Financially, it appears San Francisco's LGBT Pride Parade and celebration may not have been so fabulous after all.

However, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on, since Amy Andre, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee's executive director, is refusing to speak to the Bay Area Reporter and won't allow other employees to speak on behalf of the organization.

Mikayla Connell, the president of the Pride Committee's board, did speak with the B.A.R., but according to her, final figures for how much the parade and celebration raised this year weren't yet available.

"I believe we're pretty close to breaking even," which Connell, said considering the current economic climate, "is a miracle."

Pride's budget for this year's events, which were tagged with the theme "Forty and Fabulous" in honor of the celebration's 40th anniversary, was about $2 million.

In May, Pride had a $65-per-person benefit. Connell said this week that the event brought in less than officials had hoped, but she couldn't provide a more definitive answer Tuesday, July 27.

Asked whether the event lost money, Connell repeated, "It brought in less than we hoped."

Connell spoke to the B.A.R. during a phone interview on Tuesday, while she was on vacation.

In April, the paper obtained detailed budget data for Pride from the city, after officials with the organization declined to release their own budget figures.

That data suggested the committee had had high hopes for activities like the benefit. Fundraising from Pride's special events was projected to be at $358,000, up from just $2,405 last year.

The information was included in documents the committee submitted to the city's Grants for the Arts office in February. The office provided $58,400, which came from the city's hotel tax fund, this year.

Connell said this week that the May benefit "went really well ... but you can't really expect to make a whole lot of money the first time you throw an event like that."

The kick-off event was "paving the way for what's going to become an annual gala," the next of which will "most likely be held in December," said Connell.

She also said that donations at the gate were down this year at the Pride festival.

There was no cost to attend the festival, but a minimum donation of $5 was requested.

Connell said there were "big gaps" when it came to the people making requests for donations at the gate and "as a result, tons of people got through without ever being asked." She said she was speaking from "anecdotal evidence" and didn't have any direct evidence.

"I think we ran loose gates this year," Connell said Tuesday. She added, "We either didn't prepare our people well enough, or we didn't run the gates tight enough. I think that was our fault, and we just didn't run tight gates."

Pride's donations manager, who's listed on the organization's website as Brian Probst, didn't respond to an e-mailed request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Since 1997, Pride has granted over $1.6 million to beneficiary organizations. Donations from this year's event were to support over 80 Bay Area nonprofit organizations through the committee's community partners program.

Connell didn't immediately know when this year's check distribution would take place.

In other Pride developments, it appears the committee is looking for a new director of sponsorship.

Lindsey Jones, who had been the Pride Committee's executive director until she resigned last year, was the sponsorship director this year. It's not clear if the committee is looking to replace her, or add a second sponsorship director.

An ad for that position has appeared online at least once in the past week, in a SmartBrief listing posted Thursday, July 22. The ad listed a deadline of August 5 to apply.

Jones responded to a B.A.R. phone message requesting an interview about her position by sending an e-mail Monday, July 26, that said, "...[A]ll media goes through Amy [Andre]. I let her know you may be contacting her on deadline."

Jones did not respond to a follow-up e-mail asking if she was still the sponsorship director and when she would be leaving. Her e-mail signature included the title "director of sponsorship," and that's how she was still listed on the Pride website as of Wednesday morning, July 28.

Asked about Jones's status and the job posting, Connell said Tuesday that Jones is an independent contractor and her contract isn't up.

"No negotiations have started one way or another that I know about," said Connell.

Andre, who became the Pride Committee's executive director in October, didn't respond to recent interview requests made over the phone.

Following those requests, on Tuesday, a reporter went to the Pride Committee's Market Street office to try to speak with Andre in person. She was in the office, but Kim Westrick, the outgoing office manager, said Andre was unavailable that afternoon and that any appointment for Wednesday had to be made through Andre herself.

Andre did not respond to a subsequent phone message left with Lucky Gutierrez, the incoming office manager. She also did not respond to an e-mail sent directly to her after that call.