Transparency is always the best way to operate. We, as your Pride organization, have not been publicly transparent for a variety of reasons that you�ll soon discover, but it�s time, and certainly past due, that we report to the community what�s happened and is now happening with Pride.
With the close of 2010, we can report to you the following:
� When the current leaders took the helm in March 2009, the organization (an LLC) was more than $27,000 in debt with payments due to vendors from the 2008 festival. The festival had not made a profit for five years.
� An officer of the organization loaned Show Me Pride the money to pay the outstanding balances to the vendors so that a festival could happen in 2009, and a long-term debt was added to the balance sheet for repayment of that loan. That debt is still outstanding.
� A lawsuit brought by a volunteer of the organization from 2004 was still unresolved and prevented us from reporting to the community until its resolution. That matter was settled in December and is now behind us.
� At the close of 2009, we saw a profit of $8,202.60. At the end of the 2010 festival, we were looking at a $15,593.49 loss due to the Rockfest debacle. We incurred extra costs when we had to move the festival from Penn Valley Park to Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park because Penn Valley was damaged during Rockfest. By the time this issue comes out, all vendors owed will have been paid.
The festival costs almost $250,000 to bring to you.
� 5% is venue rental.
� 11% is stage, lights and sound.
� 7% is generator rental for electricity.
� 13% is fencing, dumpsters, trailers, golf carts, ice, tents,
trash and Porta-Potties
� 4% is advertising.
� 4% is alcohol.
� 25% is entertainment, travel, and hotel.
� 6% is security.
� 2% is contract labor (website developer, photographer, sound design).
� 6% is Pride gear.
� 2% is insurance.
� 2% is rental for AIDS Quilts.
� 2% is Quilt Dinner food, decoration and catering.
� 11% is miscellaneous expense (street closure, permits, license usage fees, supplies, food for volunteers at festival, entertainers� rider requirements, and scholarships).
The proceeds to pay for the 2010 festival were $231,409.56, which breaks down as follows:
� Sponsors - $30,455.00.
� Benefits - $12,472.25 (Beer Busts, Dress to Impress, Royalty Court, Reunite the Rainbow, Poker, Bingo, Breakfasts, Silent Auction items, etc.).
� Booth rental - $16,520.00 (exhibitors and food vendors).
� Festival Week proceeds - $165,162.31 (admissions, liquor sales, Pride gear, donations, etc.).
� Quilt Dinner - $6,800.00.
Our Power the Light With Pride event on Friday during Festival Week was the second-largest event in Power & Light�s history.
We feel we are a progressive organization now, focusing on the cause of the festival itself, moving our efforts as an LGBTQIA community forward, working with the city and our vendor/partners to ask for their partnership, respect, inspiration, development and education of our community in Kansas City and the Midwest as a whole.
As we move ahead in the new year, here are some of our plans:
� We have become involved in InterPride, the International Association of Pride Organizers, making us visible on a global scale. We will host the Region 4 InterPride conference March 18-20 right here in Kansas City.
� We�re moving to become a 501(c)3 organization, hopefully by the 2011 festival.
� We�re actively recruiting new members of the board of directors for the organization, including Marc Harrell from Wilks Broadcasting; Trisha Lynn, a national spokesperson for transgender issues; Steven Collins, heading our efforts to include the hearing-impaired in the festival; and Shalako Mangle, our International Ambassador.
� We are looking for a permanent home for the festival itself where we can always know we are welcome, comfortable, safe, and capable of being visible and transparent to you, our community.
