New Zealand's critically broke national glbt telephone counseling and advocacy organisation is cutting staff and preparing to retrench services as it faces an all but empty bank account and dried up funding sources. OUTLine, which fields 4,500 calls a year from distressed and troubled glbt people, today announced it can no longer afford a full time staff member and is prioritising cuts to its services as it struggles on with "less than $10,000" in the bank. It is hoped that two part-time staffers will be able to keep the admin side of the service ticking over when General Manager Lesley Belcham's contract expires in two weeks' time. OUTline, formerly known as Gay and Lesbian Welfare and Gayline/Lesbianline, will not seek to reinstate or replace her due to lack of funds. While volunteers will still be available to take calls on its 0800 phoneline, OUTLine's policy work, staff training and development, outreach projects and glbt advocacy are all facing the axe. "We do not anticipate that this level of valuable work will be able to continue without us securing funding to employ someone to do it," says OUTline Chair Lorraine Martin." And even the core phone counselling service may have to be scaled back. "We will still be here but not doing as much as the community expects, or as much as we would like to do," says Martin. Rumoured for much of the year to be facing financial crisis, OUTLine NZ appealed for funds from glbt people and organisations on 1st August, but that Give a Little, Help a Lot campaign has not yet generated any appreciable revenue. "The ASB Trust has been a significant supporter over the years along with other funders like the JRR McKenzie Trust and NZ Lotteries," Martin says, but the economic recession has seen those funders pull back from contributing to many community organisations.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 18th September 2009 - 10:10pm