According to the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund’s literature, the Fund was created to positively impact the underfunding of nonprofit organizations serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. That’s accurate. But how would the recipients of the Fund’s support describe it? Says a member of one organization the Fund supported this year, “The Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund helps keep Charlotte’s LGBT organizations alive so that they can go about serving their missions. Since the Fund came on the scene, it’s become a source of nourishment and sustenance for the LGBT-affirming groups in town.”
The mission of the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund—a collective giving and endowment initiative of Foundation for the Carolinas—is “to cultivate one community that supports lesbian and gay individuals and families, with the belief that all people should be treated with equal respect and dignity in all facets of the community.” Toward that end, the Fund awards grants to organizations that support the LGBT community and to bridge-building initiatives that seek to cultivate alliances and support with the non-gay community in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
“Making our gay community healthy”
In the 10 years the Fund has existed, it has helped organizations such as Time Out Youth, the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte, Campus Pride, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte and many other organizations sustain their programs and mount special projects that strengthen the LGBT community and its connection to the community at large. One Voice has received seven grants from the Fund over the years. This year we received a grant to undertake a special project to call attention to the national crisis of homeless LGBT youth (more on that to come).
As Jenni Gaisbauer, Chair of the Fund’s Board of Advisors recently said in a video celebrating the fund’s work in the community, “We are supporting the groups that are making our gay community healthy.”
One Voice gratefully agrees.
Watch a brief video about the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund’s Impact below.