10 Questions about the Mysterious Event called OutGiving 2011

I want to make this clear; I'm not trying to throw shade, I'm trying to get some answers.

The other day, I learned about this conference called OutGiving. Here's the press release

Cool, sounds like a great event, but there were a few things that raised my eyebrow.

OutGiving is an invitation-only event, no press allowed. We expect approximately 200 men and women whose cumulative net worth is in excess of $2 billion dollars to join us at this conference. These gay, lesbian and allied supporters’ combined philanthropy and political giving is estimated to be in excess of $100 million annually. Attendees also include leaders from the corporate and foundation community who are instrumental in funding LGBT causes, as well as many executive directors of LGBT organizations.

Okay, in some ways this sounds like a gay Hellfire Club without Emma Frost or Selene. So here are my concerns/questions

1. Why is this a private affair? If they are making decisions on LGBT issues, raising hella money and courting 200 mystery guests, shouldn't we know what's really going on?
2. And who are these mystery guests? If they are our allies or supporters, why are they hidden?
3. No press allowed? If Obama or HRC did this, there would a haterade for the next 3 months from certain bloggers and activists. Where is the transparency?
4. This 'net worth of 2 billion' is not a small deal, I'm concerned that we have no idea who these people are. What do these people do?
5. Why wasn't the major LGBT orgs invited to this event? If I wasn't a comic book geek, I wouldn't think of this as a shadow group trying to take over... But I am a comic book geek and this doesn't feel right.
6. Who are the other speakers, besides Pam Spaulding?
7. Going back to the net worth of these "guests", how is this supportive of the grassroots movement? It's like saying if you don't make as much or if your net worth ain't high, you can't play in these reindeer games.
8. Apparently the attendees signed a confidentially agreement. Why? What needs to be kept quiet?
9. According to ngblog, the cost to attend OutGiving was $1400. Why is this so expensive and where is the money going?
10. Since the Gill Foundation is behind this, what is their reason for OutGiving? What are they hoping to achieve?

Now, I know I sound all X-Files and stuff, but this bothers me a bit. This event needs to be explored and more questions need to be asked. If this meeting is about our movement and our future, we should know everything about it.

Thanks to Nelson for looking into this.

New Report looks at the Finances of 39 leading national LGBT Organizations

A new report focuses on the 39 leading LGBT organizations and their finances. The MAP report (Movement Advancement Project) revealed some interesting pieces. Chris Geidner writes:

Among the most striking findings is that more than 96 percent of LGBT adults contributed less than $35 to any of those 39 LGBT organizations in 2009. According to MAP, "only 3.4% of LGB adults have donated to a participant" organization. Less than 15,000 people gave $1,000-plus donations in 2009.

Moreover, the 3.4 percent number is likely a dramatic overstatement. As the report notes, "Given that the combined donor figure almost certainly includes a significant number of heterosexual allies and individuals who contributed to multiple organizations, the actual portion of LGBT adults who have donated is likely much lower than 3.4%."

Another interesting finding related to staffing, which MAP found "is roughly racially/ethnically representative of the broader U.S. population." Of the 808 staff members combined among the 39 organizations, 32 percent were non-white – with 12 percent each identified as African-American/Black and Hispanic/Latino(a), another 7 percent identified as Asian/Pacific Islander and the remaining 1 percent identified as Native American/Other. Board make-up, meanwhile, was more white, with a full three-quarters of the 689 board members identified as white.

Gender make-up was nearly balanced, with 46 percent of staff and 40 percent of boards identifying as women and 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively, identifying as genderqueer or other. Both staff and board make-up included 6 percent who identified as transgender.

If you are curious, please check out the report
2010 National Lgbt Movement Report