Posted by Editor on June 20, 2002:
[Note from Dave Pasquarelli: Scandal rocked San Francisco today
when it was revealed that Pat Christen, the head of the SF
AIDS Foundation, has taken a 12 percent pay cut. Additionally, one-fourth of the
SFAF's staff will be terminated at the end of this month. Waist deep in
spin control, Pat is blaming their economic slump to a "post 9/11
economy" and the cost of putting on a new charity event. In reality,
the AIDS Foundation is losing donors as the controversy around their
lack of services and overly-abusive management staff grows.
Also of note is some creative mathematics from Chris
Heredia of the Chronicle. It appears that Pat Christen's highly
publicized annual salary of $207,032 has been miraculously reduced to
$185,000. Maybe Chris can get a job doing the AIDS Foundation's books.
They'll be out of the red in no
time.] ========================== AIDS group chops staff The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is laying off about a
quarter of its employees in the wake of falling federal aid and poorly
performing fund-raising events. Pat Christen, executive director, is
taking a 12 percent pay cut. She has attracted attention for years in
the nonprofit community for the size of her salary, which rose to
$207,032 last year. Other senior managers will get a ten percent
salary cut and the remaining employees' salaries will be
frozen. Twenty-eight of the organizations more than 100 workers will
lose their job by the end of this month, although some will stay on
during the restructuring through the end of the year. The
foundation said its income this year fell $2.5 million short of its
$20.7 million budget. Management blames the downturn in the economy
in the "post-9/11 environment" for its falling revenue, but stressed
that fundraising short falls were temporary. The foundation severed
its relationship this year with Pallotta TeamWorks, which ran the
California AIDS Ride, and started its own event, AIDS LifeCycle. The
foundation expects the bicycle to do better next year. Christen said
in a terse press release that the foundation hopes to preserve "core
client services," such as advocacy, benefits counseling, needle
exchange and treatment education, and that no clients will lose their
housing vouchers. Last week, after The Examiner published a cover
story on Christen's salary increase last year, a spokesman for the
organization, Gustavo Suarez, said massive cuts were planned, but
refused to share the detail. Suarez did not return phone calls to his
office on Tuesday. A source within the organization said much of the
day was taken up by staff meetings. Other AIDS organizations this
month announced layoffs and salary cuts, citing the same reasons. They
included Project Open Hand, which provides free meals and groceries
to people with AIDS, and the UCSF AIDS Health Project. The salaries
of Christen and her top five managers, including a benefits package
worth $14,256, totaled just more than $ 1 million. The foundation
received harsh criticism from activists and the Bay Area Reporter, a
gay newspaper. Other activists and nonprofit managers said that the
foundation was the most responsible AIDS organization in The City and
that Christen deserved the money. ----------------------------------------- Layof
fs, pay cuts announced at S.F. AIDS Foundation The San Francisco AIDS
Foundation said Tuesday that it was laying off 28 employees and that
managers were taking a ten percent pay cut in the face of a $2.5
million budget shortfall. Managers today broke the news to employees
Tuesday after weeks of discussions with staff about the need for
belt-tightening and layoffs. The cutbacks are effective June
30th. Pat Christen, executive director of the foundation, whose
$185,000 salary will be cut by 12 percent, blamed the cutbacks on the
post-Sept.11 economy and the launch of a new AIDS charity ride. "It's
a very sad day," Christen said. "People expressed a lot of sadness, but
also understanding the need to make the decision. They're very
committed to All salaries in the organization will be
frozen for the foundation's remaining 82 employees. The foundation's
budget will be reduced to $20.7 million for the coming fiscal year,
down from $24 million. Most of what Christen described as the
organization's "core services" - including housing assistance, needle
exchange, benefits counseling, client advocacy and treatment
information - will be preserved. Clients may face longer waits for
services. The bulk of the foundation's budget - about 68 percent -
comes from private donations. The balance comes from city, state and
federal funds. Added to the dwindling donations to the foundation
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States was a
protracted legal battle over the California AIDS Ride, of which the
foundation was a longtime beneficiary. In October, the foundation and
the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center severed ties with Pallotta Team
Works, organizer of the AIDS Ride, and announced they were starting
their own charity event, the AIDS LifeCycle. The nonprofits said that
Pallotta failed to return enough of the money raised to client
services. In March, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center cut 60 jobs and
underwent a major restructuring for similar reasons foundations
officials cited Tuesday. ARCHIVES: February, 2000: While homeless people with AIDS die in the streets, San Francisco AIDS Foundation donates $55,000 to No on Knight campaign After the campaign was defeated(No on Knight was a proposition that would limit same-sex marriage), there was $250,000 left over, which should have gone back to AIDS service organizations. Instead, the money was donated to a gay lobbying group. My impression is that if asked, sick people living outdoors would prefer to have some kind of services.
And it only
took her eight years to do it!
Furthermore, the AIDS Foundation's costs for the AIDS Life Cycle
charity event actually went to pay high-profile law firm Morrisson and
Foerester to sue Pallotta TeamWorks, the organizers of the original
AIDS Ride.
Top exec
taking 12 percent pay cut
By Michael Stoll
SF Examiner 8A, June
19, 2002
Nonprofit blames
post-Sept.11 slump, costs of charity ride
By Christopher
Heredia
SF Chronicle A15, June 19, 2002
this work."