Contact: April Bethea, Director of External Affairs, [email protected]

(New York, NY) Funders for LGBTQ Issues is pleased to announce Texas Pride Impact Funds (TPIF) as the host partner for our next Funding Forward conference.

Slated for the spring of 2025, Funding Forward is the largest convening of grantmakers committed to LGBTQ issues. The conference provides an exciting opportunity for funders to connect and learn together while coordinating their efforts to maximize the impact of their grantmaking. Last held in November 2023 in Chicago, Funding Forward brought together over 300 attendees from national and regional funders alike to learn about the funding gaps and opportunities for midwestern LGBTQ movement organizing. 

As we look forward to our 2025 conference in Houston, TX, and the impact we hope to make on LGBTQ movement work in the state and region, we can think of no greater partner than Texas Pride Impact Funds.

Texas Pride Impact Funds is the leading progressive LGBTQ+ community foundation in Texas, and has been a close partner of Funders for LGBTQ Issues since its earliest days. Indeed, planning for TPIF occurred at the same time Funders for LGBTQ Issues launched Out in the South, our own initiative to increase resources to southern LGBTQ communities. 

Out in the South aims to transform philanthropy in the South to honor the fact that LGBTQ people and families are a part of every community in the region by increasing philanthropic resources that support a healthy ecosystem of Southern LGBTQ organizations. Crucial to this work is the Out in the South Fund, a pooled fund that has awarded over $3.7 million dollars to catalyze locally-driven Southern funds. To date, the OTS fund has completed eight rounds of grantmaking. TPIF has been a grantee partner since our very first cohort. 

In 2017, in advance of its inaugural year of grantmaking, TPIF conducted the first-ever, state-wide LGBTQ+ community needs assessment for the state of Texas with the Out in the South Fund. Since then, TPIF has awarded over $1,670,000 to over 100 grantees with a five-year plan to award $1 million dollars in annual grantmaking by 2026. 

“Our 9-year partnership with Funders for LGBTQ Issues has been nothing short of transformative, playing a vital role in our success,” said TPIF Executive Director, Ron Guillard. “Through their unwavering support, TPIF’s growth and reach has touched the furthest corners of the state. The spotlight that Funding Forward will bring to Texas is invaluable—it amplifies our voices, shines a light on our humanity, and propels our mission forward. In the face of daunting challenges, we stand firm, empowered by this collaboration. Together, we place our grantees and their narratives at the forefront, driving positive change in the heart of Texas.”

Out in the South, in partnership with organizations like TPIF, has made an indelible mark on Southern LGBTQ Philanthropy. Funding for Southern LGBTQ communities has increased from $4.8 million in 2012 to $32.2 million in 2021, the last year for which we have data. Still, we know there is more work to be done, especially as LGBTQ communities across the region, nation, and world face escalating assaults with no end in sight. 

In 2025, both TPIF and Out in the South will celebrate their tenth anniversaries. We are honored to be able to come together to tell the story of our Southern philanthropic organizing work while laying the groundwork for the next decade.