After announcing a financial crisis and risk of closure, Gala Pride and Diversity Center accused its previous executive director of stealing funds.
On Nov. 13, Gala board of directors President Julia Thompson told attendees at a public question-and-answer forum that the board was “well aware of the need of meticulous oversight of finances moving forward and are all feeling the fallout of putting too much trust where it didn’t belong.”
The meeting’s purpose was to provide more information about the accusation against the former executive director and how the organization intends to move forward after years of little financial oversight, which had become more apparent over the past few months.
Thompson told New Times that Gala was not aware of any illegal behavior when its former executive director, Dustin Colyer-Worth, left his post in September. After he transitioned from full time to remote and part time in June, Thompson said, the board determined the schedule didn’t work well and decided to cut ties.
“We weren’t getting the things that we needed out of that arrangement and so just decided to part ways completely as far as his employment goes. But it was in good standing, you know?” she said. “We had no idea about any of the financial stuff. … And once that cut was made, and we took over the pieces that he had been managing as the executive director, that’s when we started finding discrepancies.”
Colyer-Worth did not reply to New Times’ request for comment before publication, and Thompson confirmed that there has been no contact since his departure.
Discussion around the organization’s financial issues first arose in late September when Thompson posted a letter on Instagram asking for community support. Gala faced a “critical financial situation,” the letter stated, that threatened the work and services the nonprofit organization provides to the local LGBTQ-plus community.
“We are at a crossroads,” the letter said, “and without immediate support, we risk losing the lifeline that this center provides to so many.”
The board previously attributed this crisis to decreasing donations after the organization saw contributions and grants drop from $213,234 in 2021 to $65,850 in 2022, and Thompson said that weeks later Gala started finding discrepancies in financial statements. This prompted the board to post another letter in October that accused Colyer-Worth of diverting organizational funds into his personal accounts.
“Beyond being appalled by such behavior, we are deeply saddened to discover a trusted leader of our organization would betray our LGBTQ-plus community and attempt to profit from your generosity to our mission,” the letter stated.
According to the letter, the organization hoped to provide transparency and integrity with the community and said it is pursuing legal action against Colyer-Worth.
Thompson told New Times she felt it was important to be as transparent as possible regarding the alleged fraud because of Gala’s plea for donations just weeks before the discrepancies were discovered.
“It felt like we needed to be transparent. We were asking people for money in a really urgent way. The thought of our community finding out that we were asking for money and concealing that this situation was happening just felt totally inappropriate and like we needed to avoid that at all costs,” she said. “We wanted everybody to know right off the bat, not only because of the financial situation we were in, but in large part because we were out here asking folks for money.”
At the Nov. 13 meeting, attendees expressed concern and asked questions about the missing funds and if any charges had been filed against Colyer-Worth.
“Tons of questions around this—totally understandable,” Thompson said at the meeting.
According to Thompson, the board doesn’t know how long the funds had been mishandled. With each board member having served less than two years, she said it started “before their time.” However, once the board discovered evidence of fraud, Gala turned everything over to its insurance agency, which is still verifying past transactions.
The agency has confirmed at least $42,000 in stolen funds so far, and that information was turned over to law enforcement for investigation.
“I am unsure of why charges haven’t been filed by the DA’s Office. As charges have not yet been filed and this continues to be an ongoing investigation, I’m not yet comfortable releasing the findings,” she said. “Once I am able to do so I will.”
SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow provided New Times with a statement from Bureau of Investigations Chief Terry O’Farrell that said the SLO Police Department is currently investigating the case and will notify the District Attorney’s Office once completed.
“Our office has no other details at this point,” the email said.
As evidence is still being gathered, Thompson said at the Nov. 13 meeting, that Gala is also focused on moving forward and developing better policies to prevent embezzlement and mishandling of funds from happening again.
Thompson told attendees that Gala has not conducted an audit since 2018.
Only nonprofits that generate more than $2 million in revenue are required to complete yearly audits, according to California Registry of Charitable Trusts.
“Clearly, this will need to change,” she said.
Gala is tightening its policies, Thompson said. For example, it will hire a third-party company to handle its finances rather than relying on its executive director and treasurer. In addition, Gala plans to create a financial committee to meet once a month to compare financial statements.
“We are all volunteers with limited time and resources to tackle this, and we are doing the very best we can and will continue to do so, but that’s where we are at,” she said.
Since requesting financial help in September, Thompson said Gala has raised about $20,000 but still needs another $15,000 to function normally until the end of the year.
The 2025 budget is in the works, Thompson said, but it will be modest—and fully available to the public. In addition, Gala aims to hold quarterly town hall meetings to provide further transparency and promote community dialogue.
Even if the worst-case scenario were to happen and Gala were to lose its two staff members, Thompson told New Times the organization would remain volunteer-run at its current location on Palm Street, since the building was previously donated.
“I don’t feel at all threatened that we would lose the building. I think on one end, there’s a possibility that we would have to go back to a completely volunteer-run organization, but we would have the building. We would have that space,” she said.
Best-case scenario, she said, Gala would continue to run at a “much fuller capacity,” by maintaining its staff members and having the means to host more events.
“For the most part, we have had an incredibly supportive response. Folks, rightfully so, want answers and visibility, accountability, transparency, but we haven’t had really much at all of just outright negative responses to what we’re going through,” Thompson said. “There’s been a lot of empathy and a lot of support, a lot of emotional rallying and little messages of encouragement coming in from all sides. I think we’ve felt very held through this.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at lhanson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2024.