TULSA, Okla. — For almost 45 years much of Green Country’s LGBTQ+ population has looked to the Tulsa-based Oklahomans for Equality for support and community events, but the non-profit now says its services are in serious jeopardy.
Eddie Carreño sits on Oklahomans for Equality’s board of directors. He assisted in Saturday’s thumbprint fundraiser, in which donors got to leave their name or a painted fingerprint on the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center’s exterior wall for every $100 they give.
It’s part of the non-profit’s “100k for Valentine’s Day” campaign.
Bonita James and her niece, Kiley, were among the first to show up.
“It’s just to show the value of community-building, and how a whole bunch of people can come together and support something that’s so important and impact so many in Tulsa,” James said.
The $100,000 the organization wants to raise, however, is not an arbitrary number. That’s how much Carreño told 2 News it costs to keep the center running through the spring.
“The board is strategizing to get us past that, but at the moment it takes at least $40,000 to run the center- to keep the center open every month,” Carreño said.
As 2 News previously reported, a forensic audit showed a former volunteer treasurer embezzled about $135,000 in general funds over four years.
The Equality Center, or OkEq, said in an email this week the past financial mismanagement means it will miss out on key grant funding, threatening its very existence.
Carreño said Tulsa Police Department hasn’t updated the board of directors on its criminal investigation into the alleged embezzlement.
The situation for the equality center has gotten so dire, he said, basic services and staffing could get cut and even the Tulsa Pride Parade could come to an end.
“We would hate to have to (cancel the pride parade) because we very much want to be proud that we’re in the Tulsa community,” Carreño said.
The center's website said it’s recently enacted strong financial self-governance shown by a clean 2023 audit.
Despite the big need for donations, James told 2 News she has faith in the community.
“The way I see it, it’s a very exciting time for OkEq’s future.”
OkEq announced it has raised almost half of its goal as of Sunday night.
As a showing of support the Tulsa non-profit Magic City Books posted online that from Sunday through Wednesday, one-quarter of all its sales will go to the equality center’s donation drive.
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