A trustee of one of the charities which distributes money raised by Brighton Pride has apologised over unpaid grants and an unsecured loan to a company he runs.
A number of local charities and organisations who were awarded grants by The Brighton Rainbow Fund (BRF) have either not been paid or were paid late, causing “severe” difficulties for them.
But its recently published accounts show the charity – which is independent of Pride – loaned £48,000 to Scene Magazine Media Community Interest Company, the publisher of GScene magazine, of which trustee Christopher Gull is a director. No deadline was set for the money to be repaid.
Both the fund and the magazine were founded by James Ledward, who died five years ago, and after whom the Ledward Centre in Jubilee Street is named.
The latest accounts of the non-profit company which runs the magazine show that without loans from BRF and Mr Gull himself, its outgoings would have been twice its income. There is no suggestion Mr Gull benefited personally from the loan.
The charity also gave the non-profit Ledward Centre a £225,175 grant to help with set up costs.
Now Mr Gull says he is stepping down as a trustee and BRF has referred itself to the Charity Commission.
He said: “I have made some bad decisions, which I know have caused severe problems for groups affected, and for individuals involved, and having been working to benefit and support the community for so many years I bitterly regret those consequences.
“I repeat that the responsibility for these decisions is mine, and that I will be cooperating with The Charity Commission in their investigation, and look forward to their detailed conclusions being made public and everyone in our community having access to that information.
“My other regret is the reputational damage which should only be applied to me is being liberally spread around by gossip and innuendo.
“This includes not only The Brighton Rainbow Fund itself, which remains a fantastic and unique concept, and which has been central to the progress of so many of the services in the city, but also The Ledward Centre and the hard working staff there who continue to make this essential resource progress through really difficult times.
“Also Brighton Pride who under Paul Kemp have made fundraising for the community central to the whole event, and who´ve made so many of the things BRF has been able to do possible.”
Mr Gull, 73, is not paid for any of his roles at BRF, the Ledward Centre or Scene Magazine.
He said he wanted to refer himself to the Charity Commission earlier in the summer, but was told the referral should come from the remaining trustees, which it has now done.
Community Works, an umbrella organisation which supports local charities, is now working with BRF and the recipients of grants to ensure they are paid as soon as possible. Mr Gull said no BRF money is currently going to Scene or The Ledward Centre.
Mr Gull and Mr Ledward had helped set up a precursor to the Ledward Centre, the Rainbow Hub, in 2015.
After Mr Ledward died, BRF set up the community interest company which now runs The Ledward Centre and acquired the lease on its behalf.
Mr Gull said: “Since The Ledward Centre is a BRF project, and they hold the lease, I don´t believe that there is any conflict of interest. This of course will be investigated by The Charity Commission.
“On reflection the directorship of Scene is a conflict of interest and will also be investigated by The Charity Commission.
“All funds directed to The Ledward Centre have been invested into running costs and fitting out the unit, and funds directed to Scene have been invested in running costs.
“There is no suggestion that I have benefited financially in any of these trustee and unpaid director roles.”
The other two trustees of BRF are Maria Baker and Jane Pritchard. Ms Pritchard said: “Our priority currently is to ensure that the groups that were awarded grants this year receive those grants as soon as possible.
“We are acutely aware that the delays have caused considerable problems to the groups affected.”
A spokesperson for Brighton Pride said: “Brighton and Hove Pride is one of the biggest annual contributors to the Rainbow Fund. Alongside the Brighton Bears Weekend other LGBTQI+ supporting venues across our city, we have raised thousands of pounds in funding for the fund.
“The Rainbow Fund is a totally independent charity that allocates grants to support local LGBTQI+ groups to continue the amazing work that such organisations provide.
“Over the last 10 years, Pride has fulfilled, and often exceeded, our fundraising obligations to the Rainbow Fund. Pride fundraising monies have been delivered to the Rainbow Fund through Brighton Pride community foundation.
“We will wait to hear the outcome of the Charites Commission enquiry, and we will not comment further while that is underway.
“Pride will always remain committed to funding and supporting our local community groups. We will be reviewing how we manage fundraising arrangements with community partners to find the best way to do this going forward.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We are assessing concerns raised about the Brighton Rainbow Fund to determine if there is a role for the commission.”
So all of those fundraisers n pride tix money has gone on the Ledward centre n a magazine
Groups are owed tens of thousands
I’m going to comment here because it’s important to stress that Chris Gull is both a decent man and indeed a bit of a saint in our community – and he has worked endlessly and for free since his retirement from an earlier career.
Chris Gull was put in the difficult position when James Ledward died, in taking over the reins to keep the Gscene magazine going, and this coincided with the covid lockdown period and the recession in pubs and clubs – the LGBTQ+ businesses which originally financed the Gscene monthly output.
Pride also had some bad years during and following covid, with the 2023 come-back festival being a financial disaster because of the terrible weather that year on that August weekend. And so the Rainbow Fund’s finances, fed from Pride profits, must have taken a similar hit.
I have no personal involvement but, as an ex magazine journalist, I’m guessing the hope was that Gscene could trade its way out of the Covid period debt, as all magazines are trying to do. But the current decline in pub and club attendance – and in their revenues – continues in this city. So I’m guessing that Gscene must also be struggling with a lack of advertising revenue, while still having office space and staff to pay for.
Gscene, or ‘Scene Magazine’ have recently published their October issue, and I for one wish them well, because the tradition of Brighton having its local LGBTQ+ publication must continue.
Chris Gull has taken the correct path in referring the situation to the charities commission, and we can only hope that there is a re-set, that allows the massive flow of Pride funds to reach their proper targets amongst the many community groups who benefit – groups who help so much as part of the city’s wider social care system.