Horizons Foundation's 2006 Community Issues Grants Feature New Issue Areas, Additional Arts Funding through the Hewlett Foundation

SAN FRANCISCO - Horizons Foundation recently released its Request for Proposals (RFP) for the 2006 Community Issues grants. Proposals are due September 13, 2006. Organizations and projects that serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area are eligible for funding.

Horizons has made several significant changes to its 2006 Community Issues grants process. Most notably, the foundation has revised the issue areas in which it will award grants: Arts and Culture; Awareness and Civil Rights; Community Building; and Human Services and Health. In a very limited number of cases, an organization may receive a two-year grant. All proposals will be reviewed by a panel whose members will represent a diverse and expert cross-section of the LGBT community.

"Our Program Committee looked at all aspects of the process we go through to select Community Issues grantees," said Jewelle Gomez, Horizons' Program Officer. "I think we've found a great solution that keeps the best parts of what we had-especially the way that we draw on the knowledge and experience of people in the community-while updating other areas so they work even better."

Horizons is also pleased to announce that the Arts and Culture grants will have a larger funding pool to draw on over past years, thanks to a new regranting partnership with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the premiere arts funders in the Bay Area. "In the last few years, our most highly competitive issue area has been Arts and Culture," said Roger Doughty, Horizons' Executive Director, "because there are so many fantastic, creative people in the LGBT community and just too few dollars out there for LGBT art. While the grant funds we have are still limited, I'm thrilled that the Hewlett Foundation has stepped forward to recognize and support the unique contributions that LGBT artists make to the cultural landscape of the Bay Area."

Grants to LGBT-focused organizations will be for general support, the most difficult-and most vital-type of funding for nonprofits to secure. Non-LGBT organizations working on projects for LGBT people are also eligible to apply.

Founded in 1980, Horizons was the world's first community foundation focused exclusively on LGBT issues.