Crisis: Financial, mission and space

Jul 2

Written By root .

Financial Crisis

In August 2025, we announced on our social media channels that we were facing a funding cut to the Astérisk space and were launching a fundraising campaign. At the same time, our mission-specific funding was also cut.

The board of directors and the administrative team were unable to raise the necessary funds and the necessary budget cuts. After several months of operating at a deficit, the organization is now in debt.

The Blossoming and Représent projects concluded on March 31 (the resources will be posted soon). The phase of the Estran project coordinated with the Coalition had to be closed at the end of April after one year due to the impact of the Coalition’s financial situation. The future of the project is led by CURE Montréal and the TPU.

Since April 1, 2026, the organization has been run by the Board of Directors and volunteers. Starting in May, the Coalition will officially have zero employees.

Mission crisis

The Asterisk is often mistaken for our organization, when in fact it is a project of the Coalition that does not fully reflect our mission of collective advocacy for rights in collaboration with a membership base that extends beyond our members at the Asterisk.

Our current membership consists of a small number of LGBTQ+ groups that are also affected by cuts to community funding. Our service offerings are unevenly distributed between the members with whom we manage collaborative projects (such as Astérisk) and our difficulty in engaging and supporting our other members.

In addition, for several years now, we have had a small board of directors facing challenges with recruitment and retention, which is hindering our ability to effectively manage the growing crisis.

We are supported by partner organizations with:

the development of our financial strategy
board recruitment
our 2026 - 2027 action plan
planning and mobilisign our next assembly in September 2026

The end of the Astérisk space?

In addition to funding issues and the organization’s mission, the Astérisk space has been closed since March due to maintenance issues.

Because of the time it took to resolve the situation, each Roomates, groups whose services depend on a physical space—Jeunesse Lambda, AlterHéros, and Juritrans—made the difficult decision to officially leave 1575 Atateken.

In May, the landlord hired contractors to address the situation. This is outside the scope of the lease, which holds the Coalition accountable. The majority of the Roomates’ decision to leave 1575 remains unchanged. The groups are renting temporary spaces until the plan outlined below is implemented.

For the future of the Astérisk space:

The status of the fundraiser is updated on the Zeffy page and our website
The majority of the Roomates and the Coalition are prioritizing the goal of acquiring a larger space or building
We are looking for a community-led initiative to which we can transfer the lease for 1575 Atateken starting in October 2026 - More details to come in a dedicated post. Contact the board for info.