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GREENSBORO — The president of the YWCA board of directors said Monday the financially troubled nonprofit is now operating in the red.

“We have more bills than we have money in our basic accounts,” said Judi Rossabi, who became the board’s leader in October. “We are in the process of getting hard numbers.”

Rossabi said she could not provide specifics about how much the 105-year-old nonprofit owes or how much cash it has on hand, adding that it could be “a few more weeks” before she has those answers.

“I do not feel like it is in chaos,” Rossabi said of the Y’s financial situation. “But I do feel like we need a little more time.”

The Y’s problems became public Friday when the agency failed to meet its $30,000 payroll.

As a cost-saving step, employees will now be paid monthly rather than every two weeks. The next pay day will be Nov. 26.

Rossabi said the Y’s finance committee met Monday and will make recommendations to the full board Thursday.

“Our objectives are to decrease or eliminate our net deficit, re-establish our partnerships with vendors and stabilize our whole system of operations,” Rossabi said. “We are looking at things we can do to move our system forward.”

In other developments Monday, the Y:

* Kicked off a major fund-raising drive. Called the Snowflake campaign, the effort is one of two held annually by the Y. Officials hope it brings in $25,000 by the end of the year.

The agency will send out letters to 1,500 people, e-mails will go out to 1,000 more, and workers will pass out fliers to Y users, asking them to support the campaign.

“We are urging the board to get out and talk to people they know in the community and ask for support,” Rossabi said. “We are aware what a difficult time it is (with the economy).”

* Began a scheduled audit of the agency’s books. The last audit, which covered the 2007 fiscal year, turned up no problems, said Rossabi, who added that the board has no indication that any money has been misappropriated.

She said the current financial problems came to light after the forced departure of Adrienne Witherspoon, who served as the Y’s executive director from November 2007 to Oct. 21.

“We decided it was not a good fit,” Rossabi said of Witherspoon’s tenure. “Membership was not going up and participation was not increasing.”

She said the board also cited Witherspoon for a lack of communication.

Efforts Monday to reach Witherspoon, who lives in Durham, were unsuccessful.

But those who know her have come to her defense, saying she was surprised to be asked to leave.

“She had been doing everything she could to keep the organization afloat,” said Conrad Airall, a friend and attorney who lives in Raleigh. “Her reputation is being tarnished when she was only trying to do what was right.”

Airall said he is not representing Witherspoon.

Y officials say the agency went through four accountants during Witherspoon’s tenure.

As the Y’s financial problems began to surface, officials shared their woes with the Weaver Foundation and the United Way of Greater Greensboro.

The United Way chose to give the Y its $28,000 monthly allocation two weeks early and continues to monitor the situation.

Officials at the Weaver Foundation say they need more information before deciding if they will offer financial assistance.

“I want to see a projection of what they are going to do over three months to be on a sound financial footing,” said Skip Moore, the foundation’s president. “It’s going to take a lot of good analysis and tough decisions for them to come out OK on the other side, especially in this economy.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com.

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