Ironic, coincidence, happenstance or well thought out, The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s timing could not have been more inopportune. In the midst of the holiday season and on the Day Without A Gay no less, the nonprofit organization’s staff, along with community members were informed of how economic troubles are hitting home.

“In the face of the ongoing national economic crisis, we have implemented a set of aggressive cost-reduction strategies to ensure client and community services continue to be delivered to meet the increasing needs of our community,” Delores Jacobs, CEO of The San Diego LGBT Center stated in an e-mailed letter to the community on Dec. 10.

“Like nearly all other not-for-profit businesses, The Center has been experiencing increased financial strain as government payments have slowed and corporate gifts and private donations have decreased significantly,” Jacobs said, noting cost-reduction measures are being implemented to ensure vital services continue to be offered.

While the fact the economy is in crisis may not be news to anyone, the management at The Center said it made the cost-cutting announcement because they take seriously the responsibility to the community to be forthright and transparent about the impact of the national crisis upon the organization and its clients.

“While cost-cutting plans began in May 2008, none of us anticipated economic crises of this magnitude. After careful review of all economic and financial information available, The Center board and management team believe these aggressive actions are necessary to prevent even further fiscal erosion and to preserve our ability to serve the community while we – along with so many others – weather this economic storm,” Jacobs wrote.

Cutbacks resulted in a 10 percent layoff of the organization’s overall workforce, with behavioral health services, the development department, the Hillcrest Youth Center and the Youth Housing Project being affected. Staff salaries were also cut by nine percent and senior management salaries were reduced an additional five percent.

The San Diego LGBT Community Center is not alone in these cutbacks. Nationally many gay advocacy organizations are scaling back and cutting staff, as the nation’s recession takes a toll on nonprofits.

At Lambda Legal, 10 positions were cut last month. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation laid off several staff members Nov. 21.

Like Jacobs, Neil Giuliano, GLAAD president, said in an interview with the Washington Blade, that a reduction in donations coupled with the nation’s ongoing financial crisis meant GLAAD had to make job cuts to stay with budget and prepare for 2009.

“The way I look at it is that it is the responsible thing to do to protect the long-term health of the organization, and be good stewards of the revenue that donors have provided,” Giuliano said.

The plight locally is not unique among national groups.

Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal’s executive director said he started noticing donations slowing during the summer months as funders, such as law firms that supported the organization, went out of business and corporate sponsors were sold as a result of the economic decline.

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese said in a statement that the organization “has been monitoring the economic climate closely for the past few months and has managed expenses accordingly. Contributions have slowed in the last quarter and we will continue to proactively manage our budget and expenses. He noted the HRC has no current plans to lay off employees.

Meanwhile, The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has left open unfilled positions, and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association recently reduced its national staff from seven to two.

Many organizational leaders and activists noted that year-end donations may be curtailing for reasons other than the economic downturn.

“We just finished an election year that was interesting and challenging and enormous amounts of money were donated by the LGBT community and friends of the LGBT community,” Cathcart said. “Money went to the presidential election and a range of national and statewide elections and to referendum battles, particularly in California. It was a perfect storm of significant amounts of money going into politics in an important political year and the U.S. economy declining significantly over the last several months.”

Jacobs, however, said she doesn’t believe the shortage in donations has much to do with donors focusing efforts toward battling Proposition 8.

“Surprisingly donors really aren’t talking about Prop 8, but instead have expressed concerns about the economy and the really retched spiral during the fall, which resulted in lay-offs, losing money in 401-Ks and ultimately donors really being scared,” Jacobs said.

According to The Center, fall is traditionally the most active fund-raising season, with December being the month in which the organization receives much of its annual revenue because of end of the tax-year donations.

“The outlook doesn’t look so good,” said Amber Cyphers, The Center’s director of communications. “We are trying to act preemptively to avoid any serious problems in the future.”

In addition to the layoffs and pay cuts, a variety of smaller benefits adjustments were also made and additional smaller expense items were also reduced to achieve savings.

“We hope this is the last of any cutbacks we will have to see,” Cyphers said.