Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Grammy-winning singer Jennifer Holliday, star of the original “Dreamgirls” on Broadway, will perform at tomorrow night’s gala of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, one of the U.S.’s leading gay-youth assistance groups. Kimora Lee Simmons of the reality TV show “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane,” will emcee.

The institute will celebrate its 30th anniversary and distribute its 2009 Emery Awards at the gala at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan.

“We’ve had some significant milestones, and this will be an opportunity to pause and realize that we’ve survived this long,” Thomas Krever, executive director of the New York-based nonprofit since 2007, said in a phone interview.

With donations on the decline since April 2008, the institute is counting heavily on the gala to plug budget holes and keep vital programs afloat.

“We’ve taken a hit,” Krever said. The gala “is incredibly important for us to cultivate a relationship with donors.”

Hetrick-Martin hopes its patrons and gala guests will help it raise $1 million for such programs as mental-health counseling, after-school arts-and-culture activities, meals and showers. Declining donations for Hetrick-Martin cut its budget this year by about $1 million to $4.2 million.

Three decades ago, gay and lesbian teens had few havens when facing physical or emotional distress. Psychiatrists Emery Hetrick and Damien Martin started the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth in New York in 1979. It // was initially an advocacy organization and then began offering counseling and emergency services for gay teens in 1983.

‘Once You’re Out’

The organization was renamed the Hetrick-Martin Institute after Hetrick died of AIDS in 1987 and his partner, Martin, succumbed to the disease in 1991. It went on to become an innovator in helping troubled gay and lesbian students.

“Students don’t have the mental and emotional development to think through and strategically plan how to come out,” Krever said. “Once you’re out, it’s very hard to go back in.”

The Institute’s Harvey Milk High School, established in Manhattan’s East Village in 1985, provides a safe environment and standard instruction for about 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students who have been victims of abuse.

The gala’s honorees include Joyce Hunter, the co-founder of the Harvey Milk School, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP. A special tribute will be paid to Harvey Milk, the San Francisco mayor who was killed in 1978 by city supervisor Dan White.

‘Word of Mouth’

“We want the people who will come to spread what we do by word of mouth,” Krever said. “We never underestimate the power of word of mouth. The people who came to us found out by word of mouth.”

The gala’s corporate sponsors include Time Warner Corp., Levi Strauss & Co., Macy’s Inc., clothing designer Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and Wachovia Bank, which was acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in January.

The Hetrick-Martin 2009 gala starts with cocktails at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall St. General admission is $500; admission just to the after party from 9:30 to midnight is $50. Information: +1-212-674-2400; http://www.hmi.org.

To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 00:01 EST