Overview of 2023 Data
In 2023, U.S.-based foundations awarded $209,443,913 to support domestic LGBTQ communities and causes.
These funds were awarded by 826 foundations through 5,458 grants to 2,926 grantees in 2023.
826 Total Funders
5,458 Total Grants
2,926 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. To develop the latest Resource Tracking Report, grantmakers submitted data for LGBTQ grants awarded in 2023, and the Research Team supplemented this information with data obtained from IRS Form 990s to identify additional LGBTQ grants from that year.
This site summarizes key findings from the 2023 Resource Tracking Report: LGBTQ Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations. We invite you to explore the interactive graphics below and then read the full 2023 report to dig deeper into the latest data related to philanthropic support for LGBTQ communities and causes across the United States.
Funder Landscape
For many years, LGBTQ grantmaking has largely been driven by a small group of leading funders. In 2023, the top ten funders awarded 46%, and the top 20 funders awarded 61% of the total funding awarded in that year. The remaining 806 funders for which we have data awarded only 39% of the total funding in 2023.
Importantly, the top funders in 2023 awarded less funding than the top funders in the prior year by both actual dollars and relative percent of total funding. One of the reasons for the 19% decrease in total funding awarded from 2022 to 2023 is that the top ten funders awarded $38.9 million less total funding (a 26% decrease) in 2023 than the top ten funders awarded in the prior year. This decrease in giving from top funders was not countered by increases in LGBTQ grantmaking from the rest of the foundations across the sector.
As indicated in prior reports, any variation in funding awarded by top funders, whether from leadership changes, strategic realignment, or other shifts, contributes to high volatility of the entire funding landscape that can have far-reaching impacts. Ideally, the funding landscape should be less top-heavy so that such shifts among the top funders have less of an impact on the landscape overall.
Click the visualization below to explore the decrease in grantmaking from the top funders of LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022 and 2023.3
Multi-Year Grantmaking
Funders for LGBTQ Issues has consistently advocated for grantmakers to prioritize multi-year grantmaking as a strategy to sustainably support LGBTQ organizations, communities, and causes across the country. When we analyzed the 2022 and 2023 datasets to determine average grant duration, we found that nearly half of grants were one year long, with the average duration being 1.2 years in 2022 and 1.1 years in 2023. Approximately 5.1% of grants awarded in 2022 and 4.3% of grants awarded in 2023 were 13 to 24 months long. Only 3.2% of grants awarded in 2022 and 1.8% of grants awarded in 2023 were for grants lasting longer than 24 months.
According to the LGBTQ grant duration data available from 2022 and 2023, multi-year grantmaking has been underutilized across the sector. It is our hope that future LGBTQ grant data submissions will include more information about the duration of LGBTQ grants to support a deeper understanding of the funding landscape.
Populations Supported
Which populations are served by this funding?
The Resource Tracking Report characterizes grants that support specific populations within the broader LGBTQ community to identify gaps in funding and highlight opportunities for foundations to make more strategic grantmaking decisions.
Hover over the different colored circles in the graphic below to reveal the total funding for each LGBTQ population in 2023. Each circle represents $1 million.
In 2023, $164.1 million, or 78%, of all U.S.-based foundation support for LGBTQ communities and causes was allocated to the general LGBTQ community. Transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNCNBi) communities and issues received 17% of total funding that year ($36.4 million). Very little funding was allocated to any other specific LGBTQ populations in 2023.
Less than 40% of U.S. foundation funding for domestic LGBTQ communities and causes supported LGBTQ communities of color. In 2023, 37% of total funding was awarded for LGBTQ communities of color ($77.5 million), a decrease from 38% ($98.8 million) in 2022.
Change Over Time
How has funding for LGBTQ communities and causes changed over time?
Philanthropic support for domestic LGBTQ communities and causes from U.S.-based foundations totaled $209.4 million in 2023. This 2023 total was a nominal decrease of $48.7 million (19%) from the $258.1 million in total funding reported in 2022. When adjusted for inflation, the decrease from 2022 to 2023 was over 22%.
The stark decrease in funding from 2022 to 2023 is particularly troubling given the inadequate levels of funding awarded in 2022 to combat the impact of inflation, as well as the persistent legislative attacks and regressive social policies impacting LGBTQ people and their families across the country that continued through 2023 until the time of publication of these data. This decrease of almost 20% in funding awarded to support LGBTQ communities and causes impacted almost every subsector of LGBTQ philanthropy in 2023 and likely hindered the ability of grantees to work toward their missions and efforts to advance queer liberation.
A total of $36.4 million was awarded specifically to transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNCNBi) communities and issues in 2023, representing a 24% decrease from the $48.2 million that was awarded to these communities in 2022. Please refer to the full 2023 report for a detailed explanation of this decrease.
Funding to LGBTQ communities of color fell from 2022 to 2023. The largest exception was funding to Latinx LGBTQ communities, which increased by 78%. Despite this significant increase from 2022, Latinx-specific grantmaking only accounted for six percent of LGBTQ grants awarded in 2023.
Funding for Black LGBTQ communities and causes decreased by 41% from 2022 to 2023. Black LGBTQ communities were awarded $20.6 million in 2023, which was $14.5 million less than the record high of $35 million awarded in 2022.
Click the legend on the graph below to customize which racial and ethnic groups are visible.
Geographic Focus
Where does this funding go?
The Resource Tracking Report identifies grants that were awarded to support LGBTQ communities and causes at 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 2023 dataset, local and national funding decreased compared to 2022, while state and regional funding increased. For a complete analysis of LGBTQ funding by geographic level, check out the full 2023 report.
For the first time since 2018, the Southeast region received the highest amount of funding with $36 million, or 17% of the total funding awarded in 2023. This represented a $7.6 million, or 27%, increase from the funding awarded to the Southeast region in 2022. One of the reasons for this increase was grantmaking through the Out in the South Fund in 2023, which awarded $877,500 in grants to Southern intermediaries that work with LGBTQ communities across the region. Given that more LGBT adults live in the Southeast region than any other, this increase in funding specifically for LGBTQ communities and causes in the region is encouraging.4 However, the distribution of funding was unequal across states.5
Local and State LGBTQ Funding, by U.S. State
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.
All LGBTQ Funding by State
More grants focused on supporting LGBTQ communities and causes in California than any other state in the nation in 2023, with $17.6 million in grant funding. However, this represents a 43% decrease in funding to California from 2022. No other state besides California received more than $10 million in LGBTQ state and local funding in 2023.
TGNCNBi Funding by State
LGBTQ grant funding specifically focused on the needs of transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNCNBi) communities decreased from $48.2 million in 2022 to $36.4 million in 2023—a decrease of $11.7 million, or 24 percent, from the previous year. A record number of anti-LGBTQ bills, particularly those targeting transgender youth, have been introduced and advanced through state legislatures in recent years, so specific funding for our communities is required to withstand and fight back against such actions.
Grant Details
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 of 2023 funding by type of support and issue, as well as funding specifically allocated to address the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ communities nationwide.
Type of Support
In 2022, for the first time, LGBTQ grants providing general operating support to grantees made up 51% of funding awarded that year, which was in line with a long-time recommendation by Funders for LGBTQ Issues for foundations to prioritize this type of support. Unfortunately, this trend did not continue in 2023 when 48% of funding was awarded for program support ($101.4 million) and 47% was awarded for general operating support ($99.3 million).
Issues Addressed
Slightly more funding was awarded for LGBTQ grants related to civil and human rights than health and wellbeing in 2023; 30% of funding was awarded for civil and human rights work, and 29% was awarded for health and wellbeing activities. Consistent with 2020 and 2021 data, the most funding was awarded for civil and human rights grants related to LGBTQ communities and causes in 2023. Again, this coincided with the high number of anti-LGBTQ legislative bills introduced at all levels of government in that year, including those that attempted to limit queer people’s access to appropriate and gender-affirming health care–specifically transgender youth.
Though the relative percentages for each issue remained steady from 2022 to 2023, it is important to remember that total funding decreased by almost 20% in 2023, resulting in a lower actual total for every issue except civil and human rights compared to the previous year.
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
Consistent with a trend observed in 2022, grant funding to address the unique impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTQ communities continued to decrease in 2023. This decrease in COVID-19-specific funding is troubling given that LGBTQ people and their households were, and remain, particularly vulnerable to negative consequences due to the pandemic.
Conclusion
Philanthropic support for LGBTQ communities and causes 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, the $209.4 million in funding for LGBTQ communities and causes in 2023 was a tiny fraction of all U.S. foundation funding awarded that year.
For every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2023, only 20 cents specifically supported LGBTQ communities and causes in the United States. This was a 5 cent decrease from the 25 cents for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2022.
Similarly, for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2023, only 3.5 cents supported TGNCNBi communities, which was a decrease from the 4.6 cents per $100 awarded in 2022.
The purpose of this report is to analyze the latest LGBTQ grant data, identify gaps in funding, and present recommendations for U.S.-based foundations to effectively and sustainably support our communities through strategic grantmaking that is in alignment with the realities of LGBTQ communities across the country. Given the increasingly perilous social and political climate at the time of publication, it is important to note that the funding trends presented in this report reflect grantmaking decisions made in calendar year 2023 under the Biden-Harris Administration, arguably one of the most pro-LGBTQ administrations in history.
Recommendations
For Grantmakers:
- Use the latest resource tracking data to organize within your institutions and make strategic funding decisions to diversify funding sources for grantees, maximize the impact and efficacy of every grant dollar, and help stabilize support for LGBTQ communities and causes in the long term.
- Increase funding to grantees that serve TGNCNBi communities and Black LGBTQ communities across the country.
- Support LGBTQ communities that are not funded at a level that is in line with their lived realities, including lesbians and queer women, as well as intersex, two-spirit, bisexual, and asexual people; people of color who identify as AAPI, Indigenous, or Middle Eastern; those that live in the U.S. territories; queer immigrants and refugees; and sex workers.
- Increase multi-year giving to decrease grantees’ overhead expenses and demand on their staff capacity, thereby more effectively supporting grantees to achieve the long-term social change they seek to make.
- Honor the expertise of grantees by providing general operating support instead of program support. This allows grantees to meet the moment and use funding in flexible and sustainable ways.
- Submit your LGBTQ grantmaking data directly to ensure that your foundation’s work is reflected in future Resource Tracking Reports. Please see how we use and protect your data here.
- Sign onto the Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) Pledge to publicly express your foundation’s support for and solidarity with trans communities and identify action steps to build a more trans inclusive workplace.
- For Grantmakers in the U.S. Southeast or with a regional commitment to the South: Learn more about the Out in the South Program.
- Current institutional members of Funders for LGBTQ Issues can inquire about specific data points based on existing resource tracking data. Our Research Team can help you interpret these data in ways that are relevant for your organization and mission. Please reach out if you’d like to explore this offering in more detail at [email protected].
For LGBTQ Movement Organizations:
- Use the latest resource tracking data to inform your organization’s programs and fundraising strategies.
- Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions about the data or want to discuss ideas for how to use this information to support your work.
For Individuals:
- Share these key findings with your networks, particularly those who may not be familiar with LGBTQ issues or social justice more broadly.
- Connect with Funders for LGBTQ Issues (@lgbtfunders) on social media to stay informed about the latest updates in LGBTQ philanthropy.
Read More
2023 Grantmaker Appendix
These grantmakers supported LGBTQ communities and issues by providing over $1,000 and more than one LGBTQ grant in 2023. A total of 492 funders gave a single grant, and 97 funders gave $1,000 or less in 2023; these funders are not listed by name in this table. Anonymous grantmakers are listed in their ranked position.
Note: This resource is protected by a password. Email our Research Team ([email protected]) to request the password.
References
- To access past Resource Tracking Reports and other research publications, please visit our website: https://lgbtfunders.org/published-research/.
- For more information about the methodology used to develop Resource Tracking Reports, please reference the Methodology section starting on page 30 of the 2023 Resource Tracking Report.
- 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 causes in 2023. 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. https://blog.submittable.com/regranting/
- Flores, A.R. and Conron, K.J. (2023, December). Adult LGBT Population in the United States. Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/adult-lgbt-pop-us/
- For a more detailed understanding of the LGBTQ funding landscape across the South, refer to the LGBTQ Philanthropic Landscape in the U.S. South: Reflecting on Ten Years of the Out in the South Program.
- Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures in 2023. (2023, December 21). ACLU; American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-2023
- 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, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114391
Credits
The first iteration of the Resource Tracking Data Explorer was designed in 2024 by Laura Laderman of Laura Laderman of Laura Laderman Consulting, LLC in partnership with the following staff at Funders for LGBTQ Issues: Hala Hassan, Alyssa Lawther, and Sammy Luffy. It was updated in 2025 to include 2023 data by the following Funders for LGBTQ Issues staff: Hala Hassan, Alyssa Lawther, Sammy Luffy, and Cassidy Rivera-Keefe.