The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation announces $336,000 in grants to 36 LGBTQ+-serving organizations
June 5, 2023
Boston – The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation today announced $336,000 in grants to 36 organizations as part of its 2023 grantmaking docket supporting LGBTQ+-led and -serving organizations in Greater Boston. The grants, made as the Fund kicked off its celebration of Pride 2023, bring the total grantmaking from the Fund to over $1.8 million since 2012.
“These grants come at a time of great strength in the LGBTQ community, but also a time when we have seen an unprecedented spike in threats to LGBTQ people,” said M. Scott Knox, who became the Equality Fund’s first-ever Director in April. “The Fund received its largest number of grant requests this year, marking the Fund’s growing reputation, but also demonstrating the massive need for resources even at well-established organizations.”
The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation was established in 2012 to support Greater Boston nonprofit organizations that serve and strengthen the LGBTQ+ community and advance the equitable treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) individuals and their families. To date, the Fund has provided 292 grants totaling $1,828,947 to LGBTQ+ organizations and projects. The Equality Fund's grant-making priorities are guided by an Advisory Committee of community members and allies who possess a depth and breadth of understanding about the most pressing issues affecting LGBTQ people today.
“This slate of organizations is remarkable for both its diversity of work and its diversity of its communities of impact,” said Catherine D’Amato, who co-founded the Equality Fund in 2012 and continues to co-chair the Fund’s Advisory Board. “These organizations represent and support elders and youth, immigrants and asylum seekers, in areas from civil rights to health care access, from the arts to education and more. Even so, they capture just a slice of the remarkable work that continues every day to uplift and support LGBTQ people statewide.”
“We are especially proud in this time of need to step up our support to children and youth, and to the trans community, which is under attack across the country and here in Massachusetts,” added Elyse Cherry, co-chair of the Equality Fund Advisory Board. “By providing general operating support to these organizations, we rightly entrust them to determine the best strategies to take on the myriad ongoing challenges, even as we continue efforts to grow the Fund and expand our work under Scott’s leadership.”
The Fund will celebrate its 11th anniversary later this month with an event at the Boston Foundation. Learn more about the Fund at https://tbf.org/equality.
The 2023 grants include:
Boston Alliance of LGBTQ Youth – BAGLY, Inc.: $12,000
BAGLY is a youth-led social support organization committed to social justice and creating, sustaining, and advocating for programs, policies, and services for the LGBTQ+ youth community. In a time where anti-LGBTQ+ tensions are rising, BAGLY provides a brave space where people can be themselves.
Bisexual Resource Center, Inc.: $7,500
The Bisexual Resource Center works to connect the bi+ community and help its members thrive through resources, support, and celebration. We envision an empowered, visible, and inclusive global community for bi+ people.
(B)MEN Foundation, Inc.: $12,000
(B)MEN is an inclusive group of Black men working to mobilize Black men towards creating and participating in support systems for Black men while addressing stigma and regardless of class, national origin, immigration status, age, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and/or gender expression.
Boston Pride for the People: $12,000
To improve the lives of LGBTQ+ people by emphasizing activities and experiences that empower, celebrate, educate, and commemorate. Empower through creating LGBTQ+ community and respectfully reaching across differences to support and love one another; Celebrate and honor the rich, diverse, creative, and fabulous culture of LGBTQ+ communities, while imparting knowledge of LGBTQ+ history and a sense of pride among LGBTQ+ youth; Educate and advocate broadly about the oppression that LGBTQ+ people still experience, especially LGBTQ+ people who face multiple forms of oppression; Commemorate the Stonewall riots and memorialize the queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of color (QTBIPOC) activists at the forefront of the 20th century (LGBTQ+) movement.
Boston Theater Company Inc.: $7,500
The mission of Boston Theater Company is to create new work while pushing the boundaries of theatre by exploring new ways to tell stories. We are rooted in the power theater has to unite, uncover and illuminate. We tell innovative stories that showcase the complexity of the human condition, using modes from verbatim documentary theater to movement-based non-verbal projects to music.
Citizens for Juvenile Justice: $7,000
Citizens for Juvenile Justice's mission is advocating for statewide systemic reform that achieves equitable youth justice. Founded in 1994, Citizens for Juvenile Justice is the only independent, non-profit, statewide organization working to reform and reimagine juvenile justice and other youth-serving systems in Massachusetts.
City Ballet of Boston, Inc .: $7,000
City Ballet of Boston’s mission is to Promote Diversity through Dance. Our professional ballet company, youth apprenticeship program, and local performances like the Urban Nutcracker break down racial barriers by uniting Bostonians of all ages, races, incomes, gender identities, and sexual orientations behind the power of artistic expression.
Coro Allegro : $7,000
Coro Allegro is proud to be Boston's award-winning LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus, dedicated to building bridges between disparate communities through extraordinary music. Coro Allegro seeks to counteract homophobia and transphobia through artistic excellence and visibility, to offer wide audiences access to compelling choral music by diverse classical and contemporary composers, to expand the choral tradition by amplifying marginalized and silenced voices, and to offer a welcoming and affirming environment for performers and audiences of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, races, religions, and abilities.
Dancing Queerly: $7,000
Dancing Queerly’s mission is to bring queer folks with varying dance experience together in the joy of dance as audience members and participants.
Ethos: $12,000
Ethos' mission is to promote the independence, dignity, and well-being of elderly and disabled people. Ethos achieves its mission by coordinating and delivering high-quality, affordable home and community-based care.
Fenway Health: $12,000
Fenway Health advocates for and delivers innovative, equitable, accessible health care, supportive services, and transformative research and education. We center LGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC individuals, and other underserved communities to enable our local, national, and global neighbors to flourish.
FLAG Flag Football Inc. : $7,000
Tackling stereotypes, building community, and transforming lives through sport for the LGBTQ+ and ally community.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Inc. (GLAD): $12,000
Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.
Greater Boston Legal Services, Inc.: $12,000
Our mission is to provide free legal assistance to as many low-income families as possible to help them secure the most basic necessities of life. GBLS plays a unique role in the social service delivery system. It is the agency to which other providers refer clients when no one else can help and legal assistance is needed.
Greater Boston PFLAG: $7,500
Greater Boston PFLAG’s mission is to advocate for and advance equity and societal affirmation of LGBTQ people by building and strengthening loving families, safe communities, and a diverse and inclusive society.
Health Law Advocates, Inc.: $7,500
Health Law Advocates (HLA) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm whose mission is to provide pro bono legal representation to residents in low-income situations experiencing difficulty accessing or paying for needed medical services. HLA is committed to ensuring universal access to quality health care in Massachusetts, particularly for those who are most at risk due to such factors as race, gender, disability, age, or geographic location.
History Project, Inc.: $12,000
The History Project (THP) documents and preserves the history of Massachusetts' LGBTQ+ communities and shares that history with LGBTQ+ individuals, organizations, allies, and the public. A volunteer-driven organization established in 1980, THP maintains one of the largest independent LGBTQ+ archives in North America, with over 250 archival collections.
Home for Little Wanderers, Inc.: $12,000
The Home for Little Wanderers helps build stable lives and hopeful futures for children who are abused, neglected, or at risk.
Jewish Big Brother Big Sisters of Greater Boston: $7,000
JBBBS seeks to transform the lives of at-risk children and teens, as well as adults with disabilities, and their families, through the power of one-to-one relationships. We actively engage and serve children and adults across religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability.
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition: $12.000
MTPC works to ensure the wellbeing, safety, and lived equity of all trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive community members in Massachusetts.
North Shore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (nAGLY): $12,000
The mission of the North Shore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (nAGLY) is to honor, respect, educate, and empower LGBTQ+ youth.
OUT MetroWest, Inc.: $7,000
OUT MetroWest builds communities where LGBTQ+ youth thrive.
OUTstanding Life: $7,000
OUTstanding Life's mission is to create a diverse, thriving virtual community of LGBTQ+ older adults in Massachusetts where participants can connect, learn, and grow.
Peter DiMuro Public Displays of Motion: $7,500
Public Displays of Motion's mission is to create works of art that entertain, engage, and advocate for the inclusion of all, via the translation of personal story and socially aware histories into layered multi-media performances for site, stage, and screens.
Political Asylum Immigration Representation Project (PAIR) Inc.: $7,500
Founded in 1989, PAIR ensures the due process rights of asylum seekers and detained immigrants through high-quality and reliable pro bono programs so that they have equal protection of the law and access to legal counsel without charge.
Pride in Our Workplace, Inc.: $7,500
Pride in Our Workplace helps all LGBTQ+ professionals and allied businesses drive positive change in the workplace.
Portraits of Pride: $7,500
Our mission is to bring visibility to LGBTQ people and issues through portraiture photography.
Quincy Pride, Inc.: $7,000
The mission of Quincy Pride is to promote and foster Acceptance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through its annual Q Pride Day Festival and provide advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex, and asexual (or allies) LGBTQIA+ families and residents.
Roxbury Youthworks, Inc.: $12,000
Our mission is to help youth caught in cycles of poverty, victimization, and violence transition successfully into adulthood.
Silver Lining Mentoring: $7,000
Silver Lining Mentoring empowers youth in foster care to thrive through committed mentoring relationships and the development of essential life skills.
South Coast LGBTQ Network Inc.: $7,000
The South Coast LGBTQ+ Network is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and support a thriving LGBTQ+ community on Massachusetts’ South Coast where individuals can freely, safely, and joyously celebrate their true selves and realize their full potential.
Teach Plus Inc.: $7,000
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success.
Theater Offensive, Inc.: $12,000
To present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression.
Trans Community of New England (TCNE): $12,000
Connecting transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming people and those who love us with community and resources to help us all live full and authentic lives.
Victory Programs, Inc.: $12,000
Victory Programs’ mission is to open doors to recovery, hope, and community to individuals and families facing homelessness, addiction, HIV/AIDS, and/or other chronic illnesses.
The Wily Network works to ensure Scholars have the tools and networks necessary to thrive in four-year residential colleges and transition successfully into post-college life. Wily provides a critical safety net for Scholars as they navigate college independently.