Money Woes For The LCR

Get out your hankies....the Log Cabin Republicans are in debt.

The Log Cabin Republicans, hampered by lackluster 2008 fundraising, is facing financial difficulties and ended the year at least $100,000 in debt, according to Patrick Sammon, the organization’s president, who spoke to the Blade Friday. Sammon said he expects the organization to have around $100,000 in debt or “maybe a little more,” adding that the figure is made up of consolidated debt. “It’s not like we’re not paying the rent or not paying the phone bill or anything like that,” he said. “We’re current on the bills that we owe, but we do have some debt that’s consolidated.” Sammon said the organization expected donations would be higher last year because of the presidential election.

“Really what we anticipated was that 2008 would be a better year fundraising-wise based on what we’ve seen in other presidential election years,” he said. “We just didn’t see the fundraising materialize the way that we expected.” Sammon said the economic downturn in the past year “certainly has affected” Log Cabin’s ability to raise as much as had been forecast for the year. He added that other gay organizations and non-profits are facing similar challenges in the current economy. “I think we’re in a place that’s similar to other organizations,” he said. “It’s a difficult time for the economic situation and we’ll make decisions accordingly and in a responsible way.” Log Cabin began noticing the economic downturn last year and cut expenses by 20 percent compared to 2007, Sammon said.

The LCR expects to have to make do with as much as 40% less funding for 2009.

(Via - NY Blade)