Pink Triangle Services seemed to show signs of financial distress when the organization sent out a newsletter on Feb. 18 crying out to donors for help.
Released just weeks before the organization’s 25th anniversary, the newsletter said that PTS – a Centretown institution that provides support to the city’s homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirited and queer community – needs $4,000 a month to continue providing services.
The newsletter went out a few days after the organization let go of its executive director, Ken Mews, leaving only one employee, Claudia Van den Heuvel, to run the show.
PTS president, Michael Henschel, sent out a press release on Feb. 20 that called the move a necessary financial decision.
"The fundraising efforts required to support both a full-time executive director and a full-time office/volunteers/programs manager proved insufficient," he wrote.
Van den Heuvel, who previously served the role of office, volunteer and programs manager, took over as acting executive director.
“In a lot of ways, the day-to-day is the same as it was before,” she says. “I’ve always been someone that’s worn a lot of hats around here. So you put another hat on a pile of eight hats and you don’t really notice the weight.”
As Mews had already left the organization by Feb. 18, Van den Heuvel says the call for $4,000 a month should not have been included in the newsletter. The organization still needs donations, but its fundraising goals are now significantly lower, she explains.
“The goal is to reach a point where our monthly revenue supports hiring additional staff,” she says, explaining that the organization is still largely in debt but as of March it is no longer running a deficit.
“PTS's financial problems are not new,” says former board member, Jessica Freedman. She has criticized the organization a lot in the past but says she’s happy with how Van den Heuvel and the board of directors are confronting current challenges.
“Any crisis is also a time of opportunity,” she says. “I very strongly support the initiatives that PTS has taken to seize the opportunity within this crisis.”
The organization has decided to drop its pink triangle logo and adopt a new symbol involving three interconnected circles. The new symbol is intended to show how the organization places equal emphasis on three intersecting aspects: sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
“We’ve moved from a symbol that’s very specific to gay men to a symbol that includes many aspects of our community,” says Henschel.
The image makeover will come at no cost, assures Van den Heuvel. She designed the logo herself and is working with volunteers to upgrade the organization’s website. She says the organization will seek corporate sponsorships to cover additional costs, such as a printing.
Freedman says that this change is long overdue, as the organization’s mandate has evolved beyond sexual orientation issues to encompass matters pertaining to the way people experience gender.
“The more that it explicitly addresses this reality within the community, the more relevant it is to the community,” she says. “And the greater the opportunity to draw support from the very same community.”