What’s a significant accomplishment from the last few years that The Equality Fund is particularly proud of?

This answer may be cheating as it packs a lot of accomplishments into one: The Equality Fund recently produced and is proud to share our inaugural impact report. It covers the Fund’s first 12 years, 2012 to 2024, and highlights our work with grantees, donors, and Advisory Committee members, sharing key milestones and victories to date. To view the Equality Fund’s impact report, please click here. 

What is The Equality Fund’s vision for the next 3-5 years?

In 2025, our transgender community is under attack, queer youth suicide rates are at an all-time high, support for same-sex marriage is down across the United States, and nationally less than 25 cents of every $100 in charitable giving goes to support the LGBTQ+ community and issues.

Since its inception, the Equality Fund has leveraged the power of philanthropy to increase the structural and lived equity of LGBTQ+ individuals and families in Greater Boston. But in this new era, we hold an even fiercer sense of urgency to advance and protect equity for all members of our diverse LGBTQ+ community in Massachusetts. We believe in the power of our community and the strength of our non-profit sector to drive innovative work and progress.

To ensure the necessary grantmaking, research, advocacy, and convening strength to meet the needs of our LGBTQ+ community in this moment and into the future, we dedicate ourselves to raising at least $20m for the Equality Fund by 2030. We are more committed than ever to ensure that the Equality Fund becomes a permanent, endowed philanthropic resource to support the evolving needs of the LGBTQ+ community today, tomorrow, and in perpetuity.

Would you like to highlight any specific initiative or project your grantees are spearheading in the LGBTQ space?

Greater Boston is fortunate to have a strong community of LGBTQ+ serving non-profit organizations. The Equality Fund is proud to support our grantees, including legacy organizations like the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (the longest-running transgender advocacy organization in the United States), national leaders like GLAD Law based here in Boston, and newer organizations like LGBTQ+ Senior Housing, Inc., which opened the first affordable housing for low-income LGBTQ seniors in New England last summer. To date, the Equality Fund has awarded over $2.2 million to 104 LGBTQ+ serving organizations and projects.  

As a community-driven fund, the Equality Fund is responsive to the changing needs and priorities of our region’s LGBTQ+ individuals and families. Two recent grantees of note include the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center’s commitment to expanding access to gender-affirming care and the LGBT Asylum Task Force’s support for queer and transgender individuals seeking asylum in the U.S. because of homophobic persecution in their home countries. 

What’s a fun fact about The Equality Fund that you don’t think enough people know?

Many people may not know that the Equality Fund is one of three unique Equity Funds at the Boston Foundation. Launched in 2012, the Equality Fund served as a template for the Latino Equity Fund (2013) and the Asian Community Fund (2020). Our three funds are built in partnership with deeply committed community leaders and, as such, amplify grassroots philanthropy to meet the needs of some of the most marginalized communities in Greater Boston. Collectively, the three Equity Funds work to address intersectional issues across the AAPI, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities and together have awarded $5.75 million in grants to nonprofits meeting the needs of these communities.