IP Briefing: What’s Going on with Philanthropy for LGBTQ+ Issues?
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In a sentence: Funding for U.S.-based nonprofits focused on LGBTQ+ communities and issues is on the rise, yet this sector still receives only a tiny fraction of overall philanthropic giving.
What’s going on
Philanthropy for LGBTQ+ issues and communities in the United States has been rising for the past two decades, with more and more grantmakers giving in this area, we reported in the State of American Philanthropy. But the sector still receives only a fraction of overall philanthropic resources.
Nonprofits and philanthropies focused on LGBTQ+ communities were founded in significant waves after the Stonewall riots of 1969 and in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis and conservative opposition to equal rights in the 1980s. Funders later got heavily focused on the fight for marriage equality, and have continued to give big even after that milestone was achieved in 2015. Philanthropic support for LGBTQ+ issues and communities more than doubled from 2009 to 2018, according to research by the important affinity group Funders for LGBTQ Issues.
LGBTQ+ philanthropy addresses issues from legal equality to healthcare access to culture change. In the last few years, funding has been increasing for communities disproportionately impacted by injustice but historically under-resourced by philanthropy, including trans communities, LGBTQ+ communities of color, and LGBTQ+ communities in the U.S. South.
By the numbers
LGBTQ+ people make up at least 4.5% of the U.S. population, yet from 2014 to 2018, nonprofits focused on this community received only about 0.18% of grant dollars from U.S.-based foundations.
Key funders
Funders focused on LGBTQ+ issues tend to have deep roots within the LGBTQ+ community. A relatively small group of private foundations and a few corporate funders account for most of the grant dollars in this area, with the Arcus Foundation, Gill Foundation, and Gilead Sciences playing leading roles.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ community foundations may not give as much as the big private foundations in terms of dollar amounts, but they play an important role in resourcing small grassroots organizations, which have historically grown into major forces advancing equality and supporting the community. The Horizons Foundation, established in 1980, is the longest-standing LGBTQ+ community foundation and was the first U.S. foundation to make a grant to an AIDS service provider. The “for us, by us” Stonewall Community Foundation in many ways paved the way for today’s LGBTQ+ philanthropy. The Tides Foundation and Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice are among several other impactful community foundations in this field.
Major individual donors for LGBTQ+ issues include Tim Gill, David Bohnett, and Elton John. Megadonor MacKenzie Scott has named LGBTQ+ equity one of her priority giving areas.
New and notable
The Leonard-Litz Foundation is a new grantmaker focused on nonprofits supporting the LGBTQ community in the U.S. northeast.
NBA champion Dwayne Wade and his wife, actor Gabrielle Union, made donations to organizations supporting LGBTQ healthcare during the pandemic.
Jennifer Pritzker is the world’s only out trans billionaire. She spoke to IP about her philanthropy.
An initiative launched in 2020 by the Foundation for a Just Society, Open Society Foundations, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will provide capacity-building support to women’s funds, which play an important role in supporting LGBTQ+ movements around the world.
Food for thought
“We are proof that when philanthropic decision-making power sits in the hands of women of color and transgender and gender-nonconforming people of color who come out of grassroots organizing, the giving looks different.” — Vanessa Daniel, founder of the Groundswell Fund, here
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