RESOURCE LIBRARY

In a time of heightened political attacks against many communities that experience oppression, and our families and loved ones, our network and the philanthropic sector at large are responding to numerous urgent and ongoing crises. These intersecting challenges will not be solved in isolation. 

We hope our network will utilize this growing (and non-exhaustive) list of resources, research, and best practices to navigate the current moment with urgency and rigor. These resources are aimed primarily at funders resourcing at the intersections of LGBTQ, and specifically TGNC, communities. This list will be updated as more information becomes available. If you’d like to submit a resource or request that a resource affiliated with your organization be removed, please contact Amara Reese-Hansell.

Best Practices for Funders

Invest in intermediaries. Intermediaries are often our best and strongest philanthropic tool to ensure quick and nimble funding for our movements. Movements have already called for an increase in agile resources to fund travel for increased digital and physical security, healthcare, relocation to less hostile areas, etc. Working with intermediaries will be a critical part of this strategy.

Fund local, state, and national queer and trans-led orgs holding the line. Folks on the frontlines of this work understand the challenges and solutions best. Invest in their expertise and wisdom through multi-year, general operating support grants and streamlined reporting processes.

Scared money is weak money. How are you working with living donors, institution leaders, and trustees to understand the power they hold in this moment, and the kinds of attacks likely to come? Have honest conversations about your institution’s risk tolerance. Work with your lawyers, public policy experts and other advisors to build proactive and creative strategies to ensure resources continue to flow to movements. 

Reject silence. Stand in solidarity with your grantees and movement partners as a trusted partner and resource. Do not comply in advance. Reject misinformation and stigmatizing rhetoric. Make public statements that solidify your commitments to LGBTQ, and specifically TGNC communities.

Trust your capacity, pivot as needed. Now is the time to do what you do best, and give it all you have. Be willing to learn from the expertise in the field and shift as needed. Spend some time within your organization understanding your strengths in this moment and deciding what you can contribute. Cohesion is our gift; rely on the expertise that’s already surfaced and lean on your network.

Fund for the long game. Organizations need long term, sustainable and flexible funding to move through this time, to be expansive as possible and meet the needs of the moment. This includes funding infrastructure costs that are emergent and costly, such as physical and digital security, and scenario planning.

Support Movement Coordination and Strategy. Groups need intentional opportunities to convene and strategize in light of escalating attacks. These convenings often require significant logistical and security support, and funder investment. Prioritizing convenings and coordination as part of your institutional grantmaking strategy will support progressive movement infrastructure.

Fund at the intersections. Regardless of your grantmaking strategy, queer and trans rights are interconnected with every issue. Invest in philanthropic organizing like the Black Migrant Power Fund seeking to raise ten million dollars to fund Black migrant organizations leading transformative change.

Explore Other Best Practices for Funders in This Moment

You can find more reflections and best practices to bring back to your institution and work in our post-election statement, ‘We Are Each Other’s Magnitude and Bond’. You can find other best practices for navigating the current moment below:

How to Engage With Funders for LGBTQ Issues in This Moment

Dive deeper into the impactful work of Out in the South (OTS) by reviewing the OTS 10th Anniversary Report, a detailed account of OTS’s decade-long commitment to LGBTQ+ communities in the US South. The report offers insights into OTS’s strategic initiatives, achievements, and the profound effect that OTS has had on the region’s landscape. This report serves as an invaluable resource for understanding the organization’s history, current projects, and future aspirations.  OTS grantees also share their experiences through webinars for Funders’ members, and through QTPIES.  To explore other potential avenues for engagement and discuss potential collaborative efforts or participation, please reach out to Shaena Johnson, the OTS Project Director.

Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) is a project of Funders for LGBTQ Issues that works toward supporting short and long-term systems change within philanthropy to better support both trans communities and trans leaders within the sector. If you’d like to engage with GUTC, please get in touch with GUTC Project Director, Luna Moreta Avila.

Trans Futures Funding Campaign (TFFC) is a working group focused educating and inspiring institutional funders to increase general operating, low-barrier, multi-year grants directly to transgender-led organizations in regions where the transgender people’s rights are under attack, or to partner with intermediary grantmakers with existing grantee relationships in these regions. The TFFC Steering Committee, community organizations with regranting capacity, meets monthly.

Funders United for Democracy & Trans Justice (DTJ) is a high-touch working group of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, co-chaired by FCCP. It brings together democracy, reproductive justice, and LGBTQ funders for political education and to strategize funding strategies that center trans justice. The next DTJ working group meeting is on Monday, June 24th at 3:00 pm ET. You can learn more & join the working group here.

Queer & Trans People in Emergent Space (QTPIES) is an affinity space crafted for LGBTQ+ professionals in philanthropy hosted by Funders for LGBTQ Issues. QTPIES is for those looking to build community within the sector while showing up authentically and connecting with others who share their identity and values. Our next virtual gathering is on July 17th at 4:00pm ET. You can learn more & join QTPIES here.

Listen to Justice Ain’t Cheap: A Queer Philanthropy Podcast hosted by Funders for LGBTQ Issues hosted our Saida Agostini-Bostic. Our latest episode, Building Beyond the Moment, hosts speakers Matthew Hart (Global Philanthropy Project) and Happy Mwende Kinyili (Mama Cash) for a critical conversation on the lessons that we can, and must, learn from international movements in this moment. Matthew & Happy offer powerful calls to action for funders and their vision for a path forward.

The 2023 Resource Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations (2025) explores the scope and character of U.S. foundation funding for domestic LGBTQ communities and issues based on grants that were awarded in calendar year 2023. This is the 21st edition of this annual report, which continues to document trends in LGBTQ philanthropy for more than two decades. The purpose of this report is to analyze the latest LGBTQ grant data, identify gaps in funding, and present recommendations for U.S.-based foundations to effectively and sustainably support our communities through strategic grantmaking that is in alignment with the realities of LGBTQ communities across the country.

Visit our Data Explorer

Resources, Tools & Learnings

Upcoming Events and Webinars

  • Join Amalgamated Bank and partners for their Webinar Series: Capacity Building for Organizational Leaders. This series includes trainings designed to support your financial and organizational needs in 2025 and beyond.
  • The National Grant Foundation is hosting a variety of online classes including fundraising & grant writing classes focused on support non-profit leaders and managers discover alternative funding opportunities beyond federal sources. You can find their full list of offerings here. 
  • Building on the Disability Justice principle of Collective Access, we are hosting an interactive members-only workshop on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 1:00 PM—3:00 PM ET, in collaboration with the Disability Philanthropy Forum. The workshop will help guide participants in embedding access into our daily work through lessons from the Disability Justice and Trans liberation movements. This workshop is only available to members of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and Disability & Philanthropy Forum. Not a member but interested in joining? Get in touch with Membership Engagement Officer, Amara Reese-Hansell. Join Us 
  • Join Funders’ Luna Moreta Avila, Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) Project Director, and other panelists on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 1:00 pm for a virtual briefing for philanthropic leaders on advancing LGBTQ health equity. This event is in partnership with the Mazzoni Center. Register here.

In the Media: Blogs, Podcasts and More

Ways for Philanthropy to Engage & Organize

  • O’Neill Institute – Georgetown Law: Improving the Health and Safety of Transgender and Gender Expansive People
    This report from the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law highlights the policy actions required to protect the health and safety of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) communities.
  • The House has passed the spending bill, and it has arrived in the US Senate, where several changes are expected. You can stay up to date on the bill and find relevant actions to take from National Council of Nonprofits, United Philanthropy Forum, and Council on Foundations.
  • Join the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN), hosted by New York Women’s Foundation. This dynamic group of women early in their professional and philanthropic journeys is committed to advancing gender justice. ELN members support The Foundation through fundraising, mobilizing their networks, and sharing skills to inspire the next generation of changemakers. Interested? Email Kerry-Ann Henry at [email protected] to learn more.
  • Hosted by the Women’s Foundation of California, The Solís Policy Institute – State (SPI-State) is a year-long fellowship for women and gender-expansive folks working in nonprofits and grassroots orgs across California. This isn’t just leadership development. It’s about transforming how power works—by putting lived experience at the center of policy. You can learn more & apply here.
  • Join the Climate & Disability Justice Learning Institute, the first-ever Learning Institute to explore the connection between Climate and Disability Justice, organized by the Disability & Philanthropy Forum. This two-day virtual event, taking place on November 12-13, will feature panels and interactive workshops led by leading voices in both climate justice and disability justice.

Last Updated: August 6, 2025