News

What a summer of growth! We’re delighted to have recently welcomed two new staff to Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Our New Project Director of the Out in the South Initiative! Chantelle Fisher-Borne joined the staff as our new Project Director for the Out in the South Initiative, a philanthropic initiative of local and national funders committed to creating a more robust, inclusive conversation among Southerners and foundations to empower LGBTQ communities in the South to shape their own lives and futures. Chantelle joins Funders after almost two decades working in the nonprofit sector addressing a diverse range of issues, including […]

Today is a good day! It is a day that has been a long time coming. It is a day many have fought tirelessly for; a day that some never dreamed would come in our lifetime; a day that innovative funders encouraged from the outset. Today, the Supreme Court has paved the way for full marriage equality in every corner of the United States.   I recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of my coming out: April 1995, the first time I told another person that I was gay. A teenager at the time, I assumed a happy future just wasn’t […]

In the past few months, Funders for LGBTQ Issues welcomed four new leaders within LGBTQ philanthropy to our Board of Directors: Alfredo Cruz (Director of Programs, Foundation for Louisiana); Gabriel Foster (Co-founder and Director, Trans Justice Funding Project); Surina Khan (CEO, Women’s Foundation of California); and Rye Young (Executive Director, Third Wave Fund). We sat down with them informally to find out more about who they are, what inspires their philanthropy, and why they’re excited to join the Board. Read on to learn more about these fantastic new Board members! Tell us about one of your earliest experiences of philanthropy […]

This past week has been hard. Like so many people across the country, I am overwhelmed with sadness and horror at the murder of nine Black people in Charleston, South Carolina. Funders for LGBTQ Issues stands in solidarity with the congregants of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and the communities of Charleston. We mourn for those taken before their time and we extend our deepest sympathies for those left behind. I could not help but imagine how it would have felt if it had been my church in Stirling, New Jersey, if it had been my family and loved ones […]