Orlando – The numbers are still coming in, but Timothy Vargas, president of The GLBT Center of Central Florida (The Center) board of directors, said it looks like its 2nd annual Black and White Gala doubled the fundraising totals of the inaugural event.
Last year’s Gala raised about $17,000, and Vargas said he’s “extremely satisfied” and organizers worked to “dress up the event a little more than last year.”
The Oct. 19 event was held at Quantum Leap Winery and began with a sold-out VIP dinner by John Michael events, which events manager Russell Walker described as “phenomenal.”
Vargas said about 110 people attended the dinner, and Walker said there were about 230 who attended the Gala in total. The dinner featured a live auction, followed by a silent auction at the Gala itself as guests were entertained by the singing talent of Sunshine Matthews.
“We were extremely pleased with the event and the silent and live auctions exceeded our expectations,” said Randy Stephens, executive director of The Center. “We are grateful to the generosity of the community in supporting The Center.”
At the dinner, Vargas presented a speech on The Center’s three goals for the past year: financial stability and responsibility; reengaging the community and bringing new programs to the Center.
“From a financial perspective we focused on membership and we have substantially grown in fundraising this year,” Vargas said. “We just completed Saturday afternoon before the Gala our first ever audited financial statements, the first time in 35 years the Board has seen fit to make that happen.”
Those statements were published via TheCenterOrlando.org, and they cover financials for the year ending Sept. 20, 2012.
They include a letter from Stephens summarizing the organizations goals and progress, which described 2012 as a “watershed year.”
“The foundation for a new Board of Directors was created giving The Center the needed guidance and creativity that had been lacking for many years. This led to developing new programs, including ones for seniors, women and minorities who had been grossly ignored in the past,” the letter reads.
The audit was performed by Carter & Company out of Destin and reports The Center’s total expenses for 2012 at $222,715, with revenue at $181, 273, creating a $41,442 deficit for the year.
“We’re pleased that we were able to come through the audit without any exceptions,” Vargas said. “There was a clean opinion.”
He said they’re currently undergoing the second financial statement audit which covers the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013.
“When we release that we’ll have much more substantial information to report,” he said.
According to Vargas, the 2013 report is expected to be released in the next 30 to 35 days.
Photos by Mark Cady.
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