Deadline: 29-Feb-24
The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation is now accepting applications for its FY24 grantmaking cycle.
The Equality Fund at the Boston Foundation was established in 2012 to advance the equitable treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) individuals and their families, and to support Greater Boston nonprofit organizations that serve and strengthen the LGBTQ+ community. The Equality Fund’s 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.
The Equality Fund’s grantmaking approach takes a proactive intersectional lens, as they work across the many diverse spaces that make up the LGBTQ+ community to support the most urgent community needs. This year, the Equality Fund is awarding grants at three levels. Priority consideration for larger grants will be for organizations and/or programs that address the following:
- Intersectionality: Organizations and/or programs working at the intersection(s) of race, gender identity, and social justice to further the work of dismantling disparities within the LGBTQ+ community. Organizations and programs whose work starts with, and is centered around, the most marginalized groups in the LGBTQ+ community: people of color (particularly youth of color), transgender and gender expansive communities, refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQ+ aging adults and senior populations, and individuals who are experiencing homelessness.
- Research & field-building: This is a very concerning moment for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, but particularly for individuals whose life experience and identity are at the intersection of race and gender, for it jeopardizes their safety, integrity and quality of life. The Equality Fund seeks to partner with organizations and programs pursuing advocacy, educating the public about the LGBTQ+ community’s needs, and amplifying the voices of the most marginalized groups who speak out against the current racial, economic, and legal disparities in their own community.
Funding Information
- Equality Fund grants for FY24 will be awarded at three (3) levels:
- $1,000 to $5,000
- $15,000
- $25,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible organizations and programs include:
- Organizations serving primarily LGBTQ+ populations
- LGBTQ+ serving programs or projects, fiscally sponsored by another organization, in which at least 60% of the program’s participants identify as LGBTQ+
- LGBTQ+ serving programs or projects, housed or operating within a larger organization, in which at least 60% of the program’s participants identify as LGBTQ+
- Programs and organizations serving LGBTQ+ communities, and whose composition of boards, staff, and volunteers are representative of the demographics and lived-experiences of their constituencies
- Funding will support the following types of work:
- Organizations or programs providing critical research, advocacy, or field-building support for the LGBTQ+ community
- Organizations or programs serving the general needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Examples include but are not limited to: arts projects; community-building activities; capacity building (except capital construction costs and related); outreach and educational activities; legal services; youth development and mentoring; cultural awareness and racial and social justice campaigns; economic empowerment; health equity; and human services (such as addressing food insecurity, homelessness and housing instability, healthcare access, refugee support services, and more)
For more information, visit The Boston Foundation.