News

History was made earlier this summer when it was announced that the Tawani Foundation had awarded a $1.35 million multi-year grant to the Palm Center for their newly launched Transgender Military Initiative. This grant is the largest transgender-focused grant that we know of, single-handedly increasing overall foundation funding of transgender issues by 20 percent over prior years. The grant became all the more historic last week when Tawani Foundation president and founder, Col. Pritzker came out as transgender and announced that she was legally changing her name to Jennifer Natalya Pritzker. Between Col. Pritzker – who we can only hope […]

Something special happened in Charlotte, North Carolina at the end of July. The first summit of the LGBT Southern Funding Project not only attracted over 50 funders, representing 39 organizations, from 11 different states and the District of Columbia (8 of those states being Southern States), but it also built some real momentum for strategically increasing funding for LGBTQ communities in the U.S. South. On July 29th and 30th, Funders for LGBTQ Issues convened a summit to assess the assets, gaps and opportunities for funding LGBT communities in the US South. Some of the key findings included: In 2011, U.S. […]

I am pleased to announce several staffing changes at Funders for LGBTQ Issues. First, Lyle Matthew Kan, who has been working with us as our strategic communications consultant since February, has now joined us on a full-time basis as our Director of Communications and Education. In the past five months, Lyle has revamped Qnotes to make it a more useful tool for our members, expanded our social media presence, strengthened the branding of our annual retreat, and developed a comprehensive communications strategy for the organization. In this new, expanded role, Lyle will not only lead our communications efforts, he will […]

As I write this, my partner and I about to leave for Borough Hall to get our marriage license. Today’s Supreme Court decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 went largely as expected, yet I still found myself shocked and overwhelmed with joy that, for the first time in my life, I am able to marry the man I love with the full recognition of the law. No more “skim milk” marriages – now we have the real thing. This decision means that my partner can finally become a citizen and that we can at last […]