Following on from the first Pride SGM on December 19th, 2007, a second SGM was held on February 17th to debate the motion ‘Pride WA Inc here by [sic] agrees to be wound up voluntarily, or if required shall present a petition to the Supreme Court, stating that Pride WA resolve that it be wound up by the Supreme Court.’ However, after two hours of discussion, the SGM was adjourned when it became apparent that the Pride committee was unable to present the approximately 50 members in attendance with current financial records. Pride’s Treasurer, Ioesfa Tapusoa, apologised to Pride members for not having the documents available for the SGM.
Estimates as to the financial state of Pride given by the committee put Pride’s debt at around the same $36,000 mark reported at the December 19th SGM; however, the committee indicated that although debt has remained at a similar level, fundraising efforts have meant that ongoing costs have been met and some of the creditors have received further payments. The exact amount raised through fundraising was unavailable and the estimates given by the Pride committee were unclear. For instance, the membership drive was reported as raising in the region of $3500, despite acknowledgement that in addition to standard membership renewals and new memberships at least eight corporate members had recently joined Pride. Each of these corporate members pledged $500 in corporate membership fees, with a total of $4,000 raised in corporate memberships alone.
The committee of five did present a combined 2007/2008 budget demonstrating a plan for staging Fairday and the Parade this year. However, the figures presented in this budget were also flawed, with some of the projections for future events calculated incorrectly.
Feedback from members present identified concern with the net position remaining unchanged, though other speakers identified major shifts in community sentiment indicating gathering community and business support for assisting the troubled organisation as a significant development.
Given member dissatisfaction over insufficient information on which to make a decision regarding the future of Pride, the meeting was adjourned until Sunday, March 30th. A motion was also passed requesting that the Pride committee ensure the appropriate financial reports and projections as well as records from previous years be available at the reconvened meeting.
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Disclaimer: Editor Zoe Carter and OUTinPerth Publisher Alex Maltby are Pride members and were present at the Dec 19 and Feb 17 SGM. Both abstained from voting on the grounds of conflict of interest. Pride WA’s current membership drive is utilising facilities donated by Business Exposure, of which Alex Maltby is a director.
