As for “HRCSupporter’s” supposition that the HRC BOD would not keep someone in place for seven months that they were unhappy with, I guess if you say it out loud enough times, you might convince yourself of its validity. However, it could just as easily be that they didn’t want another thrashing about the cost of paying out his contract similar to the one they got over Cheryl Jacques severance arrangements. Or it’s entirely possible that they might have had a contractual clause that provided for advance notice of non-renewal. His/her guess is as good as mine.

However isn’t that really the point? That we can only guess because they aren’t offering a rationale. You’d think that 37,918,133 reasons would generate a credible explanation.

Although funding to LGBT social justice advocacy groups fell 20% from 2009 to 2008, HRC fared fairly well. Because of the economy and the pocketbook strain of various state legislative battles, HRC was able to balance its budget and continues to do so.

Lastly, if the Board was unhappy with Solmonese, would they really keep him around for seven months. Anybody with any common sense knows that that ain’t going to happen. So, here are some facts and what are you going to do to help the cause? It’s easy to post anonymous comments, but oh so cowardly.

o  96% of LGBT adults contributed less than $35 to any of the 39 leading LGBT organizations in 2009.

o  Only 3.4% of LGB adults have donated to a participant organization.  This, however, may be an overstatement since individuals contribute to multiple organizations.

o  Less than 15,000 people gave $1,000-plus donations in 2009.

o  The average organization receives almost half (48%) of its revenue from its 10 largest contributors.

o Of total organizational expenses, 79% are spent on programs and services, 9% are spent on management and general expenses and only 12% are spent on fundraising.  These numbers more than meet the efficiency benchmarks set by the American Institute of Philanthropy and the Better Business Wise Giving Alliance.

No wonder the Catholic Church, Focus on the Family, Traditional Values Coalition, National Organization for Marriage, to name just a few, are effectively getting their messages of hate, fear, prejudice, and bigotry out there.  

These hate-groups have members who aren’t fighting amongst themselves and they have people who are willing to open their pocketbooks.  As a volunteer fundraiser, I found this report both fascinating and sad.  

More importantly we have got to stop fighting amongst ourselves and we have to be willing to fund a LGBT social advocacy group or groups.  I’m not advocating for any group.  I’m just saying any group.