Giving With Pride, All Year Long
As Pride Month comes to a close, my colleague Rasheeda Childress checks in on giving to LGBTQ nonprofits. Research shows donations to LGBTQ groups pale in comparison with other causes. A recent report found that gifts to LGBTQ groups in 2019 accounted for just 0.13 percent of all giving. The research by Advancing Human Rights, which looks at the same time period, showed that grants to LGBTQI causes accounted for just a small share of foundation giving, with less than 1 percent supporting LGBTQI rights and about 5 percent serving LGBTQI populations. Now, with legislation that targets LGBTQ rights proliferating across the country, leaders say fundraising is essential to groups responding to the backlash.
“There’s a missing alignment around how urgent this actually is,” says alicia sanchez gill, executive director of the Emergent Fund, which provides grants to small and emerging groups that focus on LGBTQ and related issues. “If funders are saving their resources for a rainy day, the rainy day is already here.”
Katie Hultquist, director of leadership giving at Outright International, a global LGBTQI human-rights group, points out that the “movement is still relatively young.” The oldest LGBTQ rights organizations are less than 50 years old, and many are much younger.
Being a new organization makes it difficult to raise funds because there’s a big learning curve, says Daniel Wein, chair of the Jewish Pride Fund, a giving circle that supports LGBTQ and Jewish causes.
Traditional grant makers want to see a proven history, which is a problem, says gill. “There’s a strong need for some of those smaller grassroots, local organizations to receive some of that larger funding,” she says. “But often they don’t have access to mainstream funders because they don’t have the scale that funders want to see or the proof of concept the funders want to see.”
While being new or smaller has made it difficult for some LGBTQ groups to raise funds, Hultquist thinks that can change.
“I’m actually incredibly optimistic about the potential for growth for fundraising in our sector,” she says. Whether LGBTQ groups are seeking grassroots or more traditional funding, it’s important to connect with donors and provide them the information they need to understand how their donations can change lives, says Hultquist.
Hultquist also recommends thinking about different types of donors to see what outreach would be most effective. “We have a huge opportunity to speak to older generations of queer people, many of whom did not and do not have children but who may be able to make significant legacy donations as part of their estate planning,” she says.
Pride Month is an obvious time to focus on fundraising for LGBTQ causes. But the needs are year-round so it’s important for groups to maintain the momentum they build this time of year.
“Pay attention to moveable moments and what is in the news cycle,” says gill. “That not only helps to organize your community and your base but it also can help to organize your funders and donors.”
For a broader view of fundraising at LGBTQ organizations, read Rasheeda’s full story.
Credit:Source link
