A Message from David Brinkman, CEO, Desert AIDS Project
Desert AIDS Project is fiercely dedicated to its mission to enhance and promote the health and well-being of the people in our community. Recently, two disgruntled former employees circulated misleading and disparaging statements attacking DAP’s reputation and targeting supporters of our organization with misinformation about our organization’s fundraising efforts and financial management practices.
These allegations are categorically false, and it is of the utmost importance to all of us at Desert AIDS Project that our staff, our supporters and the clients we serve hear the facts from us.
First, although DAP has lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic like so many other organizations across the country, DAP’s financial outlook remains positive.
DAP’s annual financial audits are all without concern or comment. We post both our 990 IRS form and third-party audit publicly on our website alongside our community impact report. You are invited to view them here: https://www.
Second, the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) require financial numbers be reported specifically and as a result, not all revenue is reflected as revenue of the Resource Development Department. Some revenue is required to be reported as grants, some as contributions, and some as temporarily restricted revenues and therefore reflected in programmatic departments (e.g. medical care) as indicated by the donor’s intention.
Each year for fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019, DAP’s special events netted between $730,000 and $1 million and the Resource Development Department netted between $2.5 million and $6 million to help fund DAP’s programmatic work and capital campaign.
Our Resource Development Team’s diligent cost control is crucial for our special events. Indeed, a positive net from fundraising events is critical to our mission and is frankly our expectation. We have, where appropriate, parted ways with staff members when they could not meet this expectation.
Our fundraising efforts have been recognized by Charity Navigator, the largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities in the U.S. Desert AIDS Project has received 9 consecutive 4-star ratings from Charity Navigator; the highest rating available.
We are deeply disappointed in the actions of these two former employees. We believe they are willfully spreading distortions and misinformation and deliberately ignoring their obligations concerning confidentiality. We have reached out to them in an effort to discuss these issues one-on-one, but they have not responded. We remain hopeful we can do that; we would welcome the opportunity to sit down and talk.
Our focus remains on our mission and our clients. Our health care workers are right now on the front lines in a battle against the spread of COVID-19 and the treatment of those impacted by the virus, and we will not be distracted from that important work. For more information about the care being provided at DAP during the COVID-19 crisis, we invite you to review the series of ‘'Weekend Wrap'’ updates on our website https://www.