News

This September, we were thrilled to welcome Terry Boggis and Andrew Wallace to the Funders for LGBTQ Issues team. We are pleased to congratulate them as well as Rebecca Wisotsky, who was recently promoted to the newly created position of Director of Philanthropic Outreach. As we head into the fall, we’re excited for all our members and partners to meet the newest additions to our family. Our new Research and Communications Associate Andrew Wallace has joined the team as our new Research and Communications Associate. In that capacity, Andrew will work closely with Director of Research and Communications Lyle Matthew […]

In the wake of the horrific massacre of LGBTQ and Latinx youth in Orlando, FL, a growing number of LGBTQ organizations are embracing gun violence prevention as an LGBTQ issue. But will the funding community follow suit? To explore funding gun violence prevention, we spoke with Michel Fleming, Executive Director of the David Bohnett Foundation. When the David Bohnett Foundation was founded in 1999, gun violence prevention and LGBTQ issues were two of the original funding priorities and they remain priorities for the foundation today. But if you could go back in time to 2000 when Michael joined the foundation, […]

The heart of our work is connecting with funders working throughout the South tackling a range of issues. During the past several months, we have continued our efforts to build a network of funders who care deeply about the South and who are interested in identifying concrete ways to support LGBTQ communities throughout the region. The recent rash of bad bills has been an opportunity to educate funders, both seasoned LGBTQ grantmakers and those who are new to the conversation, about how they might show their support for southern LGBTQ communities. See our recent QNotes article highlighting ways that funders can engage during […]

In state legislatures where almost 200 anti-LGBTQ bills  have been introduced this year alone, most are happening in southern states. Mississippi’s religious exemption bill and Tennessee’s anti LGBTQ counseling bill offer two examples of harsh bills aimed at codifying discrimination against LGBTQ southerners into state law.   In North Carolina, the passage of HB2, an anti-trans local pre-emption bill, has galvanized North Carolinians in response to this bill in powerful ways. Grassroots organizers, long standing coalitions,policy change advocates, business leaders, local municipalities, artists and national celebrities have taken public stands against HB2. The Institute for Southern Studies offers a case for why the HB2 boycotts are working. Funders are stepping up in many ways in […]