“Thirty-five years! I can’t believe it!” That was the reaction of Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ first Executive Director, Nancy Cunningham, when current President, Ben Francisco Maulbeck, invited her to the inaugural Pride in Philanthropy Awards, celebrating 35 years of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and honoring the philanthropic leadership that has brought us to this moment. When the organization was founded in 1982, we were a working group housed at National Network of Grantmakers (NNG) and foundation funding for LGBTQ issues totaled less than $250,000 annually. Today, Funders for LGBTQ Issues has nine staff and foundation funding for LGBTQ issues […]
This week, the Department of Justice mounted another attack on LGBTQ communities, first reversing guidance issued under the Obama administration that had extended workplace protections to transgender people and today issuing sweeping guidance endorsing a broad license to discriminate under the guise of “protecting religious liberty.” This administration is using “religious freedom” as a smokescreen to allow people (including government employees) and businesses to deny services to LGBTQ people and their families, people of color, women, and even people of diverse faiths. “There is a continued need for a bold philanthropic response to what can only be seen as […]