Response to Letter of Community Concern – September 30, 2025
Dear San Diego Pride Community Members,
Thank you for sharing your thoughtful questions following our recent community meeting. We deeply value the time and care our community invests in San Diego Pride, and your input is exactly the kind of feedback that will help shape the future of this organization.
Many of the areas you’ve raised — including vision, leadership, transparency, and community partnership — are at the heart of the strategic planning process, internal auditing, ED recruitment, and internal reflection now underway.
Like much of the work that we do, the strategic planning process and the ED recruitment processes were designed to maximize broad community input. Keeping with our commitment of facilitating community input, Pride has spent close to 60 hours conducting interviews with community members.
This input was used to develop a prospectus and for the job announcement, and the learnings will also be incorporated into the ongoing strategic planning intake. Furthermore, we continue to seek input from staff and volunteers, as well as guidance from nonprofit experts, as we invest in the organization’s future. These two initiatives are being undertaken in tandem to ensure that the strategic planning work aligns closely with the recruitment of our next Executive Director, who will play a central role in advancing Pride’s mission year-round – Pride 365.
We want to address the questions that were asked by pointing to commitments and processes already in motion that speak to questions that have been raised:
Vision & Programs: Pride remains committed to a Pride 365 model that uplifts education, advocacy, and community-building throughout the year. Our work this past year, along with the current organizational planning process, is focused on strengthening core programs and positioning San Diego Pride as a leader in LGBTQIA+ thought and action. As part of this work, we are evaluating our internal structures and culture, identifying opportunities for necessary community programs while ensuring the current financial security of our existing programs and filling current vacancies, such as the Director of Advocacy and Programs position.
Transparency & Accountability: The Board is reviewing our policies, governance documents, and website updates to ensure information is updated to meet the growing and changing needs of the organization and our mission. This process leverages feedback from both Interim EDs, staff, the community, and board members to resolve some of the systemic challenges that have repeated themselves in 7-10 year cycles.
As progress is made, we seek to make information accessible. We also realize that everything around us is changing, and what is appropriate or best practice is not always clear-cut or agreed upon. For this reason, we seek to make decisions collaboratively as an organization based on what we have to do (regulatory), what we are compelled to do (values-based, mission-oriented), and what we discern we should do (collectively leveraging our networks, our experience, and our expertise to make the best decision).
A recent example, the ACLU strongly urged nonprofits to follow certain guidance. The nature of this guidance was to protect people who serve with our organization, especially our most vulnerable communities. While this was met with speculation and objection, the explanation would undermine the safeguard.
With all decisions, we try to evaluate and monitor. Inevitably, things go wrong or there are things going wrong that we cannot correct as quickly or as efficiently as we’d like. When this happens, we strive to assume each other’s good intent, ask questions and offer help with grace, and in the spirit of our values, work together on a new solution
There are updates that we can share, and we strive to do so as much as possible. A number of key initiatives are already underway, and others will follow in alignment with our commitments, recommended best practices and, in some cases, guidance from external experts that Pride has sought out to provide. To share a couple of examples, upon the advice of multiple other prides, nonprofit leaders, and nonprofit boards, we have hired experienced interim executive directors who can not only provide capable leadership but also audit, assess, and share risks and opportunities. We have partnered with a leading LGBTQIA+ owned and focused executive recruitment firm, which has provided valuable feedback on how we can move forward more effectively, specifically with a focus on movement work within our community.
Note: Cooper Coleman has a certification from NGLCC, is one of the top 65 nonprofit search firms by Hunt Scanlon, and is one of 2025’s top 250 Executive Recruiters. Additionally, we’ve partnered with expert, nationally-recognized firms–working primarily with LGBTQIA+ partners—who specialize in employment law, contract law, labor law, and Human Resource services (including assessment and culture improvement) to help us navigate through complex challenges in a way that best fulfills our fiduciary responsibilities to the organization and safeguards the staff. The vital work San Diego Pride is chartered to perform.
Leadership: When our prior Interim ED’s term concluded, San Diego Pride reached out and secured Madonna Cacciatore to be the next Interim ED. This decision was made in conjunction with the prior Interim ED’s input and input from staff, volunteers, and the board. Having a strong, respected Interim allows us to take the appropriate time to find Pride’s next permanent ED. That search process, which is designed to incorporate ongoing community input, is already underway and will remain a top priority in the months ahead. As this has been done in the past, staff, volunteers, and a variety of board members will be involved in the interviewing of candidates.
Community Engagement, Healing, and Rebuilding:
We also know that part of moving forward means working together to heal relationships with all communities, including the Jewish community and those who have experienced disconnection from San Diego Pride’s work. Building trust through shared dialogue and values-based decision-making is an ongoing priority for us, and something we will be working on as we seek to make long-term improvements as an organization.
Opportunities for dialogue and input are central to the strategic planning process, and we will be communicating specific ways to participate in the coming weeks. The current Board is committed to breaking a many-decade cycle of “fallout” that has faced the organization. This is part of the reason we are evaluating all areas of the organization for systemic improvement, most of which were already in process prior to the June letter. This includes reflection and internal improvements, difficult conversations, repairing relationships, strengthening partnerships, and evolving how we do things so we can ensure Pride’s work reflects and uplifts the full diversity of our community in perpetuity.
We believe the best way to answer these important questions is through a shared process, not just email exchanges. Our collaboration is vital to the well-being of our community. We are committed to remaining in community and navigating the nuance necessary. We find ourselves returning to the concept of principled struggle – seeking not to defeat dissenting views, but reach a deeper collective understanding that strengthens our community. We’re asking you to continue working with us in community forums, surveys, and strategic planning sessions, where your voice can help shape outcomes directly.
Thank you again for your care, passion, and commitment to Pride. Together, we will build a stronger, more transparent, and more resilient organization.
With Pride,
San Diego Pride Board of Directors
Letter of Community Concern- June 2, 2025