On behalf of San Francisco Pride, I would like to thank the B.A.R. for reporting on Pride's $99,000 deficit in last week's edition. We sincerely hope this coverage helps generate more donations to ensure the continuation of our community's most sacred event. Pride, like virtually all nonprofits, has been hard hit by the global economic crisis. Time , USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post have all reported on the difficulties faced by nonprofits in the wake of the recession. All across the country, nonprofits of every type are seeing their corporate and individual donations drop off. In response, we are seeing nonprofits cutting back programs, laying off employees, and even going out of business altogether. Here in San Francisco, we do not need to look far afield to see the truth of this; the financial problems of our own LGBT Community Center made headlines earlier this year, and, after 35 years of providing mental health and social services to the LGBT community, New Leaf: Services for Our Community will close its doors on October 15 following "severe financial reversals." There is no doubt that the global economic crisis has hit our local LGBT nonprofits, and Pride is no exception.
At the same time, there is no need for the community to panic. Pride is not in danger of going out of business anytime soon. Historically, Pride has run a deficit at the end of the year about 50 percent of the time. While $99,000 is certainly more of a deficit than we would like to have, it is not an insurmountable debt. Earlier this month, our board of directors approved a budget for the 2010-2011 year that will wipe out the deficit entirely. This budget is the product of weeks of work by our Executive Director Amy Andre, treasurer Belinda Ryan, and our Budget and Finance Committee. There is a price for this fiscal responsibility �" we had to make numerous cuts, including elimination of the Jumbotron screens that debuted at this year's festival, as well as travel expenses for board and staff to LGBT conferences. We also cut an unfilled staff position, the director of external relations, and now that position's job responsibilities will be shouldered by the remaining staff. These and other cuts we've made will eliminate the entire current deficit and allow us to continue the largest, most fabulous Pride event in our country.
All of this we shared with the community (and the B.A.R. ) at our annual general meeting on Sunday, September 12. Pride is, as always, as transparent as it can be. Our board meetings and our general membership meetings are open to the public (they take place on the first and second Tuesdays of the month, respectively, at 7 p.m. at Pride's offices) and we invite all who are interested to attend. Pride is, as it has always been, entirely committed to serving our community.
Speaking of our community, we must apologize to many of our community partners. As mentioned by the B.A.R., for four years, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, we miscalculated expenses related to our beverage partners program. As a result, we overpaid our beverage partners for those four years, and Pride shouldered the bulk of expenses whose cost was supposed to be split. This year, as a result of staff changes, our new executive director and our bookkeeper found the error and corrected it, resulting in lower (but correct) payments to our beverage partners. Unfortunately, many of our beverage partners had expected to receive larger payments because of the expectations set by the erroneous 2006-2009 payments.
We know some of our beverage partners were expecting much larger payments than they received this year, and we sincerely apologize for the accounting error in 2006-2009 that led to those unrealistic expectations. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to overpay our beverage partners in the current economic climate. In good times we can, and did. For example, in my first two years as president of Pride, 2007 and 2008, the board of directors actually approved paying our community partners more than we were obligated to because Pride made a surplus in those years (this approved overpayment was in addition to the erroneous and then unknown overpayment that was occurring because of the accounting error previously mentioned). When Pride makes a surplus, we are happy to spread the wealth among our community partners. Unfortunately, due to the global economic crisis, we are no longer making a surplus and we can no longer afford to overpay our partners, either through approved overpayments or through errors. So, once again, we sincerely apologize for the accounting errors in 2006-2009 that led to our beverage partners' expectations this year.
We do take issue, however, with the B.A.R. editorial calling for the resignation of our new executive director, Amy Andre. In the editorial, the B.A.R . sharply criticizes Andre for Pride's current deficit, the problems around beverage partner compensation, and the lack of return on Pride's latest fundraising efforts. We, the board of directors of Pride, believe these criticisms are unfair. First, as discussed earlier, nonprofits all around the country are facing decreased revenues and large deficits. Pride's current deficit is not the fault of an executive director who has not been in her job for even a single year yet �" it is a product of the worst economic crisis our country has seen since the Great Depression. As discussed earlier in this letter, non-profits all across the country are facing similar deficits, or much worse. Many, like New Leaf, have already gone out of business or will in the near future. Expecting Andre to completely insulate Pride from the effects of a global economic crisis that has caused donations to nonprofits to drop off precipitously is unrealistic. It is a credit to Andre (and the board, members, staff, and volunteers of Pride) that we have not been more severely impacted.
Second, the problem with beverage partner compensation started in 2006, three years before Andre came to Pride. Indeed, it was Andre (and our bookkeeper) who discovered and corrected the problem. No one is happy about the beverage partners making less money than they expected to, but Andre did not create this problem. She is one of the people who identified the error and solved it.
Finally, the B.A.R. was particularly critical of the new fundraising efforts undertaken by Pride since Andre was hired as executive director. For example, the B.A.R . reported on our May kick-off event, which cost us $30,000 to produce, but brought in only $24,000. What the B.A.R . fails to note is that most first-time fundraising events do not break even, and the creation of permanent revenue streams usually takes time and money. Our kick-off party in May was the beginning of our campaign to develop a base of individual donors who will help diversify Pride's income so that we are less dependent upon corporate donations, our beverage program, and gate donations. The cost of the May event was an investment in the creation of that individual donor base. This is a long-term investment, not a short-term one. We do not expect it to pay off this year, or even necessarily next year. This is part of a strategic plan to diversify Pride's income streams to help us better weather recessions, unforeseen events, and (quite literally) a rainy day.
These things do not happen overnight and they do not come for free. We must invest if we want to see a return. And that is what this year's additional fundraising efforts are about �" long term returns. Calling for Andre to resign because our investment did not return immediate profits is both unfair and unrealistic.
In addition, the B.A.R. did not mention all the other things Andre has done at Pride in her short time here, and by not doing so, the reader fails to gain an accurate picture of a dedicated, hard-working, very intelligent and inspired individual. Since coming to Pride, Andre has, for example, completely rewritten our employee handbook, bringing Pride's HR practices in line with current best practices. She has also brought on a professional fundraiser, Troy Coalman, who has begun expanding Pride's fundraising efforts in directions Pride has never gone before (without giving up on our standard fundraising efforts) as explained above. She also reorganized the entire staff, so that now we can do more with less. And she eliminated some of our expensive contracts and brought work in-house, saving Pride tens of thousands of dollars.
In short, she did exactly what she was supposed to do �" she led the premier Pride organization in our country through yet another fantastic event, which saw approximately one million people come to our city to educate, commemorate, liberate, and celebrate at Pride's 40th anniversary. That she was able to do this during the worst economic recession to hit our country since the Great Depression is a testament to her skill, dedication, and drive. Yes, Pride ran a deficit for the year, but with Andre's help, we will overcome it this year. Yes, we discovered a problem in our beverage partners program, but the problem wasn't Andre's fault, she is the one who found and corrected the problem. Yes, we lost money on some of our fundraising efforts this year, but that is because the money spent is a long-term investment that will help diversify Pride's sources of funding and make us more resilient than ever in the years to come.
In sum, Andre should not resign. We owe her an honest chance to prove what she can do as Pride's executive director. It has been a stormy year, and we have certainly had our issues, but Andre is not the cause of the global economic crisis anymore than she is the cause for mistakes made by other people years before she came to Pride. She is a dedicated, hardworking, intelligent, compassionate leader who deserves an honest chance to show what she can do. Accordingly, we, the board of directors of Pride, stand behind her as we take Pride into the next decade.
As we make this journey, we count on LGBT publications, such as the B.A.R., to report fairly and accurately upon Pride and its people. Only through fair and unbiased reporting can we hope to continue to attract the selfless volunteers, quality staff, individual donors, and corporate sponsors that make Pride possible. So, to that end, we ask the B.A.R. to give Andre a chance �" please retract your request for her to resign and let us see what this amazing woman can do.
Mikayla Connell is president of the board of directors of the SF LGBT Pride Celebration Committee. All of the other board members also signed this piece: Nikki Calma, vice president; Belinda Ryan, treasurer; Lisa Williams, secretary; Jamie Fountain; Joshua Hardwick; Shawn Parker; Joshua Smith; and Todd Torr.