2022 Resource Tracking Report: LGBTQ Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations
Published: June 24, 2024
Author(s): Alyssa Lawther, Erin Howe, Sammy Luffy, Somjen Frazer
Topic(s): Tracking Report
Region: National
The 2022 Resource Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations (2024) explores the scope and character of U.S. foundation funding for LGBTQ communities and issues in calendar year 2022. This report marks the 20th edition of our resource tracking project and represents the next iteration of work from Funders for LGBTQ Issues to document the scale of philanthropic support for domestic LGBTQ communities and issues.
Our research finds that foundation funding reached a high of $258.1 million in 2022. Still, while this 2022 total represents a slight nominal increase of $7.3 million (or less than 3 percent) from the total of $250.8 million in grantmaking from U.S. foundations in 2021, there was a real-dollar decrease in total funding for LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022 due to the impact of inflation. In 2022, for every $100 awarded by U.S. Foundations, only 25 cents specifically supported LGBTQ communities.
Highlights from the report include:
- A total of $48.2 million was awarded to transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNCNBi) communities in the U.S. in 2022, which represents a 34 percent increase from the $36.0 million that were awarded to these communities in 2021. For every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2022, 4.6 cents specifically supported TGNCNBi communities and issues in that year.
- Similar to prior years, the trend of “top-heaviness” of foundation support—where a relatively small number of foundation sources provide a disproportionately large percentage of the funding for LGBTQ communities and causes—continued into grantmaking from U.S.-based foundations in 2022 even though the funding landscape was slightly less top heavy than in previous years.
- Funding for LGBTQ communities in the U.S. Southeast decreased by 12% in 2022. Funding for the Southeast region has remained relatively constant in recent years, despite escalating right-wing attacks targeting LGBTQ community members in the region, and a surge of community-led organizing and activism in response. Funding for Southeastern LGBTQ communities has never been commensurate with the needs of the population as more LGBTQ people live in the Southeast region than any other.
- For the first time, funding for general operating support was the most common type of support among grants for domestic LGBTQ communities and issues, accounting for 51 percent ($130.8 million) of all grant dollars awarded by U.S. foundations in 2022.
- Funding to Black LGBTQ communities doubled from 7 percent in 2021 to 14 percent in 2022, although total overall funding for LGBTQ communities of color decreased from 43 percent in 2021 to 38 percent in 2022.
