With an entertainment lineup that included singer Lorna Luft, dancer-actress Cyd Charisse and the USC Trojan marching band, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that SummerQuest 2003 would be an entertaining evening. However, there were concerns among members of the GLBT community that the event claiming to be the “signature benefit” seeking funding for HIV/AIDS research and services would be high on costs and low on returns.

Last October more than 30 agencies applied to be the recipients of this year’s SummerQuest fundraising efforts. The UCSD Human Neurobehavioral Research Center, Family Health Centers and Neighborhood Health Services were selected from the field of applicants. As last year’s event raised $60,000 for two agencies, this year’s beneficiaries were led to believe that the goal was to raise $90,000.

“What they were saying sounded like it could be done,” Tracy Ream, the executive director of Neighborhood Healthcare, told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “We were excited about that — and as important as any funding that we might receive [would be], it was the opportunity to get the word out about what we do and our agency.”

Neighborhood Healthcare was nominated to be one of the beneficiaries this year because their offices are within County Supervisor Pam Slater’s district. Slater has been a long-time supporter of SummerQuest, and over three years has donated $130,000 to the extravagant benefit.

As SummerQuest 2003 approached, members of the planning committee, including representatives from each of the beneficiaries, became concerned about the success of the gala. Corporate sponsorships, which were important to the success of the event, were not coming in. Committee members were not being given clear accounting reports of where the money was going, while the entertainment costs kept going up. However, the biggest shock came this October when the beneficiaries received their checks from SummerQuest. Both UCSD and Neighborhood Healthcare received checks for $3,500, and Family Healthcare Centers received a check for $2,800.

“Along the way we expected that we might not get much more than that but when it actually happened it was a disappointment to us,” said Ream, whose organization received $3,500. “We were very up front with them, to just say that we considered that a reimbursement for the tables that we purchased for the evening and we did not see it as funding that was going to benefit HIV care.”

Dr. Daniel Harrison, director of Neighborhood Healthcare’s Hospitalist program, was honored at SummerQuest, receiving the “Spirit of the Quest” award for his work with HIV and AIDS patients. Neighborhood Healthcare purchased two tables for the event, which cost the organization $3,500.

“I know that when we initially met they had mentioned that last year they had done really well and they might have mentioned that the beneficiaries had received about thirty thousand dollars,” said Bob Lewis, the HIV Services manager for Family Health Centers. “I also know that times are tough and people are having challenges raising funds and getting people to attend these kinds of events. Every week it seems like there is some sort of big fabulous gala event going on, so I guess I didn’t go into it with expectations of getting $30,000 out of it. I can tell you we are very appreciative for the [$2,800] check that we did get.”

According to members of the SummerQuest 2003 planning committee, early on in the process of planning for the event all three of the beneficiaries were shown pictures of last year’s recipients receiving checks for $30,000 each and were told that this year’s event had a goal of raising $90,000.

“The beneficiaries each received about $3,500.… That represented 100 percent of what they raised for the event,” said Dr. Bill Bailey, the volunteer co-chair of SummerQuest 2003.

In regards to higher expectations, he added, “That was not a representation to them of what they would receive. To my knowledge that’s never been the position of SummerQuest. It was that they would receive 100 percent of their proceeds.”

“We don’t even know what the net proceeds of the event are,” said Connie Burke, director of philanthropy for Neighborhood Healthcare. “That was never disclosed to our organization. Nor when I have spoken any of the other beneficiaries had they been made aware of that either. That’s really wording that means they’re reimbursing us for the tables.”

“To be a member [of the Association of Fundraising Professionals] we agree that we will follow a code of ethics and the code of ethics says any time you are doing a fundraiser you share the financials with any of your donors,” Burke added. “You share the accounting of the event, all of the expenses and all of the income.… That was not provided, despite many requests to Rob [Appel] and Bill [Bailey].”

According to Bailey, SummerQuest 2003 cost $70,000 to put on, with $50,000 of that funding coming from County Supervisor Pam Slater.

Bailey said the $50,000, “is from community enhancement programs and it is event funding, very similar to other event funding that the county board offers and awards to events around the county.”

The additional $20,000 came from private and corporate donors.

“All of the funding that comes to SummerQuest is event funding,” Bailey said. “The event is funded by the various companies and corporations that fund the event. Then it’s up to the beneficiaries to actually raise beneficiary funding through their table sales.”

It has been reported that over 700 people attended SummerQuest 2003, with ticket prices ranging from $30 to $250. At the minimum price for tickets — $30 — sales would have generated at least $21,000, yet only $9,800 in proceeds were given out to the three beneficiaries. To date, SummerQuest 2003 has not offered any report of where the money generated through sponsorships and ticket sales went.

“A few people asked at subsequent meetings right after the event for some sort of accounting,” Ream told the Times. “We can certainly appreciate — because we do events ourselves and we do fundraising — that you don’t have all the numbers right away but usually what you want to do is thank the committee for all the hard work they did, so you want to share with them what the results were, good or bad.”

Four months after the event, the beneficiaries still had not received checks from SummerQuest 2003 and no accounting records had been made available.

“Finally our board chair did send a certified letter requesting the information and we still did not get a full accounting. To this day we don’t have a full accounting of what exactly happened,” Ream noted. “We do know that we received reimbursement for the tables that we purchased and we were not led to believe there would be any more dollars forthcoming.”

The checks were issued at the end of October and, according to Bailey, the accounting for the event has recently been completed.

“SummerQuest will forward a form 990,” Bailey told the Times. “They received a response that when the final accounting was complete that they would receive it. I personally spoke with Tracy and assured her that she would receive it as soon as the final accounting was complete.”

Calls to the UCSD Neurobehavioral Research Center and County Supervisor Pam Slater’s office regarding their expectations and participation in the event were not returned by press time.

Looking back on their experience with SummerQuest, Reams said, “For us it was a learning lesson. We think it’s a great idea that highlights some of the healthcare needs and the issues in the community and we always hope that it is done with that in mind. However, next time we would reevaluate what the benefit would be to us.... We would not participate.”