Our Community Grants Application is Open!

I first wanted to thank you all of our incredible community partner organizations for all of the amazing work your organizations do to support our communities across the Northwest.

I wanted to let you know we have opened our Community Grants application and to highlight a few significant changes we have made. The application will be open through July 10th.

First, our application process has been simplified to reduce the burden on organizations applying and to make the process easier and faster. We know that time, resources, and energy are limited, and we want to make sure that we are reducing as many unnecessary barriers to applying.

Second, our priorities for Community Grants have been made clearer in how they connect to the impact Pride Foundation is trying to make with our funding.

Although these changes have been in the works for quite some time, I think that in this current moment—as we see the ongoing and disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the far-too-long pandemic of systematic racism and white supremacy—these changes are responsive to our communities’ needs and reflect Pride Foundation’s mission to center racial justice in our work to support LGBTQ+ communities across the Northwest.

We welcome and encourage you to reach out to a Pride Foundation staff person in your area. with any questions about these changes or to talk through your organization’s alignment with our priorities.

Our Community Grants will be prioritizing funding for LGBTQ+ groups and organizations that are:

1. Serving Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), and whose leadership* reflects these communities. Within these groups, we will especially prioritize those focused on:
   1. Trans women and femmes 
   2. Non-binary/non-conforming/gender diverse folks
   3. Immigrants 
   4. Disabled folks 
   5. Elders
   6. *We define leadership as: In positions with decision making power. This could mean that the majority of an organization’s staff leadership team (i.e. Directors/Executive Director) and/or the majority of its board members.

2. Innovatively supporting communities when or where nobody else is, especially:
   1. Grassroots organizations and groups that were started with love, energy, and resources by the people who the organization is set up to serve. We believe in supporting the people closest to the issues to be empowered to create the solutions for themselves.
   2. Efforts and services happening outside of major urban areas 
   3. Work that is creatively reimagining what it means to provide direct services
   4. Organizations and groups that are not necessarily LGBTQ+ focused, but are led by queer and trans BIPOC who are leading inherently from an intersectional perspective. (We understand that because of racism queer and trans folks of color may not have found space within the larger LGBTQ+ movement to do this work. As part of Pride Foundation’s racial equity work, we recognize the importance of expanding how LGBTQ+ advocacy and movement building looks in communities of color.)

3. Smaller, grassroots, and who don’t have access to mainstream funding sources, especially organizations and groups that are focusing on issues that are impacting LGBTQ+ folks at the intersection of social identities, including work that is focused on:
   1. Supporting and decriminalizing sex workers 
   2. Incarceration/criminal injustice and restorative justice
   3. Immigration 
   4. Healing Justice
   5. Disability Justice
   6. Housing and homelessness 
   7. Senior and elder support
   8. Youth support (particularly BIPOC youth and/or youth in rural communities)
   9. Anti-violence
   10. Supporting people living with HIV/AIDS
   11. Working to develop policy on behalf of, and led by, QTBIPOC
   12. Building the leadership of QTBIPOC folks, especially trans women, non-binary/non-conforming/gender diverse folks, immigrants, and disabled folks. 
   13. Climate justice

You can learn more about our Community Grants process, guidelines, FAQs, and find our shortened application here.