The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s LGBTQ Fund supports organizations that increase the quality of life and access to opportunity for LGBTQ individuals and families, particularly the most marginalized members of the community, including elders, transgender youth and adults, LGBTQ people of color, low-income LGBTQ people, and LBGTQ persons who are disabled. Since its inaugural year (2016), the GNOF’s LGBTQ fund has made over $450,000 in grants to 43 nonprofits across our region.
“GNOF is proud to stand with our LGBTQ partners as we work to create a more inclusive and safe community for all,” said Andy Kopplin, President and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “Because of the critical work these grantee organizations are doing on the frontlines, particularly by broadening their efforts to support transgender members of our community, our region is made stronger and more complete.”
The recent round of grants to local nonprofits will enhance support to the LGBTQ community to increase crisis support, education, community engagement, training, and more. To view the specific projects funded, click here.
Grant Recipients:
- ACLU of Louisiana
- Broadmoor Improvement Association
- Communities In Schools Gulf South
- Covenant House
- CrescentCare
- House of Tulip
- Imagine Water Works
- LGBT Community Center of New Orleans
- LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana
- Longue Vue House and Gardens
- New Orleans Advocates for GLBT Elders
- New Orleans Film Society
- Southern Organizer Academy
- Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
- The SOLID Initiative (fiscally-sponsored by the Forum For Equality)
- Transgender Inclusive Development, Advocacy and Learning (TIDAL)
- Wake
- Youth Run NOLA
“GNOF’s LGBTQ Fund has been crucial to the development of SAGE’s programming and services, and really helped us get off the ground,” said Jim Meadows, Executive Director, SAGE New Orleans. “We’re now moving our focus toward broadening our reach to underserved parts of the LGBT community. We are deeply grateful to GNOF for giving us the support we need to ensure that all LGBT seniors in the New Orleans area can live their best possible lives, with the dignity, respect, and good health that they deserve.”
“On behalf of the Board of Directors of the LGBT Community Center, we are more than grateful for the Greater New Orleans Foundation and it’s LGBTQ Fund,” said Sy’ria S. Jackson, President of the Board of Directors, LGBT Community Center of New Orleans. “As a 2021 grantee, this allows us to offer a second home and a safe haven/space for the 327 local groups and numerous of visiting LGBTQIA community members to gather and commune. We are very happy to announce new 2021 programming (T.E.A.M.NOLA) along with our continued referral services. As our motto states ‘Nothing about US, without US!’ We will continue to stand tall, strong and in the gaps for OUR LGBTQIA Community.”
“We are thrilled that GNOF believes in the work that we are doing and has supported us from the very beginning,” said Mariah Moore, Executive Director, House of Tulip. “Historically in the South, there has not been a lot of funding for organizations like House of Tulip that focus on trans issues, and we are thankful that this grant will do just that by providing transportation, housing, food, clothes, and other basic needs.”
“I am proud of the work GNOF has done in providing these important grants, but I am even more proud of the organizations who do great work on the ground every day,” said Robert Bories, Board Chair of the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “I would like to applaud our trustees and the many donors who have partnered with us to ensure this work on LGBTQ issues is sustained over time.”
In 2019, the Greater New Orleans Foundation Board of Directors voted to ensure that our LGBTQ work is sustained on a permanent basis by establishing an endowed fund that will make grants on an annual basis in perpetuity. With a fundraising goal of $2.5M, the endowed LGBTQ Fund will ensure there is always grant funding for local LGBTQ-led and LGBTQ-serving nonprofits. To date, GNOF has commitments of over $800,000 towards the $2.5M goal.
GNOF Trustee Arthur Roger has played a leading role in GNOF’s efforts as chair of the LGBTQ committee. Roger said, “Since the launch of the LGBTQ endowment campaign, we have known how important its grants will be to the nonprofits serving our LGBTQ communities in New Orleans. While we are thrilled that we’ve been able to help fund these important organizations with $467,067 over the past five years, there is still much more work to do to build our permanent LGBTQ fund. I’m so grateful to and inspired by those who have already joined this effort, and I look forward to welcoming others to this critical effort to ensure our community has a “forever” source of funding for ongoing LGBTQ grantmaking.”
Contributions to the LGBTQ Fund were made possible by support from dozens of generous local donors and grants from Funders for LGBTQ Issues, a collaborative that awards matching and planning grants to catalyze locally-driven funds that address the needs and strengthen the assets of LGBTQ communities in the South.
To help fund this effort, click here to donate to the LGBTQ Endowed Fund. To learn more about how to support GNOF’s LGBTQ Endowed Fund, please contact Holly Hermes by email at holly@gnof.org. To learn more about grantmaking made possible by this initiative, please contact Roy Williams by email at grants@gnof.org.