COIL Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The COIL Foundation supports LGBTQ organizations with a strong focus on the San Francisco Bay Area.
IP TAKE: The COIL Foundation is a mid-sized funder that invests in organizations that support the rights and well-being of LGBTQ people, especially those that work to counteract the harmful effects of conversion therapy, a cause in which the foundation takes a personal interest. While COIL will occasionally accept LOIs from groups outside San Francisco, most of its grants remain in the Bay Area. International organizations will need to look elsewhere. While COIL does not post its financial reports on its website, the foundation is generally transparent about where its money goes. Smaller groups should do well here.
PROFILE: Based in San Francisco, California, the COIL Foundation supports organizations that work toward eliminating “prejudice and discrimination against LGBT people” and “[p]romote their well-being through emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth.” It seeks to enable “people to Come Out of the closet, Into the Light of who they are, as they were made to be.” The foundation’s executive director, Peter Drake, lived his life as a heterosexual, born-again Christian until midlife, and has spoken out against conversion therapy, which he underwent prior to coming out as a gay man.
Grants for LGBTQ
COIL’s small discretionary donations range from $100 to $1,000 and go “to annual giving, for special programs and some membership requests.”
Requests for funding larger than $1,000 require a two-step submission and include an initial LOI, followed by a former proposal.
These larger grants range from $1,000 to $25,000.
The foundation’s average grant size is about $5,000, but grants generally go to smaller organizations, where small amounts can have a large impact.
More than half of COIL’s grantees serve the San Francisco Bay Area, but organizations in other areas of the U.S. have also received funding in recent years.
The foundation partnered with both the Tyler Clementi Foundation and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to commission a major work honoring the life of Tyler Clementi. It also sponsored a symposium for Soulforce designed to counter antigay Reparative Therapy practices. Other past grantees include the ARC of San Francisco, Freedom to Marry, Many Voices and Gaylesta. To learn more about select COIL grantees, explore its grants and projects pages.
Important Grant Details:
COIL accepts unsolicited letters of inquiry via mail. Should the applicant’s work align with the foundation’s goals, COIL may request a formal proposal. For additional information about grant requests, see the foundation’s Giving Guidelines page.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
