SAN FRANCISCO - Horizons Foundation has announced more than $200,000 in its annual Community Issue grants for organizations and projects benefiting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The total of $202,448 represents a 20% increase over the prior year.

"We know that many nonprofits serving the LGBT community are going through very difficult times," said Jewelle Gomez, Horizons' Director of Grantmaking. "So we're especially glad to have been able to increase the Community Issues grants this year."

Horizons also moved the annual process up by several months in order to get grant funds to nonprofits more quickly. In addition, the majority of grants were made for general operating support-the most difficult type of funding for organizations to secure.

"We wanted to be responsive to the profound challenges our community faces right now," said Roger Doughty, Horizons' Executive Director, "and we hope these steps make a difference for nonprofits doing work that's more important than ever before."

This year's Community Issues grants, the longstanding touchstone of Horizons' grantmaking, included grants to a wide range of organizations that serve and advocate for the LGBT community. "The range of work being done-and the dedication of those doing it, both volunteers and staff-is simply incredible," said Gomez. "We're all enormously fortunate to have them here in the Bay Area. The full list of 2009 grantees can be found at www.horizonsfoundation.org.

Founded in 1980, Horizons was the world's first community foundation focused exclusively on LGBT issues. Additional support for these grants came from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, and the numerous endowed funds left by donors in their estates to benefit the LGBT community.