For many in the Black transgender and gender-nonconforming communities, the COVID-19 pandemic was a continuation of the centuries-long crisis of anti-Black racism, misogynoir and transphobia that has left these communities largely unable to access health care, housing, and employment. When national shelter-in-place orders went into effect last spring, Black trans community leaders mobilized their own grassroots networks and relationships to raise and distribute funds to trans and gender-nonconforming BIPOC communities with unprecedented speed. Together, they moved at least $3 million into the hands of QTBIPOC community members across the country hit hardest by the virus and ensuing economic fall-out, largely before institutional philanthropy could respond.

In this plenary, representatives from some of these grassroots groups will share what they learned in adapting their existing relationships and work to move money so quickly. They will also discuss the challenges they faced stepping into the vacuum left by the government and institutional philanthropy in the immediate wake of the pandemic, all while continuing to the day-to-day operations of their own under-resourced organizations. Panelists will also pose important questions to the audience about how institutional philanthropy can take accountability for its past failures to adequately support Black trans communities by helping groups like theirs continue to expand and thrive even as the pandemic recedes. Audience members will come away with new insight behind this alternative vision of “doing philanthropy” that is rooted in radical trust in community, as well as suggestions for how they can immediately adapt their own grantmaking to better support Black trans communities.

Speakers
Devin Lowe, Founder & Executive Director, Black Trans Travel Fund
Socorro “Cori” Moreland, Founder and CEO, Brotherhood510
Sybastian Smith, Vice President, I am Human Foundation
LaSaia Wade, Founder and Executive Director, Brave Space Alliance

Moderated by Bré Rivera, Program Officer, Black Trans Fund, Groundswell Fund

Session resources:

• The Black Trans Fund
• Black Trans Fund 2020 Docket
• Philanthropy OUTlook: LGBTQ Black Communities, from Funders for LGBTQ Issues and ABFE
• Black Trans Travel Fund
• I Am Human Foundation
• Brave Space Alliance
• Brotherhood510

We invite Funding Forward attendees to help inform our Day 2 plenary, Black Trans Brilliance: Black Trans Community Moving Money in Times of Crisis, by completing a brief pre-conference survey to help make the session as relevant as possible!  Please take a moment to share your thoughts in this short survey.