“If you were waiting for a rainy day, baby, it’s pouring!”: Reflections from the 2023 Resource Tracking Report Launch Event
By: Funders for LGBTQ Issues Staff on July 14, 2025
On Monday, June 30th, Funders for LGBTQ Issues launched our 2023 Resource Tracking Report: LGBTQ Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations in a hybrid event held at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City.
The event started with opening remarks from alicia sanchez gill, Executive Director of Emergent Fund. alicia acknowledged the urgency of this moment, as well as the grief and anger that our communities may be feeling as we experience the erosion of our rights, calling on those of us in philanthropy to fund our movements like we want them to win. “If you were waiting for a rainy day,” alicia says, “baby, it’s pouring!”
Funders’ Director of Research, Sammy Luffy, reviewed the key findings and latest trends in LGBTQ philanthropy as outlined in the 2023 Resource Tracking Report, including the ripple effects of a 19% decrease in total grant funding awarded for LGBTQ communities and causes that year. While the findings of the 2023 Report can be overwhelming, Sammy focused on some key points to ground attendees in the latest data. Key points highlighted in her presentation included:
- There was a 27% decrease in funding awarded by private foundations and a 39% decrease in funding awarded by community foundations in 2023.
- The average duration of LGBTQ grants awarded in 2023 was approximately 1 year, continuing a trend of the underutilization of multi-year grantmaking across the sector.
- There was a 24% decrease in funding for transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary communities and causes from 2022 to 2023.
- There was a continued decline in funding for LGBTQ communities of color, which has been falling since an all-time high was recorded in 2021.
- General operating support decreased by 24% from 2022 to 2023.
- Only $6.7 million was awarded for rapid response grants to support LGBTQ communities and causes in 2023 when rapid response grants were more necessary than ever.
After the research presentation, our expert moderator, Jonathan Jayes-Green, Board Chair of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, led a brilliant and inspiring discussion between Elisa Crespo from Stonewall Community Foundation, Melanie Willingham-Jaggers from GLSEN, and Joy Chia from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. This conversation invited each panelist to share their reflections on what 2023 was like for their organizations and their community, to share their learnings from the 2023 Report data, and to envision how the philanthropic sector could reimagine our efforts to resource queer and trans movements not only to win, but to live.
A few poignant reflections elicited from the event that we think are useful for grantmakers are:
- Trust the leadership of trans and queer organizers and leaders within philanthropy, especially trans women of color.
- The etymology of the word ‘philanthropy’ actually means “love of humankind, especially as evinced in deeds of practical beneficence and work for the good of others.” This urges us to reflect on the true purpose of our work in philanthropy in this moment.
- We cannot have a functional multi-racial, multi-class democracy in this country without queer and trans people.
- Philanthropy’s role in this moment is to organize as many resources as possible so that our democracy can be fully realized and so that our communities can thrive. Foundations can sustain grassroots organizations and LGBTQ communities in the following ways:
- Provide rapid response funding with low or no reporting requirements.
- Commit to making multi-year, general operating support grants whenever possible. The opposition funds in 5- to 20-year cycles and we must fund our grantees in a similarly sustainable manner through unrestricted funds for more than 1 year at a time.
- Understand current and future risks then reflect on how your foundation can remain bold, thoughtful, and committed to justice while standing in solidarity with your grantees.Think like an organizer; embrace flexibility, creativity, and expansiveness.
- Not everybody that gives money to movements is invested in our freedom. There are co-conspirators who you strategize with around the kitchen table and then there are garden party buddies that you can socialize with, but not necessarily count as your community. It is imperative for grantmakers to understand what side they are on with regard to LGBTQ communities and to find their co-conspirators.
- We must recognize the power implicit in who gets to be anonymous and who doesn’t, whether in reporting or otherwise. Oftentimes, intermediaries don’t get to be anonymous because they are the ones that grantees come to, that foundations come to to move resources as effectively as possible.
For over twenty years, Funders for LGBTQ Issues has documented trends in LGBTQ philanthropy. We offer our research as a tool for grantmakers and nonprofit leaders and our Resource Tracking Report launch was an opportunity to call folks into the work of resourcing queer and trans liberation. To interact with the latest report findings and more, we invite you to check out the Data Explorer, which has been updated to include 2023 data.
Our 2023 Resource Tracking Report paints a troubling picture: progressive philanthropy investment in LGBTQ communities is in decline in a critical moment for our movements. What could happen if we as a sector reimagined our role in the sustainability of our movements?
We at Funders for LGBTQ Issues invite you to work with us to find out.