SLO County LGBTQ+ nonprofit posts urgent plea after losing major donor. ‘It’s very dire’

San Luis Obispo County’s most prominent LGBTQ+ support nonprofit is in dire financial straits — and its leaders are asking for help.

The GALA Pride and Diversity Center , which provides support and organizes events for the LGBTQ+ community, announced its recent struggles to stay afloat in a Sept. 30 Instagram post in which board president Julia Thompson asked the community for more support.

Thompson told The Tribune the nonprofit’s financial struggles started in 2023 after a donor who previously contributed $60,000 annually ended their support for the organization. She said the donor — whose identity is private — did not provide a specific reason for ending their support.

As the longest-tenured member of GALA’s leadership since volunteering as board president at the start of 2023, Thompson said high turnover at the organization has also played a role in destabilizing GALA’s future.

“Moving into 2024 was the first year without that pretty major piece, and then our executive director left in June, so it’s been a lot of changes, a lot of adjusting,” Thompson said. “I think finance-wise, charitable donations are down everywhere for every area of giving.”

Part of the group’s issue with replacing that large recurring donation was that LGBTQ+ rights continue to be a point of contention in the United States, Thompson said.

“We don’t consider ourselves controversial — I’m a human being just existing in the world just like you,” Thompson said. “Our organization and our mission, unfortunately, is controversial to a lot of people, so the pool of donors is also smaller than a pet shelter, for example, that doesn’t really have any sort of controversy behind it.”

GALA facing uncertain future

Because GALA relies on a mix of donations and grant funding to pay for staff, keep its building at 1060 Palm St. in downtown San Luis Obispo and pay for events such as Central Coast Pride, losing a significant individual source of funding was a major blow to the organization’s financial outlook, Thompson said.

Thompson said while losing a significant donor worsened the situation, donations have generally been on the decline in recent years.

According to the nonprofit’s tax filings , GALA was last in the black in the 2020-21 fiscal year, when it brought in $213,060 in revenue, spending $197,133 that year. In 2021, contributions made up 99.2% of the organization’s revenue.

Then in the 2021-22 fiscal year, the organization spent $213,877 on programming and operations, but only brought in $47,317, losing $166,560 that year, according to 2022 tax filings.

Through much of the organization’s history, GALA has relied primarily on donations, corporate partnerships and grants to make up its fundraising, but doesn’t have full-time grant writers on its staff, making donations that much more important, Thompson said.

With the situation worsening in the 2022-23 fiscal year, GALA had to cut staff down to just two full-time staff members who coordinate events and organize support programming for the LGBTQ+ community. That made it harder to do the nonprofit’s work, Thompson said.

Filings for the 2023-24 fiscal year were not yet available as of Tuesday.

Now, Thompson said the organization’s top priority is finding ways to bridge that $60,000 annual shortfall in a sustainable way to ensure those services can be available for San Luis Obispo County’s LGBTQ+ residents.

The nonprofit operates between 15 and 20 types support groups in a given month — usually all volunteer — and helps LGBTQ+ people get access to healthcare, therapy, gender-affirming care and legal aid, Thompson said.

These financial blows come at a time when GALA’s services are being used more than ever, Thompson said.

“Engagement is up more than ever — in fact, it’s probably higher than it’s ever been,” Thompson said. “Our last Pride season was the biggest it’s ever been, and it reached way more people and we were able to set up more youth groups.”

How to help

Since posting the message, GALA has received a surge of donations and messages of support from its community, Thompson said.

Still, GALA is seeking a consistent long-term funding partner that can bridge the $60,000 gap. Thompson said even if the organization is not able to meet its fundraising goals, it’ll do everything it can to continue supporting the LGBT+ community in some capacity.

“It’s very dire,” Thompson said. “In the past, we have been a completely volunteer-run organization. Whether it’s volunteer-run or staff-run, we’ll have to really scale back, but we’ll still be here.”

You can support GALA’s efforts by donating or volunteering your time through GALA’s donation page or by getting in touch with Thompson at jthompson@galacc.org