Out In The Mountains : News - Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner?

by Euan Bear

V iews from last year's spring fundraiser

     R.U.12?, Burlington’s GLBTQ community center organization, had planned to introduce its first Executive Director at its 4th annual community dinner and silent auction, the group’s major fundraising event for the year. But the best laid plans have a way of ending up in the “circular file”: the search for an executive director must begin again, now that the candidate who was offered the job said no. The center’s board of directors are discussing how to expand the search, even though it has already advertised nationally. Two candidates withdrew from consideration, although board President Don Eggert said neither mentioned salary as a reason. Even so, the board will discuss “re-budgeting” for a higher salary in order to attract more qualified candidates. The first crop of candidates “tended to have either lots of fund raising experience or lots of programming, but not both, and we need both,” said Eggert.
      The executive director will staff the space and focus efforts on outreach and fundraising. The salary for the position is being funded through a three-year $60,000 grant from the Gill Foundation.
      “R.U.12? is the organization,” explained Eggert. “There is no real center yet. The current headquarters is an interim step.” Even so, he says, the group has been making its office space at the waterfront in the Wing Building (behind Union Station) available to community groups for meetings in addition to their own committees and work on mailings.
      Ironically, the grant for the executive director comes under the Gill Foundation’s “nonurban” community centers category, despite R.U.12?’s location in the state’s largest city. Not only is the Burlington area considered nonurban, this glbtq community center is the most rural of the 206 members in the country, according to the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Community Centers. Eggert said that a new community center emerging in the Northampton, MA, area may join them in that category.
      The executive director would take over some of the duties now performed by what observers have called “a very active board.” Six board members, “mostly in their 20s,” says Eggert, currently supervise the center, raise funds, write grants, and plan for the future. The board has struggled to get more age-diversity, while maintaining its diversity in members from the racial minority and bisexual and transgender communities.
     “It’s just strange that there was no gay-owned gathering place in town that wasn’t a bar,” explained Eggert about why R.U.12? was begun. “There needs to be a place that’s obvious and visible. Hiring an executive director will be a turning point for us.”
      Asked what will happen when the Gill grant expires, often a make-or-break time for fledgling organizations, Eggert said that the grant was structured to required R.U.12? to become increasingly independent in years two and three. The presence of an executive director creates more potential for fundraising, he said, and the foundation provides training for groups in the organizational areas where they currently lack experience or skills.
      “With a staff person, the center becomes more accountable to the community, phone calls are returned that day instead of two or three days later,” Eggert said. Ten other gay and lesbian centers are also searching for their first executive directors. “We’re unique because we’re small. We know our community and there’s less opposition, though that can be a plus or a minus – where there’s vocal opposition, it’s sometimes easier to get support. In Salt Lake City, the center is half community center and half coffeehouse and it’s a block from the international Mormon headquarters. People have to walk by all that opposition to arrive at this rainbow-decked safe place.”
      Last year’s dinner raised over $7,000, helped along by corporate sponsorship. This year’s corporate sponsor is American Express. The silent auction was a major part of the fund raiser, too. According to auction co-coordinator Jill Hoppenjans, this year’s silent auction includes several B&B overnights, certificates for massages, web design services from Above the Fold, original artwork from Dykes to Watch Out For, a one-year subscription to Curve Magazine, and certificates or merchandise from Ben & Jerrys’, the Peace & Justice Store, Yoga Vermont, Small Dog Electronics, and others.
      In a silent auction, the items are displayed with bid sheets. Each bidder signs up for an identification number and enters his or her bid for the item and I.D. number on the sheet. “It gets really active near the end of the time as people go back to see whether they’ve been outbid or not,” said Hoppenjans. “It’s also really social, as people hang out and talk while they’re keeping an eye on their favorite items.”
      A second major focus this spring is the R.U.12?-initiated Queer Summit, scheduled for May 18. “We would be applying for grants for certain projects and the funders would say, ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ because two or three other organizations would be applying for very similar projects. It became clear that communications between organizations was poor, resulting in duplication of effort,” explained Eggert.
      The meeting is part of R.U.12?’s strategic plan to have a meeting where all interested GLBTQ organizations can update each other on their activities, Eggert said. “We want to increase communication and share our strengths and weaknesses. If everyone needs help in grant writing, maybe we should bring in a grant specialist to the next meeting. Do they need help meeting their diversity goals, maybe we can find someone to help on that.”
      The Queer Summit is aimed at organizations rather than individuals. “We don’t want to be the VCLGR Town Meeting,” Eggert emphasized.
      The April fundraising dinner will feature long time community activist (and native Vermonter) Howdy Russell as the keynote speaker, the Samadhi Singers, and McCawley Burke, a singer-songwriter from Cape Cod. Board member Ann Moore will act as host. If your answer to the question “R.U.12?” is “I.R.” make your dinner plans now.

To contact the center for dinner tickets or information, call 802-860-7812 or email thecenter@ru12.org.