Anonymous Angel’s $350K Gift Rescues Pride Center Of Vermont
One month after announcing suspension of operations due to lack of funding, an anonymous gift offers lifeline to one of Vermont’s largest LGBTQ+ orgs.
Featured Image: via Instagram
A transformational gift just arrived to help stabilize the Pride Center of Vermont as it navigates itself out of a financial hole. While never meant to be a permanent closure, the organization’s board had little choice but to pause operations in October while it sought to raise $350,000. The unfortunate financial gap was attributed to a lack of state and federal funding, including a major $200,000 reduction in government HIV-prevention in one of their core grants. Multiple employees have been laid off, they’ve moved out of their physical space, and operations remain on hold while the org restructures itself.
“This is a pivotal moment to reimagine the Pride Center of Vermont’s future: a necessary reset to confront long-standing structural challenges, repair internal systems, and rebuild trust after years of operating in crisis-mode,” the Pride Center said in a statement release. “Instead of rushing to restore the status quo, we are intentionally taking this moment to design a stronger, healthier and more community-rooted organization.”
Based in Burlington, the Pride Center is one of the state’s largest orgs supporting the queer community. The news was especially devastating as the center has been a trusted provider of essential services to LGBTQ+ people since 1999. The organization provides HIV testing, STD education and harm-reduction services; the SafeSpace program offers a hotline, and comprehensive services to LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, discrimination and/or other harms; and the transgender program fosters community and connection among trans, nonbinary, intersex, and gender non-conforming people.
The Pride Center provides programs for queer POC, LGBTQ people with disabilities, plus the Momentum network for LGBTQ+ people over age 55. It is the engine behind the Pride Parade, 40 years strong.
The angel donation will provide the “breathing room” necessary to address outstanding debt and liabilities; establish an emergency fund to hedge against any future times of financial uncertainty; do a retrospective analysis to understand what worked and what went wrong; implement tighter financial oversight, led by new board members; and secure sustainable funding that is less vulnerable to shifting government priorities.
As a result of this gift, the continuation of some essential services will be possible, including the ever-important SafeSpace Anti-Violence Program. In the release, the Pride Center expressed gratitude for the anonymous bridge funding as well as to other generous donors. “It is a powerful expression of trust in the 2STLGBQIA+ community we serve and in the Board’s efforts to move forward with clarity, accountability, and purpose.”
The Pride Center wants the community to know that survivors and community members can still reach advocates through the SafeSpace hotline at (802) 863-0003 or at https://www.safespacevt.org.
The Board hopes to resume full operations soon. “This gift is truly transformational for the Pride Center,” said Austin Grant, Pride Center Board Co-Chair. “It gives us the stability we need to clear the immediate obstacles in front of us and the space to do this work the right way… ”
In the meantime, all are grateful to the kind and mysterious stranger who has made it possible for the Pride Center to continue to strengthen the people that it serves.
