4 weeks ago
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Six months after supporters of the San Diego LGBT Community Center publicly raised questions about how a $19 million donation was being spent, a growing group of concerned community members says they’re still not getting answers.
The gift from the estate of Maurice Thimot and M. Rust Rawnsley, a Fallbrook couple who had wanted their money to help other gay seniors, was paid in two installments: $10 million in 2022, more than the center’s annual budget, and $8.9 million in the fall of 2024.
The Center, which provides year-round support services, health care and community programming for thousands of San Diegans, says the donation will be “used toward LGBTQ+ senior housing and related services.”
But community members say the Center hasn’t been transparent about how it’s spending the money — or what the money was originally intended for. It’s led them to raise other worries with the nonprofit, including over limited public access to board meetings and a recently established senior advisory committee.
“These are not small procedural issues,” Charles Kaminski, a longtime donor and client, told the Center’s board of directors at their meeting on Tuesday. “They are governance choices. Transparency builds trust.”
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