Pride WA will hold a Special General Meeting (SGM) later this month to allow members of the organisation to voice concerns that were unable to be heard at the most recent Annual General Meeting.
The new meeting has been scheduled for Thursday 26th March at the Pride Centre in Northbridge and members can also participate online.
In December the organisation’s Annual General Meeting ran for five hours and saw some members raise concerns over financial management of the organisation and the political affiliations of current and aspiring board members. Pride WA reported a operating loss for the previous year, although the result was expected by the board members at the time.
“While the organisation recorded a net loss of $184,748, this outcome reflects deliberate
strategic investment rather than structural financial weakness.” Chair Michael Felix wrote in his role as Acting Treasurer.
During the meeting it was stressed that organisation still had substantial cash reserves, and was far from being financially unviable. However the depletion of some of those cash reserves led to members passing a motion instructing the board to develop a clear policy for future financial maneuvers that impact the reserves with a requirement that the policy development include consultation with relevant financial experts.
The period had seen the organisation lay the ground work for many successes including locking in bi-annual and tri-annual funding sources, an extended lease for the Pride Centre in Northbridge that runs through to 2030, the awarding of the Gay Games, and a PrideFEST with increased engagement.
The over expenditure was attributed to a second staff member being employed during the 2024 PrideFEST period so as to allow work by the CEO on the Gay Games bid, and also the additional marketing costs of creating the Gay Games Bid Books.
At the AGM new board members were elected and subsequently former MP Peter Foster has taken on the role of Chair of the organisation.
Members are encouraged to send in questions ahead of the event, and all members have been emailed the details for the meeting.
New board members sought
Pride WA is also seeking expressions of interest for a casual vacancy on the Pride WA board. The organisation is one member short after long-serving member Catherine Janssen resigned.
Janssen, had previously been the Vice Chair of the organisation, while also being the Co-Chair of Perth’s successful Gay Games bid.
“The Board is aware of areas that are lacking and, therefore, is particularly keen to hear from individuals who bring diverse lived experience and perspectives.” Pride WA said in their recruitment announcement.
The board shared a long list of attributes they felt are currently underrepresented including trans and gender-diverse people, women, non-binary people, intersex people, Sistergirls and Brotherboys, First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, people of diverse faiths and spiritual traditions, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, young people, and people living in regional Western Australia.
Expressions of Interest to join the board close on 2nd April.
 later this month to allow members of the organisation to voice concerns.){kind=link}