Continental Outgames offer some good financial news

Today has seen some good news from both the Wellington Outgames held early this year, and the upcoming North American Outgames.

After suffering serious funding refusals, North American Outgames has received a CAD 75,000 grant from the British Columbia provincial government.

From xtra.ca:

Just 46 days before the start of Vancouver's 2011 North America Outgames, the province announced it'll be supporting the event to the tune of $75,000.

"It just made absolute sense to be able to help them bring this to fruition," said community, sport and cultural development minister Ida Chong at a June 8 press conference in front of the 2010 Winter Olympic cauldron near the Vancouver Convention Centre.

After a long period of wait-and-see, Outgames organizers received a $75,000 funding boost to the event. "It just made absolute sense to be able to help them bring this to fruition," said community, sport and cultural development minister Ida Chong.

The province is supporting the games because organizers pitched the event as internationally inclusive, with health and human rights components, and a roster of over 1000 participants, Chong added. The fact that the Outgames will be held in post-Olympic Vancouver was also a factor in the province's support of the week-long event that kicks off on July 25.

And on the other side of the world, Wellington Outgames announced an expected NZD 75,000 surplus:

The highly-successful Outgames held in Wellington in March have brought in a financial surplus which community groups will be able to apply for.

"While we still have a little way to go before we can release final figures for the event, we can say that the surplus is likely to be greater than NZ$75,000," says 2nd AsiaPacific Outgames Outgames Co-chair David Hindley.

Some of this money will be set aside as seeding finance for the 3rd AsiaPacific Outgames, wherever the event may be held. A grants scheme is currently being developed to allow community groups to apply for money from the balance of the funds.

"The financial strength of the event is largely due to the generosity of sponsors," says Co-chair Virginia Hopkins-Burns. "The Kingdom of the Netherlands provided very significant financial support to the human rights conference, and some other funding bodies also provided cash grants in excess of NZ$10,000 each. Local organisations, including Rainbow Wellington and Gayline Wellington, were also very generous with their cash support."

Analysis of a survey of over 330 Outgames participants also indicates that the event brought a financial benefit of between $1.2 and $1.8 million to Wellington.

A report with final financial details, and details on how community groups can apply for funding, will be published in a few months’ time.