California: AIDS Ride Charities Not Left Out in Cold; Cash-Strapped Producer to Distribute Proceeds

The future of the California AIDS Ride may have been thrown into doubt by the financial collapse of its producer, Pallotta TeamWorks, but the beneficiaries of the June event will still receive whatever proceeds it earned.

Craig Thompson, the executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, the lead beneficiary of the California AIDS Ride, said it was up to his organization whether to invest the time and money to produce the 10th California AIDS Ride next year without Pallotta. "California AIDS Ride 10 is completely our decision," Thompson said. "That's what we worked out with Pallotta.... We're all disappointed in the results" of the most recent ride.

California AIDS Ride 9 took in $2.7 million and had barely 700 riders. The year before, 2,800 participants rode from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising more than $11.5 million. This summer's event suffered after the two previous beneficiaries, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center, cut their ties with Pallotta because of expenses and fees incurred during AIDS Ride 8. The two groups then organized the AIDS LifeCycle ride, which attracted 700 riders and raised $4.4 million. SFAF is moving ahead with its second AIDS LifeCycle event next June, said a spokesperson. Organizers for both events said the amount of proceeds actually going to charity this year has not yet been tabulated.

Thompson said APLA would distribute all the proceeds from the AIDS Ride to 15 charities around the state, once the organization is able to settle the bills with Pallotta. Pallotta will not receive its standard promotional fee from the ride because expenses ate up more than half the money raised -- a cap Pallotta agreed to with APLA. It is unclear whether Pallotta TeamWorks will file for bankruptcy protection. A company spokesperson did not return repeated calls for comment.

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