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The Art of Politics
Rape on Winslow Street
By Judy Osborne
The transgender community was a kinder, simpler place
only a decade ago. Our idealism was pure and simple, we had begun
to realize our power to change things, and our institutions were
shiny and new.
The same idealism permeated the atmosphere in Chicago
House on Winslow Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts at the
time. The season was late October, and Fantasia Fair was in full
swing. A small group of transwomen, mostly wealthy and astute
business people in their other lives, met to create yet another
new and shiny institution. They named their creation after the
street in front of Chicago House. The Winslow Street Fund was
born.
The new organization brought hope that our community
could grow in creative ways by having an endowment fund. The goal
was a million dollars, the income from which would be granted
each year as seed money to support a variety of new and needy
projects of value to our community.
Still another new and shiny institution at the time
was the International Foundation for Gender Education. IFGE had
been formed a few years earlier as a national transgender center
to connect our community together, guide our progress, and give
us a face to the outside world. IFGE's chief vehicle for this
purpose was Tapestry, a glossy magazine which gave substance
to our personalities and activities in a proud and prestigious
manner.
The Winslow Street planners looked for an organization
which could hold and guard the new fund and decided, under certain
conditions, to place the Fund within IFGE. The conditions stipulated
that the Fund would have its own separate trustees, who would
have sole authority over all money in the Fund; that the principal
never would be touched; and that none of the income would ever
be used for IFGE operating expenses.
IFGE fell on hard times as time went on, but the
chronically-broke organization never touched the Winslow Street
money. They couldn't. The faith of our community was at stake.
Donors sent in their money knowing the Fund would be a permanent
asset for our community, the income from which would be available
forever to help start worthwhile transgender projects. People
named the Winslow Street Fund in their wills. Ellen Summers, one
of the giants and dearest spirits of our community, named the
Winslow Street Fund as her memorial. Those of us who loved her
made large donations to honor her life's work for us after she
passed away.
The Fund eventually grew to $80,000 dollars, far
short of the planners' goal but significant nevertheless. Many
worthwhile projects were supported over the years from the Fund's
income.
But ideals, promises, even sacred obligations, have
ceased to mean very much to the current trustees of the Winslow
Street Fund and to IFGE's employees and board. Two keepers of
the Fund are the same people who have assumed primary responsibility
for keeping IFGE solvent, and they need to balance their budget.
To do so, they have rammed through a $15,000 dollar loan
from the Winslow Street Fund principal to bail IFGE out of its
latest crisis.
There is nothing illegal with the above transaction. The Winslow Street Fund is an asset account of IFGE. It is not, as some people think, a trust fund or a separate foundation. The trustees had the power to move the money, it is the ethics of their actions that are in question.
I have attempted to contact Linda Buten, Chairperson
of IFGE, and Abby Saypen, Chairperson of the Winslow Street Fund,
for updated information and confirmation. Neither has responded.
In the absence of their input I can only offer my understanding
of the terms of the loan and the current situation. I ask the
reader to allow for small inaccuracies and for events which have
happened since the information came to me. What I do know has
been gleaned from several diverse sources, and I feel confident
of the basic accuracy of the following information:
- $15,000 was transferred from the Winslow Street
Fund to IFGE without the concurrence of all the Winslow Street
trustees, and without a loan instrument having been signed.
- Proposed terms include a one-year loan at eight
and one-half percent interest. Winslow Street Fund dividends will
be used to pay a portion of the interest by means of a complex
calculation.
- There is no repayment schedule, although two
people have promised to raise enough money next year to pay off
the loan and still meet IFGE's operating deficit.
- No announcement will be made to those who donated
their money to the Winslow Street Fund after being assured that
the Fund would never be used to pay for IFGE's operation.
The last item is important. Laura Caldwell is a member
of IFGE's Budget/Finance Committee and a Winslow Street Trustee.
All fund raising in the last few years has been oriented toward
IFGE's operating deficit, but even as recently as mid-1995 Ms.
Caldwell was soliciting Winslow Street donations by saying, "But
one very important fact must be emphasized. That (Winslow Street
Fund) money can never be used by IFGE for any other purpose. And
it certainly can not be used to soften IFGE's budgetary needs!
In fact, this organization (IFGE) could be free of its financial
difficulties if it had that money. Instead, IFGE has put that
amount to work in an investment plan to benefit the community,
and at times finds difficulty in securing adequate income to meet
its monthly expenses. I ask you, is this service to the community?
-- I think it is."
What are the realistic prospects that the loan will
be repaid or worse, that more of the Winslow Street Fund will
be taken? It's necessary to examine a little bit of the history
of IFGE to reach an accurate estimate.
As noted earlier, one of IFGE's early goals was to
foster cohesion within our widespread community so we could come
to know each other, understand how our community was developing
in other places, even catch a glimpse of our successes so we could
repeat them in our own home towns. By building on the knowledge
it gained in the process, IFGE could begin to offer a realistic
view of our community's people and issues to the professionals
who treat us, to academics, to the government, and to the public.
During a rancorous session at an early IFGE convention
in Texas, egos were bruised and IFGE decided it would not be the
vehicle to collect the successes and failures of the clubs across
the country and then reflect them back for the further guidance
of each. The Foundation did feel it should continue to represent
our community to the outside world, but sometimes it did so with
less than complete information about what was going on in the
hinterlands. The members of clubs in the hinterlands soon forgot
what the initials meant, and donations dropped off.
IFGE had accumulated by then a paid full-time office
staff of four or five transpeople. When rent, travel, and other
expenses were added in, the budget became substantial. A succession
of generous and deep-pocketed benefactors stepped up to balance
the budget. IFGE staff talked the IFGE board of directors into
acquiring, at a very substantial long-term cost, a shiny new headquarters
building reflecting the prestige of our community. Two "angels"
on the board promised to make large annual contributions to offset
the cost of the building. However, these "angels" became
disaffected by subsequent events within IFGE and removed themselves
and their money after disagreements with other members of the
board. The first one left in early 1993, a scant year after signing
the lease. The second left in late 1994.
IFGE lost momentum in other ways. In an era of participatory
management, IFGE clung to a top-down management style. Many potential
supporters, and even staff, felt they had little or no input.
In an era during which we eagerly swamped the Internet, finally
to begin to know each other and air our issues, IFGE all but ignored
that far-reaching development.
IFGE simply fell behind. Other organizations filled
the vacuum, and support waned.
IFGE does three main things. Their publication, now
called Transgender Tapestry, is one of these. The others
are an annual convention and a bookstore. All three were planned
to be at least self-sustaining, which, when you think about it,
they should be.
If you ask what other services IFGE offers, representatives
inevitably begin describing the hundreds of telephone calls they
receive and the referrals they give. Valuable, yes, but hundreds
of "hot-lines" all over the country perform a similar
but much larger service in the aggregate using volunteer help.
There's not too much else, although the organization does continue
to perform a few other fairly inexpensive services.
It's hard to figure out what the full-time paid staff
actually does. The magazine comes out on an irregular schedule,
and subscribership is down. E-mail is routinely ignored, the web
page is rarely updated, and books that are ordered don't get shipped.
As of this writing, the top of IFGE's home page contains a slick,
glossy promotion for the IFGE convention which happened last April
in Long Beach.
One has to ask whether or not IFGE should continue
to be allowed to drain the community's resources. The organization
is deeply in debt and in arrears to many of it's service providers.
Money is owed to IFGE, but much of it appears to be uncollectable.
IFGE has been chronically broke and living beyond
its means for years. Not having a deep pocket to look to this
year, IFGE has turned its sights toward the Winslow Street Fund
to bail itself out. Will IFGE turn the corner next year, balance
its budget, and pay off its obligation to the Winslow Street Fund?
The promise of solvency is made annually, but history says no.
Or will it once again suffer a deficit and siphon off gobs of
community money that instead could be applied in dribs and drabs
to lift worthy projects off the ground? Or, worst of all, will
IFGE be found lurking on Winslow Street once more, hoping to rape
again?
Comments, including critical ones, are most welcome. Please e-mail your thoughts to me at heyjude@eskimo.com.
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