SLO's Gala Pride and Diversity Center faces financial issues, could close 

The Gala Pride and Diversity Center recently announced that it is facing financial hardship after years of dwindling donations, potentially forcing the LGBTQ-plus nonprofit to close its doors.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Gala Pride And Diversity Center
• PRIDE FEST Gala Pride and Diversity Center, which hosts the annual Central Coast Pride Festival, is at risk of closing its doors after announcing financial hardship.

Board President Julia Thompson posted a letter on Instagram on Sept. 30 that said the Gala Pride and Diversity Center was facing "a critical financial situation that threatens our ability to continue the essential work we do."

"We are at a crossroads," the letter said, "and without immediate support, we risk losing the lifeline that this center provides to so many."

Thompson started on Gala's board in 2023 and told New Times that the organization hasn't had a surplus of funds since she started. After Executive Director Dusty Colyer-Worth stepped down in June, the organization realized something needed to be done.

"Everything that comes in is going out, and we've been functioning like that for as long as I've been on the board," she said. "And we just kind of realized we were in a much tighter spot than we had known previously. It's kind of all came to a head, like, 'Oh, this is just a lot more dire than any of us realized.'"

Thompson said it wasn't easy to decide to create the post asking for help because Gala has historically operated with an "individual approach," shouldered its own hardships.

"And we had a real, kind of dawning moment with our board. We sat down and we talked, and we realized this is an incredible resource for the community. I think if the community knew what a tough situation we're in, they would—a large majority of them—would not want us to fail," she said. "We have to do the hard thing, which is just reach out and ask because we've been trying to do it on our own and figure it out and find new streams of income by ourselves.

"Instead, we need to really lean on our community, and the LGBTQ community as a whole that is so connected and caring."

Since posting, Thompson said Gala has received about 50 individual donations from community members and is also hoping to form connections with larger donors who could provide monthly contributions for more long-standing financial security.

Thompson said the number of consistent monthly donations has decreased over the past five to 10 years as the organization expanded its services for various groups in the LGBTQ-plus community. According to Gala's tax filings, the organization saw contributions and grants drop from $213,234 in 2021 to $65,850 in 2022. In 2023, Thompson said, Gala lost a $60,000 annual donation.

"There's been a little bit of pushback from just folks who have maybe a more antiquated perspective on who we should be serving, and we've lost some major donors along the years due to that," Thompson said. "I think it's catching up to us, and we are just kind of in a place now where we need to replace those donors with people who are more aligned with a more inclusive approach to our work."

Currently, Gala employs two staff members and hosts support groups almost every day of the week for questioning youth, trans adults and teens, and LGBTQ-plus members struggling with addiction, among others.

"There's a lot of volunteers who are going to go to the moon and back before they give up on creating this weekly safe space for queer youth who have this one space once a week where they have their space to express themselves, feel like themselves, be accepted," Thompson said. Δ