connell can speak to the media. While we understand the need to have designated people in communications roles, Andre seems to be micromanaging all official communications. Other board members cannot talk to us, so when we had questions on the treasurer's report, for example, treasurer Belinda Ryan did not respond to our requests for comment. Andre could not or would not answer the questions. When Pride hired a new sponsorship director last month, she would not allow him to talk to us. We wanted to ask him about his plans for increasing sponsorships and his experience in this area. We are still seeking answers to those questions.
Finances
These are tough economic times for everyone. An executive director should be intimately familiar with the organization's finances. The director is charged with the day-to-day operation of the organization and knowledge about its revenue and expenditures is key to that effort. For someone with a master's degree in business administration from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business focusing on nonprofit management, Andre has not demonstrated to us that she has a competent understanding or ability to manage a large organization like Pride and its $1.5 million budget.
In our article last week on Pride finances, Andre said she was unfamiliar with board treasurer Ryan's August finance report that showed a net negative income figure. Granted, Andre was not at that August 3 meeting, but at the very least she could have reviewed that report some time between the meeting and when a reporter met with her on August 27. In any case she was not able to give an accurate assessment and in fact claimed, "We're on the right track."
In that same story, Andre said she thought that the amount of money distributed to Pride's community partners was the same this year as in 2009. That claim is just not true. She should have known that there was a shortfall because Pride held its check distribution ceremony a week earlier. In fact, in the August 19 issue of the Bay Area Reporter we had a photo of the check distribution with a caption that stated this year's total, nearly $132,000 along with, "The funds represent a portion of beverage and gate receipts. Last year Pride gave out $180,265.31 so this year's payments represent a decrease of about $48,000."
Two days after that August 27 meeting, Andre acknowledged that this year's grant total was less than last year.
But the capper, at least for the dozens of nonprofits that participated in the community partner program, is that this year many of them are not getting all of the money they were promised – at least not right away – because of Pride's mismanagement and its looming deficit. Pride seems to be following a trend of delaying payments to its beneficiaries. That's unacceptable because it is a breach of understanding that puts the financial burden on the nonprofits. The nonprofits are so dependent on these revenue streams that many are hesitant to criticize the funding organizations. Pride's obligation in this regard grew out of community demand that a portion of Pride's profits go back into organizations that serve our community.
A fundraising party Pride held in May was a total bust that ended up losing $6,000. Once again, Andre said she was unfamiliar with the figures relating to the party, information that the board president, Connell, was familiar with and shared with us. Pride spent $30,000 to put on the event, which included fees for the venue.
Fundraising
Andre has spoken about the Pride Committee doing fundraising throughout the year. Given Pride's dismal experience with the May party we don't see this as a dependable strategy.
Year-round fundraising puts Pride in direct competition with other community nonprofits for ever scarcer dollars.
Pride brings in a lot of money in June. It has the corporate sponsors, who presumably pay a substantial sum to have their brands associated with one of San Francisco's largest events. Pride collects donations at the festival gates, a portion of which are returned to the community through the above-mentioned community partners program. Pride has run for many years without separate fundraising. It would seem to us that Pride's best opportunity to raise funds is at the event itself.
These other nonprofits, which don't have the huge Pride weekend as a natural fundraising vehicle, are able to reap some of the windfall through their participation with Pride and Pride's plan for year-round fundraising likely will come at their expense.
Yes, the economy is a factor but Pride's own stumbles are also at fault. Connell recently acknowledged to us that the gates were "looser" this year, resulting in less money being collected. There's also a dispute with beverage partners over what Andre claims is an "accounting error" that resulted in less money for those groups.
Importance of Pride
We cannot overstate the importance of a successful Pride weekend for the LGBT community and the city of San Francisco. It is one of the largest parades in the state, and brings in millions of dollars to the local economy. Hotels are busy, restaurants are hopping, and more people are in the Castro. Bars and nightclubs also have one of their busiest weekends of the year. All of that adds up to big bucks both for business owners and the city's hotel and sales tax revenue. It is critically important to keep the event running smoothly. And as we mentioned, a successful Pride has direct financial benefits to our nonprofits.
Pride is promoted to a worldwide audience. And it's the revenue these visitors generate that contributes to the health of San Francisco's tourism industry.
Timing is key
Andre started her tenure as executive director last October. If she steps aside now, the board likely will be able to find a successor who can start in a month or so, which is enough lead time for next year's event. Now is the time for the board to examine this situation and rectify it immediately. If Andre won't resign, the board should step in and replace her.