In 2022, U.S.-based foundations awarded $258,101,259 to LGBTQ communities and causes.

These funds were awarded by 903 foundations through 6,110 grants to 2,944 grantees in 2022.

903 Total Funders

6,110 Total Grants

2,944 Total Grantees

For more than 20 years, Funders for LGBTQ Issues has compiled grant data to track philanthropic support for LGBTQ communities and causes in the United States.1 To develop the latest Resource Tracking Report, grantmakers submitted data for LGBTQ grants awarded in 2022, and the Research Team obtained data from IRS Form 990s to identify additional LGBTQ grants from that year.2 

This site summarizes key findings from the 2022 Resource Tracking Report: LGBTQ Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations. We invite you to explore the interactive graphics below and then read the full report to dig deeper into the latest data related to philanthropic support for LGBTQ communities and causes in the United States.

Top LGBTQ Funders in 2022

Similar to prior years, the trend of “top-heaviness” of foundation support—where a relatively small number of U.S.-based foundation sources provide a disproportionately large percentage of the funding for domestic LGBTQ communities and causes—continued into grantmaking in 2022. The top funder alone accounted for 14 percent of total foundation support, and the top twenty funders were responsible for 67 percent of funding for LGBTQ communities and issues in 2022. Consequently, any decrease in funding from the top grantmakers has far-reaching impacts on LGBTQ communities and intersecting social justice movements. 

Within this top-heavy funding landscape, LGBTQ communities and movements remain vulnerable to shifts in grantmaking trends, fluctuations in the economic and political landscape, and unforeseen crises, as well as strategic priority changes and natural staff turnover at grantmaking organizations. 

Click the visualization below to explore the top funders of LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022.3

Which populations are served by this funding?

The Resource Tracking Report identifies grants that support specific populations within the broader LGBTQ community to identify gaps in funding and opportunities for strategic grantmaking.

In 2022, grantmakers allocated 79 percent ($203.3 million) of all support for LGBTQ communities and issues to the general LGBTQ community. Transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNCNBi) communities and issues received 19 percent of total funding ($48.2 million). Very little funding was allocated to any other specific LGBTQ populations in 2022.

Hover over the different colored circles in the graphic below to reveal the total funding for each LGBTQ population in 2022. Each circle represents $1 million.

Less than 40 percent of U.S. foundation funding for LGBTQ communities and causes supported LGBTQ communities of color. In 2022, 38 percent of total funding went to communities of color ($98.8 million), a decrease from 43 percent in 2021.

How has funding for LGBTQ communities and causes changed over time?

Philanthropic support for LGBTQ communities and causes from U.S.-based foundations totaled $258.1 million in 2022. This 2022 total was a nominal increase of $7.3 million (less than 3 percent) from the $250.8 million in total funding reported in 2021.

In real dollars, however, foundation support for LGBTQ communities and causes actually decreased in 2022 due to the impact of inflation, which was 8 percent according to the Consumer Price Index. Additional funding, above and beyond the $7.3 million nominal increase from 2021, would have been necessary to overcome the impact of inflation on funding for LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022. In effect, inflation washed out the nominal increase in funding for LGBTQ communities and issues observed in 2022.

A total of $48.2 million was awarded specifically to TGNCNBi communities and issues in 2022, which represents a 34 percent increase from the $36.0 million that were awarded to these communities in 2021.

Our research indicates that a significant portion of the increase in funding for TGNCNBi communities and issues in 2022 was attributable to the work of the Trans Futures Funding Campaign (TFFC), which began in the spring of that same year.

While funding specifically to Black LGBTQ communities nearly doubled from $18.4 million in 2021 to $35.0 million in 2022, funding allocated to LGBTQ communities of color generally (not to a specific racial or ethnic group) decreased substantially during the same period. This suggests that grantmaking dollars previously earmarked for LGBTQ communties of color generally were reallocated specifically for Black LGBTQ communities in 2022.

Click the legend on the graph below to customize which racial and ethnic groups are visible.

Where does this funding go?

The Resource Tracking Report identifies grants that are awarded to support LGBTQ communities and causes on a local, state, regional, and national level. This analysis highlights geographic locations that may lack targeted funding. 

Local, State, and Regional LGBTQ Funding, by U.S. Region

According to the 2022 dataset, local, state, and regional funding for all regions across the United States decreased compared to 2021. 

There was a 12 percent decrease in funding for Southern LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022 when compared to the prior year, despite escalating right-wing attacks targeting LGBTQ community members in the region. Funding for Southern LGBTQ communities has never been commensurate with the needs of the population as more LGBTQ people live in the Southern region than any other.4

Local and State LGBTQ Funding, by U.S. State

More grants focused on supporting LGBTQ communities and issues in California than any other state in the nation in 2022, with $30.6 million in grant funding. No other state besides California received more than $10 million of LGBTQ state and local funding in the reporting year.

Use the buttons below to explore maps of total LGBTQ funding by state, as well as funding specifically for TGNCNBi communities and causes by state.

What types of grants does this funding support?

The Resource Tracking Report provides more information about the type of support, as well as the issues and strategies that LGBTQ grants supported in a given year. The graphics below represent the breakdown in 2022 funding by the type of support and issue, as well as funding specifically to address the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ communities across the country.

Type of Support

For the first time, funding for general operating support was the most common type of support, accounting for 51 percent ($130.8 million) of all grant dollars awarded to LGBTQ communities and issues in 2022. For many years, the majority of funding had been allocated for program or project-specific support for grantees working on LGBTQ issues.

Issues Addressed

For the first time in more than a decade, funding for issues related to health and wellbeing among LGBTQ communities (including HIV and AIDS) received the highest percentage of funding in 2022, 28 percent ($72.0 million). Within the $72.0 million in funding focused on health and wellbeing generally, 41 percent ($29.7 million) focused on HIV and AIDS-specific initiatives in 2022. This increase in funding for health and wellbeing coincided with the rise in anti-trans legislation targeting gender-affirming health care and criminalizing supportive parents of trans youth and their medical providers across the U.S.5

For more on how these categories are defined, please reference the working definitions Funders for LGBTQ Issues uses to categorize grants that support particular issues as part of the Resource Tracking Methodology.

Funding for COVID-19

Though COVID-19 continues to impact every aspect of society, the Resource Tracking Report identified a 39 percent decrease in grantmaking for issues related to COVID-19 among LGBTQ communities in 2022 compared to the prior year. This decrease in COVID-19-specific funding is troubling given that LGBTQ people and their households were particularly vulnerable to negative consequences due to the pandemic.6

Conclusion

The $258.1 million allocated to LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022 is absolutely critical to supporting a diverse, intersectional, and sustainable field of LGBTQ movement organizations and intermediary funders that focus on the needs of LGBTQ people, their families, and their communities. To put LGBTQ grantmaking in context, however, funding for LGBTQ communities and causes is a tiny fraction of all U.S. foundation funding in any given year.

For every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2022, only 25 cents specifically supported LGBTQ communities and issues in the United States. This is less than the 28 cents for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2021.

An infographic showing 100 dollar signs and 100 cent symbols. 25 of the cent symbols are colored purple to indicate that only 25 cents out of every 100 dollars allocated by U.S. foundations went to support LGBTQ communities and issues in 2022.

For every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2022, 4.6 cents supported TGNCNBi communities, which was an increase from less than 4 cents per $100 awarded in 2021.

An infographic showing 100 dollar signs and 100 cent symbols. Four and a half of the cent symbols are colored pink to indicate that only 4.6 cents out of every 100 dollars allocated by U.S. foundations went to support TGNCNBi communities and issues in 2022.

As a core component of our organization’s research portfolio, the Resource Tracking Project continues to evolve to more accurately capture the state of U.S. foundation funding for domestic LGBTQ communities and causes, offering timely analyses of trends that are also relevant to the needs of broader social justice movements. Given the unprecedented challenges in recent years facing the LGBTQ community at all levels of society, it is clear that dedicated, reliable, and sustainable funding is necessary to defend and promote the rights, safety, and wellbeing of LGBTQ communities and advance our collective liberation.

Recommendations

For Grantmakers:

  • Submit your LGBTQ grantmaking data to ensure that your foundation’s work is reflected in future Resource Tracking Reports.
  • Use the latest resource tracking data to make strategic funding decisions to diversify funding sources for grantees, maximize the impact and efficacy of every grant dollar, and to help stabilize support for LGBTQ communities and causes in the long term.
  • Adjust your foundation’s grant levels and increase multi-year giving to account for the ongoing and lasting impact of inflation on grantees.
  • Take the Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) Pledge to publicly express your foundation’s support for and solidarity with trans communities.
  • For Grantmakers in the Southern United States, learn more about the Out in the South Initiative.

 

For LGBTQ Organizations:

  • Use the latest resource tracking data to inform your organization’s programs and fundraising strategies.
  • Let us know if you have any questions about the data that reflects your work.

For Individuals:

  • Share these data with your networks.
  • Connect with Funders for LGBTQ Issues on social media to stay informed about the latest in LGBTQ philanthropy.

Read More

Additional Articles

Grantmaker Appendix

These grantmakers supported LGBTQ communities and issues by providing over $1,000 and more than one LGBTQ grant in 2022. A total of 481 funders gave a single grant, and 136 funders gave $1,000 or less in 2022; these funders are not listed by name in this table.

References

  1. To access past Resource Tracking Reports, please visit our website.
  2. For more information about the methodology used to develop Resource Tracking Reports, please reference the Methodology section starting on page 34 of the 2022 Resource Tracking Report.
  3.  This graph includes funds awarded for the purpose of regranting in order to account for the total funding that each U.S. foundation awarded for LGBTQ communities and issues in 2022. This is the only figure on this page that includes funds awarded for regranting. Regranting is the act of acquiring a large grant and using the funds from that grant to create, manage, and finance smaller grants in turn.” For more information, please see: Aswell, S. (2021, March 16). The Complete Guide to Regranting. Submittable Blog.
  4. Flores, A.R. and Conron, K.J. (2023, December). Adult LGBT Population in the United States. Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. 
  5. Movement Advancement Project. (2023 February). Under Fire: The War on LGBTQ People in America.
  6. Nowaskie, D.Z., and Roesler, A.C. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ+ community: Comparisons between cisgender, heterosexual people, cisgender sexual minority people, and gender minority people. Psychiatry Research, 309.