As 2023 draws toward a close, I find myself thinking about anchors. Not actual toss-into-the-sea anchors, but the metaphorical kind – anchors which can hold us fast.

What a year

This hasn’t been an easy year for so many. It can seem, even more so in the last few months, as though the world itself is aflame. Our LGBTQ community has once again been dragged into the crosshairs of those hell-bent on telling us what to do – and not do – with our bodies and our lives. The avalanche of anti-LGBTQ – and especially anti-trans – legislation shows no sign of letting up. And many in our community are looking at 2024 with deep foreboding of what’s yet to come.

What anchors us

That’s where anchors come in. Anchors are what we look for in times of uncertainty or crisis. Anchors are what we need at those times, both for ourselves and our community.

What anchors us? Everyone has – I hope – a personal anchor or two, whether that be family, a partner, friends, an organization, or whatever gives us that sense of steadiness amidst it all.

Another essential anchor? Community, of which LGBTQ nonprofit organizations form the backbone. They ensure that those in need can find help. They make it possible for the least empowered among us to have voice and an advocate. They bring us the arts, togetherness, and joy. They lead the fight against those who would deny us our basic rights.

In community, we anchor each other.

With your support, Horizons itself has also become one of those anchors – an anchor for our community. Last year, Horizons granted out more funds than ever before – more, in fact, than any other community foundation in the country.
 

The biggest anchor of all

For Horizons Foundation, there’s one more anchor, and it’s the biggest of all: the support and partnership with our community – with our donors and with every one of the nonprofits we have the privilege to support. Your generosity, your vision, your leadership. Those inspire all of us at Horizons every single day.

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday – whatever, whenever, and however you may celebrate – and a joyful and peaceful start to 2024.