Bay Area Reporter - January 29, 2009
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

The faltering economy has not been kind to the state's LGBT community centers. Many have seen a decrease in contributions, have let go staff, and are bracing to see how the state's ongoing fiscal crisis may further erode resources.

Like their counterparts at other LGBT nonprofits, executives at the centers began tightening their belts last fall, when donations started to fall off due to the downturn in the economy and the election, when the LGBT community was asked to pony up $40 million for the campaign against Proposition 8, the anti-same-sex marriage amendment voters ultimately passed, as well as to help elect Democrats in Washington, D.C.

In order to survive through the rest of the year, centers around the state have taken various steps to keep their doors open.

In Hayward, the Lighthouse Community Center has decided not to replace its executive director, who left the agency last fall, and cut its weekday hours beginning in November. Instead, board President Jim Paramore has been overseeing day-to-day operations.

"Since I am retired, I come in and try to keep it open as much as I can," he said.

The board has set the 8-year-old center's budget for the fiscal year, which began July 1, at $98,600. But Paramore said, "We will not make that this year."

He said the board will have to find ways to cut costs after the center's fundraiser last Saturday fell short of a $5,500 goal as it awaits word on if it will receive several grants.

"Until those come back, we are not really sure what we need to do," he said. "I feel like we can get through this year. It is going to be questionable and depend on what we can do through this year to sustain us to continue on. It may mean joining up with some other organization or another group to share the cost of leasing the space."

San Francisco's LGBT Community Center laid off Mary Going, its director of administration and finance, at the end of the year. On the job for a year, Going said she understood why her position was cut from the budget, which totals roughly $2.1 million.

"I think the center has great potential and it is a bummer I couldn't stay and help it become its full amazing self," said Going. "I understand the full economic situation and I have no hard feelings about the decision. I wish the center only the best."

Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe said she made the cut, which will save about $50,000, because it would not impact the agency's services. At the same time, the center brought on a new development manager, Brian Adkins, who started this month. The position had been vacant since the summer, and Rolfe said having it staffed would help the center raise money.

"We had an opportunity to do some restructuring and look at saving some money without impacting programs," said Rolfe. "At this point, we are not looking at other cuts."

But more staffers may be let go or some services eliminated depending on what happens with both the city's and state's budgets. The center receives funding under seven different contracts from various city departments.

"We are waiting to hear the final budget numbers from the city," said Rolfe. "The center has always run at a very, very efficient level because finances have always been a struggle for us. It gives us an advantage in that we have a lot of skills in running a large building on a small budget."

In San Jose, the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center sounded the alarm bells in October, when it delayed payment on staff salaries due to a temporary cash problem, according to a story in OutNow , the South Bay's LGBT magazine.

Over the holidays, the center closed its doors for two weeks in order to save money and learned it would not be receiving a grant from Yahoo, a hit of upwards of $20,000 to its operating budget of $650,000, according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News. The state's inability to deal with its budget problems delayed payment from Sacramento and disrupted the center's contract talks with Santa Clara County, reported the paper.

Aejaie Sellers, the center's executive director, did not respond to repeated calls for comment for this story.

Perhaps the center that has been hardest hit by the economic tailspin is San Diego's LGBT Community Center, which had set its budget at $4.6 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. But end-of-year giving dropped off by 40 percent; individual donations make up 33 percent of the center's budget.

"It is the worse I have seen it," said Delores Jacobs, Ph.D., the center's chief executive officer the last eight years. "We are evaluating very closely every month and looking at ways to do things more efficiently and cheaper."

In addition to laying off 10 percent of her staff in December, Jacobs reduced staff salaries, including her own, by 9 percent and her executive staff were given two- to four-week-long unpaid furloughs.

"We hope that was sufficient and enough," said Jacobs. "We will continue to size the organization to meet the resources that are available and find new ways to meet the needs."

While saving money, the reduction in staff led the center to miss a deadline to re-apply for $145,000 in local funding, which Jacobs took full responsibility for and led the local gay newspaper to challenge the 20,000 people who took part in a San Diego march for marriage equality to each donate $10 to the center.

Smaller centers stable

Some of the state's smaller LGBT community centers appear to be weathering the downturn better than their larger counterparts. The Stanislaus Pride Center in Modesto, which operates on less than $90,000 a year, has had to cut its expenses amid lower-than-expected donations from individual contributors, said Nicholas Freitas, who took over as executive director last March on a part-time basis. But it has not had to reduce its services or hours.

"Donations have slowed some, but I think that was to be expected," he said. "Last year I sliced the budget; I figured we were headed for that. I held the reins pretty tight the last eight or nine months."

Freitas said his center is better prepared to survive than some because it relies mainly on volunteers and is not dependent on grant funding.

"We are fine and donations are still coming in so I am very optimistic," he said. "We aren't reliant on grants so that helps us in hard times."

Despite the dire straits Contra Costa County's Board of Supervisors finds itself in financially, the East Bay county's Rainbow Community Center in Concord has been able to maintain its government support. Its budget this year is $180,000, which includes county funds for new programs for transgender teens and HIV prevention, as well as grant money for a food pantry.

"We have had a luckier year than a lot of nonprofits," said Ben-David Barr, who became executive director on a part-time basis six months ago. "Luckily, we have had no cutbacks in services or staff."

It did cut back on its hours starting January 1 and no longer opens in the morning.

"We are financially stable until the end of June," said Barr. "I don't think we will have much growth but we are û knock on wood û we are stable."

The Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center is remaining steady with a budget of $250,000 for its new fiscal year, which began January 1.

"We feel we need to be more conservative and not see it as a growth year but as a maintenance year," said Lester Neblett, who has been the center's executive director for three and a half years. "We are projecting a decrease in funding. The goal is not to see any decline in services or being able to provide services."

The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the state's largest with a budget of $52 million and more than 300 staffers, has also, so far, been able to weather the fiscal storm. Darrell Cummings, the center's chief of staff, said so far there have been no cuts to services or the payroll, and there was a slight increase in end-of-year contributions.

"We are seeing those organizations dependent on one or two sources of funding are having, in some cases, a great deal of difficulty with staff and budget cuts. Those like ourselves, with multiple streams of funding, are in a better position," said Cummings. "Our donor base is recognizing that nonprofits are particularly vulnerable right now. As the economy worsens, the need for our services grows."

Neblett said he is optimistic for the future of the state's LGBT community centers. Their longevity and mere existence continues to be crucial for LGBT people, he said.

"Centers are the backbone of our community," he said. "Centers are really what ground us and allow us to stay visible."

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