Racial inequities persist in every measure
of well-being, including health and wellness, school readiness,
economic success and civic participation. This is also true
in our LGBT communities where injustice and racism exist in
what is often seen as a white LGBT rights movement.
Funding LGBT people of color non-profits has
been inadequate, profoundly affecting the health and sustainability
of these organizations, and ultimately, the effectiveness
of our broader movements for social justice. PFund addresses this inadequecy in two ways: Racial Equity Initiative and the Communities of Color Endowment.
Racial Equity Initiative
In fiscal year 2008, PFund was awarded a $60,000
grant from Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, a national
organization dedicated to increasing institutional giving
to LGBT communities.
The three-year matching grant will enable PFund
to build on our achievements and enhance our capacity to serve
LGBT people of color across Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota,
South Dakota and Wisconsin. This grant will help build the
organizational capacity and support the leadership of LGBT
people of color stand-alone organizations and projects. Specifically,
it will impact the inequity in funding of organizations for
LGBT people of color and cultivate a movement to achieve equal
rights.
The Racial Equity Initiative has two pieces:
first to increase funding to stand alone LGBT organizations
of color and second, to support and develop leaders in these
communities.
Racial Equity Initiative Grantmaking:
In fiscal year 2008 and 2009 PFund awarded $20,000 in grants to LGBT communities of color organizations.
Two-Spirit Press Room $5,000
Color CoordiNATION $7,500
Shades of Yellow $7,500
PFund continues to work with these organizations to build their capacity to strengthen LGBT communities of color.
Racial Equiry Initiative Leadership Program:
During the fall and winter of 2007 – 2008, PFund collaborated with Marnita’s Table, a non-profit that ignites enduring cross-cultural connections through intentional social interaction, to convene leaders from LGBT and allied communities of color three times.
Out of these conversations grew the Leadership Program. In its first year of the program, PFund collaborated with Family & Children’s Service and Pillsbury United Communities to develop and implement a two-track leadership program; one track focused on board leadership and the other on community organizing. During the six month cohort (Sept. 2008 – Feb. 2009)14 participants built on existing leadership skills, explored identities as queer leaders of color, created a community with their cohorts and used learned and expanded skills to enhance local communities and inform their circles of influence.
PFund’s groundbreaking Communities of Color
Endowment supports and strengthens LGBT communities of color.
Our goal was to establish a permanent and lasting fund to
provide grants each year that serve this purpose. To date,
the fund holds more than $36,000, thanks to support from a
wide range of PFund donors and friends like you who have invested
in equity and justice for all LGBT and allied people. The
fund continues to grow, providing increased support for future
generations. Today this fund pays out approximately $1,000
annually for grant making to communities of color organizations.
Click here for community of color grants.
As PFund grows, it periodically assesses how
well it serves each of its LGBT constituent communities. In
2004 that assessment indicated that we could better support
our community members who are people of color by creating
a sustained source of funding. Leadership in this effort came
from people of color on PFund’s board, key community leaders
and our staff and volunteers. Through a series of community
conversations the structure and focus areas of this new endowment
emerged with a commitment to honor the reality that different
communities have different priorities, needs and ways of organizing.
A name for the new fund was selected; the Communities of Color
Endowment was born.
The endowment is important because it means
that PFund holds a permanent source of funding for communities
of color and that PFund will always have a focus on the needs
of community members who are people of color and organizations
that specifically serve LGBT people of color — building
community and capacity, eliminating discrimination and invisibility
and celebrating the full diversity and cultural expressions
of all our LGBT communities.
The Communities of Color Endowment is the first
and only permanently endowed fund serving LGBT people of color
in the nation and PFund takes great pride in the community
efforts that made this a reality.
Your support is critical
The Racial Equity Initiative is a challenge
grant and requires PFund to raise $60,000 in matching support
from our donors over the next three years. We need your help!
Every dollar you give will be matched, dollar for dollar.
We need to raise $10,000 for the Racial Equity Initiative
grant right now. Your gift will make sure PFund gets the full
grant amount and has the resources to address these racial
inequities. Thank you for your support.
You can send a check with this form click
here, or you can have us charge your credit card monthly
using this form. You can donate online by clicking the button below. No amount is too small — remember,
every gift will be matched dollar for dollar!
