Horizons Foundation is giving $57,000 to support 14 LGBTQ nonprofits through its spring donor engagement program, it stated to the Bay Area Reporter February 28. It comes just one day after an appreciation luncheon for grantees at the Westin St. Francis San Francisco in Union Square.
"The donor engagement grantmaking program, a cornerstone of Horizons Foundation's mission, aims to empower LGBTQ organizations by providing critical financial support for their fundraising activities," a February 19 news release stated. "Donor engagement grants are available to qualifying LGBTQ organizations with an annual budget of over $1 million based within the nine counties of the SF Bay Area. With a maximum award of $5,000, the LGBTQ Donor Engagement Program exists to support annual fundraising events, for example, an annual fundraising gala.
"However, if an organization does not have an annual fundraising event, it may be eligible for efforts that engage donors through alternative events related to donor cultivation and stewardship," the release stated.
Applications for the next round of donor engagement grants open in July, according to the program's website.
The release highlighted the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Frameline, and Lyon-Martin Community Health Services as grantees. None of the organizations returned comment by press time.
The other grantees were the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, Openhouse's 2024 Spring Fling, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, the New Conservatory Theatre Center, the Spahr Center Gala & LGBTQ+ Leadership Awards, AGUILAS, Amor Para Todos, the Bare Chest Calendar, Heels for Hope, the Queer Cultural Center, the Half Moon Bay-based Coastside Pride Chorus, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
Eduardo Morales, Ph.D., the gay longtime executive director of AGUILAS, told the B.A.R. that "We were notified that we received $2,500 toward an event to celebrate our 30th anniversary in providing services," which is this year.
The Spahr Center's programs were indefinitely suspended earlier this month, as the B.A.R. previously reported. A Horizons spokesperson stated she's checking if the center is still getting the disbursement.
'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'
"This event marks 43 years of cherished tradition in the Horizons Foundation journey," board of directors co-chair Dipti Ghosh said at the luncheon. "That's right — 43 years. Forty-three years of grantees. It started in 1980 when we made two $500 grants that laid the groundwork for the present day where we continue to support scores of LGBTQ organizations every year."
Horizons is one of the largest LGBTQ grantmaking organizations. As the B.A.R. reported last year, it gave a total of $7.9 million in Fiscal Year 2021-2022, which helped support dozens of local queer nonprofits.
Francisco Buchting, vice president of grants, programs, and communications at Horizons, gave an address referring to the counterculture poetic anthem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."
Buchting said the LGBTQ revolution will not be televised either.
"At some point if you're going to make revolution, you've got to get out of your house, you've got to get out of your seat. You've got to get off Twitter, X," Buchting said. "Our revolution happens where life happens, and the fact is that we are the LGBTQ revolution showing up at our work as our true selves. ... Our LGBTQ nonprofits and programs are the revolution, and that's all of you."
Roger Doughty, a gay man who is the longtime executive director of Horizons, built on those comments.
"I agree with what Francisco said about the revolutionary nature of this work, but there's something else too — it's a miracle," Doughty said. "If you look at the work you do every single day, it's staggering. ... There's far too much demand for the resources you have to bring to bear on it. You are like acrobats."
Nic Brisebois, a queer, gender-nonconforming person who is the co-executive director of Queer Surf, said that their organization has received $15,000 from Horizons.
"The grant from Horizons helps fund our monthly lessons and community gatherings, and days at the beach in Pacifica, in Half Moon Bay," Brisebois said. "We take trans, nonbinary, and queer people and provide ocean recreational opportunities for mental, physical, and social health."
Roberto Ordeñana, a gay man who is the executive director of the GLBT Historical Society and its modest museum space in the Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, told the B.A.R. that the Horizons grant the society received helped it to put on its annual gala last October.
"It helps raise awareness of the museum and archives and connects more people to the work we do day in and day out," Ordeñana said. "It's really important right now, as we see increased attacks against the most marginalized people in our community — trans and nonbinary people in particular — to lift up our history, to learn from it, and allow our history to help us create the future we deserve, and it helps us connect with those folks."
Andrew Shaffer, a gay man who is the director of development and communications for the society, told the B.A.R. that the society had received a $5,000 donor engagement grant last year.
As the B.A.R. has extensively reported, the center has long sought a larger, permanent home for its collections. While society officials said they are ready to bid on a request for proposal, or RFP, for government money set aside for a permanent, free-standing museum, it is unclear if that process can proceed without a location first being acquired.
Ryan Helton, a queer man who is a board member at Queer Life Space, a nonprofit counseling agency in the Castro, told the B.A.R. that he'd be in touch with how much his organization has gotten. He said that the grant will help Queer Life Space reach those who may benefit from its services.
"It helps us increase access and services to folks," Helton said, adding that Horizons has been a partner "for years."
"We're creating an ecosystem of support for our community," he said.
Panel discussion
The luncheon also featured a panel discussion on developments in the North Bay led by Joshua Delfin, a gay man who is the senior program officer for Horizons. The participants were Kimi Barbosa, the executive director of Santa Rosa-based Positive Images; Will McGarvey, the executive director of the Solano Pride Center; and Solicia Aguilar, the program director of Napa-based LGBTQ Connection.
They agreed that the fight for equality in Solano County, which includes the Vallejo-Fairfield metropolitan statistical area, has had its challenges in recent years.
McGarvey said that groups like Moms for Liberty, which advocates for LGBTQ-positive books to be removed from school libraries and curricula, "come in from Woodland and Yolo County," and that many Solano County queers are not involved in the local fight. Some have moved there because of displacement from the Bay Area, McGarvey said.
"We're seeing a lot more folks living there but not having their queer life there — having their queer life in Oakland or San Francisco," he added. "Every time we see displacement, we see something of that."
Aguilar, who identifies as a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer, said that groups such as LGBTQ Connection are a lifeline.
"At the root of this is suicide prevention and harm reduction and that's what has me concerned with who is in political standing," Aguilar said. "When you stop funding organizations like these, our kids, our elderly need places to go to be seen, to get that medicine."
Said Barbosa: "We have just seen the tragic news about the Spahr Center [in Marin County], but that is the reality any nonprofit can face. ... We are the first stop folks come to for support and to have their needs met."
If you are having a crisis, San Francisco Suicide Prevention's 24-hour crisis line is (415) 781-0500. Its HIV Nightline is (415) 434-2437 or 1-800-273-2437. For the 24-hour crisis text line, text (415) 200-2920. For more information, click here. People can also call 988, the national suicide and mental health crisis line.
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