LGBTQ Grants

Funding directed to more specific populations such as lesbians, two-spirit people, or bisexual people accounted for much smaller shares. Grants fortransgender, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary communities and causes represented 17% of funding tracked by Funders for LGBTQ Issues in 2023, with other LGBTQ populations receiving smaller dedicated shares of funding, in the area of 1-2%.

State and regional efforts received increased funding in 2023 compared to 2022, while funding focused on local and national efforts decreased, Funders for LGBTQ Issues reports. California and New York are the most highly funded states. Funding is increasing for LGBTQ+ groups in the U.S. Southeast, where more LGBTQ+ people live than any other U.S. region. 

Civil and human rights, health and well-being, and programs to strengthen LGBTQ+ communities and increase visibility were the top-funded issues in 2023, according to Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Grants are also made for education, legislative advocacy, violence prevention, arts and culture, and ending homophobia and transphobia, among other issues.

IP is ongoingly covering how LGBTQ+ funders respond to the second Trump administration’s attacks on trans rights, LGBTQ+ equality and diversity, equity and inclusion.

History of LGBTQ philanthropy

Some of the earliest giving for LGBTQ+ issues came out of “by us and for us” community foundations like the Stonewall Community Foundation and the Horizons Foundation — the first U.S. foundation to make a grant to an AIDS service provider. Today, community and public foundations like the Tides Foundation, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and Groundswell Fund play significant roles in supporting smaller grassroots organizations and making grants focused on LGBTQ+ communities of color. 

Gaps in LGBTQ funding

The majority of philanthropic dollars are directed to the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, but funding has increased in recent years for communities historically under-resourced by philanthropy, which includes trans communities, BIPOC LGBTQ+ communities and the U.S. South. That said, grantmaking to these communities is not steadily increasing year after year but rather going up and down, and these groups and regions remain underfunded relative to the size of the populations and the need, especially while the conservative anti-gender/anti-trans movement is vastly outspending progressive philanthropy, as the Global Philanthropy Project reports. 

Now, LGBTQ nonprofits are especially vulnerable to federal funding cuts, as the Trump administration rolls back LGBTQ federal protections, weaponizing federal law, while also canceling government grants funding everything from LGBTQ health research to the arts for having anything to do with diversity, equity, or inclusion. While nonprofits and foundations in some sectors are scrubbing DEI language from their websites in an effort to maintain access to government support, this is not an option for organizations whose very mission is to advance equity and inclusion. Philanthropic grantmakers who support LGBTQ+ communities, equality, and social justice will be essential to filling these gaps.