Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation announces $75,000 in grants for LGBTQ organizations

June 5, 2014

Boston - The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation, the first permanent, endowed fund for the benefit of members of the Greater Boston LGBTQ community and their families, today announced its second-ever round of grants – totaling $75,000 – to nine Greater Boston organizations serving the LGBTQ community.

“We are excited to provide another reason for celebration during this year’s Boston PRIDE events,” said Catherine D’Amato, co-chair of the Equality Fund advisory committee and vice chair of the Boston Foundation Board of Directors. “These organizations provide valuable service to the LGBTQ community, and these grants will help them expand and further their critical missions.”

Established in 2012, the Equality Fund made its first grants in June 2013. The Fund is stewarded by the Boston Foundation, but its grant making priorities and growth strategies are guided by an Equality Fund Advisory Committee including members of the community, straight allies, donors and professional advisors in law, real estate, financial planning, philanthropy and related fields.

The Boston Foundation has pledged $250,000 in challenge grants for the Fund, as a 2:1 challenge in an effort to strengthen the Fund’s endowment as it begins its grant making. The Foundation thanks Eastern Bank, BNY Mellon and Northern Trust, as well as individual donors, for their commitment of funds in support of the Equality Fund and its grant making.

“We are committed to not only provide critically needed funding for the LGBTQ community’s current needs but to build an endowment that will provide for future needs,” said Scott S. Squillace, Esq., co-chair of the Equality Fund advisory committee. “We are making great progress on both sides.”

Grants in this round of funding range from $5,000 to $13,000, for organizations serving needs ranging from health to housing, education, elder services and other support services.

The grantees selected by the Equality Fund advisory committee and approved by the Boston Foundation Board of Directors were:

AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc.

$5,000 for its Youth Supportive Housing Program, which will provide supportive services to homeless young adults and pair them with sponsor-based rental assistance from the Cambridge Housing Authority and the Metropolitan Housing Authority.


Boston Medical Center Corporation

$13,000 for support of the Transgender Medicine Curricula, to train healthcare professionals in transgender patient care.


Fenway Community Health Center

$7,500 to Fenway Community Health Center for the LGBT Aging Project to ensure LGBT older adults equal access to services.


Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders

$10,000 to Park Square Advocates, Inc. for the Treat Lipodystrophy Coalition, which seeks to raise awareness about a devastating side effect of HIV medications and which is working to pass a bill in Massachusetts to mandate insurance coverage of lipodystrophy treatment.


GLBTQ Domestic Violence Project

$5,000 to Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project for support of the volunteer stewardship program, which will redesign how the organization manages and communicates with its volunteers.


Home for Little Wanderers, Inc.

$12,000 for support of the Waltham House, a safe, therapeutic group home for LGBTQ youth.


Massachusetts Asians and Pacific Islanders for Health

$5,000 to Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project, Inc. for the API LGBTQ Family Support Initiative, which seeks to help Asian and Pacific Islander (API) families overcome cultural and traditional barriers to accepting API LGBTQ youth.


Theater Offensive, Inc.

$7,500 for True Colors: Neighborhood Workshop Exchange, that will greatly increase the group’s touring reach to more schools, community centers, and events in Boston.


University of Massachusetts-Boston

$10,000 to University of Massachusetts Foundation, Inc. to expand programming and engagement of LGBT adults age 50 and older at Stonewall at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Massachusetts.

To learn more about the Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation and how you can support its work, visit the Equality Fund page on TBF.org or download the Equality Fund brochure.

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The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the largest community foundations in the nation, with net assets of close to $900 million.  Founded in 1915, the Foundation is approaching its 100th Anniversary.  In 2013, the Foundation and its donors made nearly $98 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of $130 million. The Foundation is a partner in philanthropy, with some 1,000 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.

The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener and sponsor of special initiatives that address the region’s most pressing challenges.  The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), an operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. Through its consulting and field-advancing efforts, TPI has influenced billions of dollars in giving worldwide.  For more information about the Boston Foundation and TPI, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.