The William Way LGBT Community Center’s board held elections at its annual meeting Jan. 26 at 1315 Spruce St.
Board member Al Besse introduced three of the four candidates, Leon King 3rd, Matt O’Malley and Kristin Myers, and read their bios to the attendees. The fourth candidate, current board secretary Eric Ashton, was unable to attend the meeting.
A Q&A session followed with the each of the candidates answering questions from the group before ballots were circulated, collected and counted.
All four candidates were elected to the board for a two-year term.
While ballots were being collected, the board meeting commenced with co-chair Emilie Carr reviewing the search process for a new executive. The center’s former director, ’Dolph Ward Goldenburg, left his position in November to relocate to Atlanta.
Laurie Ward is serving as the center’s interim executive director.
Carr announced the center has selected McCormack & Associates, a national executive search provider, to find suitable candidates for the position. Carr also cited the company’s work with organizations like Gay Men’s Health Crisis, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
In addition to Carr, Besse and King, the meeting was attended by co-chair David Michelson, treasurer Ann Butchart and at-large members Deb Francesco, Stephanie Gross, Moira Mulroney and Christopher Pinto. Board members Joseph Dougherty, Liz Reasey and Ted Greenberg did not attend.
Director of center services Candice Thompson presented the program report, listing accomplishments in 2009 and goals for 2010. Accomplishments for last year included launching a nationally recognized archive exhibition with the United States Holocaust Museum and becoming a Service and Advocacy for LGBT Elders affiliate. Goals for the center include plans to launch a quarterly archive exhibition, create a program for organizations to borrow from the center’s permanent archive collection and expand the LGBT bookmobile services to include the Philadelphia Public School System.
Butchart reported on the center’s finances. Last year’s Indigo Ball netted $115,000, which is the event’s best-ever total. Butchart attributed the figure to an anonymous donor who matched the event’s donations’ three to one. She also reported the center is still collecting money from the event’s silent auctions and solicitations.
Butchart reported the occupancy at the center is about 90 percent.
The center reported a total income of $80,125.34 for December, $7,269.34 over what was expected. The overage is attributed to individual giving being higher than expected due to the William Way’s Transition Fund campaign, set up to get through the next six months while the center interviews executive-director candidates.
Expenses for December totaled $52,171, which was $7,090 less than anticipated. This was attributed to the executive-director vacancy: Personnel costs for the month were $27,133, against an anticipated $37, 073. Additionally, general operating expenses were $16,327 for December, $8,797 over budget, which includes Ward’s pay as a consultant as well as unexpected technology costs.
Butchart said personnel expenses are expected to increase to $452,263 for fiscal year 2010, up from $352,283 in 2009 because of a 5-percent cost-of-living increase and because Goldenburg was underpaid as an executive director by $20,000 per year during his tenure.
The center ended the month with a surplus of $27,954.03.
For the year to date, the center’s income totaled $173,954, while year-to-date expenses totaled $147,045.
For more information, visit www.waygay.org.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].