Emergency Grants to Bay Area LGBTQ Organizations Total Over $640,000

By Curtis Parker | May 19, 2020

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Emergency Grants to Bay Area LGBTQ Organizations Total Over $640,000

In Second Round, 30 Organizations Received $200,500 from Horizons’ LGBTQ COVID-19 Response Emergency Fund

May 19, 2020, San Francisco – Horizons Foundation, the world’s first LGBTQ community foundation, today announced a second round of emergency grants to support COVID-19 responsive programming and provide immediate financial relief to Bay Area LGBTQ organizations. In total, Horizons has awarded $641,500 to 65 organizations through its LGBTQ COVID-19 Response Emergency Fund; this second round of funding included $200,500 to 30 organizations.

“The current need in the LGBTQ community is at an enormous scale, but so is the compassion, so is the ingenuity,” said Horizons’ President Roger Doughty. “We thank our incredibly generous individual and institutional donors as well as our dozens of grantee partners for helping keep our community strong during this crisis.”

View the full list grantee partners here. The new grantee partners in this second round of funding include:

LYRIC. With this emergency grant, LGBTQ youth who are sheltered in place with abusive family members will receive temporary housing so they can shelter in a safe environment, and 1:1 case management with wraparound supports.
Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center. Facing a massive uptick in requests for resources, the Center will use this emergency grant to develop a resource hotline for the LGBTQ community in Santa Clara County, especially LGBTQ seniors in the South Bay.
Curry Senior Center. This grant will enable the development of a virtual health interview on-site, where at-risk LGBTQ seniors without home internet access will be able to meet virtually with behavioral health specialists.
Colectivo Acción Latina de Ambiente. This grant will provide emergency stipends to LGBTQ Latinx community members in the South Bay.
LGBTQ Connection Napa & Sonoma. This grant will make it possible for LGBTQ youth in Napa and Sonoma counties to participate in online youth support groups and access critical mental health support.

Horizons seeded the Fund with a $200,00 contribution from its endowment, and raised nearly $200,000 in contributions from individual donors and donor advisors. The Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Stuart Foundation, and Sutter Health/CPMC also contributed. Additionally, the Hewlett Foundation and California Wellness Foundation allowed the repurposing of funds from previous grants.

As the demonstrated need continues to exceed available funds, Horizons continues to accept donations for the Fund; 100% will go directly to the community.

About Horizons Foundation

Horizons Foundation (www.horizonsfoundation.org) envisions a world where all LGBTQ people live freely and fully. The world’s first community foundation of, by, and for LGBTQ people, Horizons invests in LGBTQ organizations, strengthens a culture of LGBTQ giving, and builds a permanent endowment to secure our community’s future for generations to come. In 2020, Horizons is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Learn more at horizonsfoundation.org.