Like many of you, I have been sitting with the grief of this election. For the past forty-two years Funders for LGBTQ Issues has organized to increase funding for queer and trans movements across the United States because we have always known that our wellbeing is wrapped up in our mutual liberation. Whether taking care of chosen family impacted by HIV/AIDS, offering safe harbor for queer and trans youth kicked out of their homes, or celebrating the movement elders who helped to create the world we live in – we have always been home to each other.  As Gwendolyn Brooks says, “we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” 

For the past week I’ve paused to listen to the words of movement leaders. The day after the election, more than eighty LGBTQ organizations released a joint letter doubling down on their commitment to our collective liberation. I walked away with these words in my heart: “ours is a long history of never backing down from a fight for our rights.”

As a sector, we cannot give in to fear, we cannot back down. Our movements need us to fund more boldly and lovingly than ever before. To remember that as difficult as this moment is, our movements triumphed in harder times. This is a time to organize with precision and care, to be grounded in the wisdoms of movements both stateside and abroad who have looked hate and fascism in the face and said no. 

Below you’ll find key reflections to help guide your work in the coming days. We invite you to use these reflections as a tool to explore how your institution  will show up in a time where our work can truly make the difference. 

• Scared money is weak money – how are you working with living donors, institution leaders and trustees to understand the power they hold in this moment, and the kinds of attacks likely to come? Have honest conversations about your institution’s risk tolerance. Work with your lawyers, public policy experts and other advisors to build proactive and creative strategies to ensure resources continue to flow to movements.
• Don’t obey in advance – fascism relies on people voluntarily ceding power.  We advise institutions to do the difficult work of scenario planning with your teams and lawyers to imagine what it can look like to practice your mission and vision boldly, even in the face of expected attacks on grantees and the philanthropic sector.
• Our movements are only as well as our people – how are you taking care of your staff, how well are the leaders and staff of the organizations you fund? Right now is the time to work with both your grantees as well as your institution’s human resources and operations to ensure that you are not only resourcing insurance benefits, but actively building resources for gender affirming and reproductive health care, along with funds for relocation, travel for affirming health care and other supports.
• Invest in intermediaries – intermediaries are often our best and strongest philanthropic tool to ensure quick and nimble funding for our movements. Movements have already called for an increase in agile resources to fund travel for healthcare, relocation to less hostile areas, etc. Working with intermediaries will be a critical part of this strategy.
• Our work doesn’t start on Inauguration Day – groups are already reporting an uptick in digital and physical threats to security, coupled with the very real emotional labor of holding space for communities. For our movements to be successful, they need infrastructure support now to ensure their fiscal and operational practices are ready for heightened scrutiny.
• Listen and have grace – talk to your grantees, listen to their grief, hopes, strategies and plans. Organizing in this moment may at times feel chaotic, emotional, and charged. As funders, our work is to listen, support, and partner with grantees and others in philanthropy to help each other hold the center of this profound life saving work.
• Remember we are not the first or last movement to face authoritarian regimes – learn from international funders who partner with movements to navigate authoritarianism and fascism.

We know that many in our community, including some on our own team, now face a heightened risk to their safety and well-being. Funders for LGBTQ Issues will continue to stand and fight alongside you. Please continue to use us as a resource, a strategic partner, a community to connect with, and a place to land a bit more softly when times are hard. 

We are such a beautiful people. We have everything we need to build the world we deserve.

In Solidarity,
Saida Agostini-Bostic