ALSO in cash crisis

ALSO  in cash crisis

The ALSO Foundation is in danger of collapse unless members approve emergency funding from the trust arm of the organisation.

The ALSO Foundation board and the organisation’s fundraising arm, the ALSO Care and Benevolent Society, announced on Monday a special general meeting will be held on April 20 calling on members to pass a resolution to allow $500,000 of Care money to secure the Foundation’s survival.

The money would only ensure the ALSO Foundation’s survival until the middle of next year.

ALSO president Jarrod Hassell said the organisation had flagged the issue at the last annual general meeting and said the situation is “serious”.

“I think access to the funds available will give us the short to medium term viability to survive to the middle of next year which will enable us to re-organise the organisation to constrain costs and to have time to develop … other funding sources,” Hassell told the Star Observer.

“There’s always the perception that ALSO’s sitting on a pot of gold, certainly over the last years. The income has dried up over those years and the organisation has been reliant on those reserves and those reserves are obviously becoming depleted.”

Hassell said the $500,000 funding will go towards employing a full-time ALSO Care worker to work in the area of aged care and disability services and a part-time volunteer coordinator.

Hassell said, at this stage, the ALSO Foundation would not scale back the programs it runs, however, it would restructure the organisation to become more volunteer based and admitted this could mean job losses.

“It certainly could. We’re currently looking at ways to reduce our liability in terms of cost, and that includes head count, but we’re looking at the entire organisation. We’ve assessed the whole organisation and we’ll be making some changes to roles to better suit the organisation going forward.”

“We’ll look at other ways to implement cost-cutting measures … and ensure we can deliver on [ALSO’s] programs and build our capacity through volunteers and move from a paid structure to a volunteer, or at least ensure staff we do have are funded in some way.”

ALSO CEO Crusader Hillis said he believed ALSO hasn’t properly explained to members and the community the work the organisation does and what it has achieved over 30 years.
“Event income, donations, sponsorship and even bequests have become scarcer across the not-for-profit sector in recent years,” he said.

“Whether this is a communications issue particular to ALSO, in that we haven’t voiced the importance and value of our work sufficiently to our community, or whether it’s a matter of not being properly resourced to deliver our ambitious social program is open to question.”

At the organisation’s annual general meeting in November last year the ALSO Foundation reported a $32,617 operating loss for the last financial year.

Up to 15 other GLBTI organisations call ALSO’s Bourke St offices home, including the Anti-Violence Project, the Zoe Belle Gender Centre, Minus18 and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.

AVP convenor Greg Adkins called other community leaders to lend their support.
“I think it needs other people like [gay and lesbian radio station] JOY and the [Victorian AIDS Council] VAC and AVP and MQFF to step up and use their expertise and offer their services that are clearly needed to pull [ALSO] out of this swan dive,” Adkins told the Star Observer.

“The danger for the community is the… connectedness that’s been able to be achieved by having a range of groups together in the one building and there’s a real risk that will cease if ALSO isn’t able to sustain its tenants due to finances.”

TransGender Victoria spokesperson and Zoe Belle Gender Center working group member Sally Goldner told the Star Observer it would be a loss to the community if ALSO was not able to continue its work.

“ALSO is a great base and has been there to support other groups,” Goldner said.

“I think [ALSO] tried to invest in the future and the risk of that, without core funding, is it’s not sustainable is the honest answer; but it had to be done, it couldn’t wallow somewhere back in 2006 and it can’t go back to 1980 where some people think it should be licking envelopes.”

“The community needs to pull together to help it pull through.”

ALSO does not receive ongoing government funding.

You May Also Like

9 responses to “ALSO in cash crisis”

  1. The wheel has broken. Do we repair the wheel or re-invent it? I tend to support the latter. This organisation had some 40yrs. to make some progress on core business, it has comprehensively failed. Sydney has already gone through these pains. With the door closing another will open. Fold it.

  2. PS The original bequests were left for aged care. Subsequent bequests were left for ‘ALSOs purposes’, which at the time were understood to be principally aged care.

  3. Every GLBTIQ Organisation in this country is struggling… With no or limited funding… The thing that I noticed in the GLBTIQ community is that there are only about 5% of the community willing to work for the community and the other 95% whinge that they are hard done by. Look at the the rallies for Same Sex Marriage around the country, the numbers are pathetic and I am talking about the GLBTIQ community. We have to work together as a community and that is what this is about. We are not going to get the support from the other communities while the government and anti-gay religion organisations keep their charade going, and help it by feeding that mentality by just sitting in the corner having a sook. The community has to come out of the woodworks and be a power force…

  4. The money was left in trust for glbti aged care and should be used for that purpose and that purpose only. The organisation can continue with purely voluntary unpaid workers until such time as this mess is sorted. There is NO advocacy for senior glbti in Victoria, this is SPECIFICALLY what ALSO was srt up to address, it should cut back to deal with senior issues AND NOTHING ELSE until it is properly reorganised, perhaps under the supervision of a a community-wide elected board of independent senior advisors.

  5. It is unfortunate that this has happened. I suppose all the expenses that occurred that were previously un $$ necessary in the rageathon hedonistic years and those few people who made a heap of money from ALSO events could support this wonderful Foundation and give some of it back (LOL).

    I feel that ALSO is a Foundation and they are not easily set up. I have always supported ALSO but at times I dont know what I am supporting. So bad and reckless leadership at times has occurred.

    I think this is the main issue, the advocacy is zero. I would like to see the/a dazzling public face of ALSO, I would like to see some articles by the ALSO foundation in main stream culture etc … come on show some outrage and spice ALSO.

    ALSO has a great youth community support set up but it looks as though the older comunity have become distant and there is a very good reason for this – People dont really care about old people and this is simply the truth. ALSO really needs to look after the oldies. I will not support ALSO if they take the Benevolent funding to secure peoples positions for 1 year. I would prefer to give that funding to gay homelessness and gays with mental health issues.

    Now we have a conservative liberal party in power, so funding will be zilch. Homophobia will increase so get use to the new challenges my fellow queers and start to realise that until Gay Marriage and FULL Equality is seen as normal from birth to death and parents of all religions celebrate their childs gayness as the same as a hetrosexual child then we will always be faced with these issues.

    I would love to see ALSO survive and have put my money where my mouth is but again, I dont really know what I am supporting.

    I believe a hard nose restructure needs to happen and all positions including the board needs smart business types who know how to speak to the media and how to restructure with tenacity.

    The Take Care out there program has been marvellous the worker concerned a very wonderful support person and truly out there in the trenches.

    The horse has bolted and from what I have heard from senior Gay people in my network it appears ALSO will disappear.

    The Benevolent aspect MUST be left alone as it was intended for aged care not peoples wages.

    So Take Care Out There and lets pray that ALSO gains reoccurring funding from the Government and as I write this I know deep inside that the Libs are aligned with A Take no Care out There for Gays.

    LJ

  6. Maybe instead of griping about the cash transfer people should be coming up with alternatives. Maybe a fund raising group needs to be set up to boost the coffers so that the trust money can be returned at some stage. Instead of saying that ALSO has lost its way, get involved and help it get back on track.

  7. The money was put into trust. End of story. It should not be used for propping up an ailing organisation.

    Perhaps it is time for ALSO to close it’s doors. The money in trust then needs to be used for housing for older gays/lesbians. That is what the money was put in trust for.

  8. No way should ALSO use funds from ALSO care to prop up the organisation. The founders of ALSO would be absolutely horified if that was the case!

    Those responsible for this mess should be held accountable – Sally Goldner is right, ALSO invested in matters that were not financially viable and here we have the consequence.

    It was all talk with very little outcome and i guess the chickens have come home to roost.

    Quite obviously it was waiting for the former Labor government to give it some respite financially but that never happended with Brumby government defeat last year.

    Such a great organisation completely lost its way in the last 5 – 10 years!!