At Pride Foundation, we are already looking to 2023 and anticipating a big year ahead where the work that we do will be as important as ever. As we look to next year, we wanted to first pause and reflect on 2022 and all that we accomplished together.
We made a historic level of investment in LGBTQ+ organizations.
In 2021 and 2022 we awarded $1.7M through our Community Grants that were multi-year and unrestricted, meaning our grantee partners across the region had more resources for their crucial work.
We made some of the biggest grants in our history.
Our Community Care Fund started in crisis in 2020, but has since become a profound tool to responsively support LGBTQ+ groups to do essential work to care for our communities.
We responded to a hard legislative year by building across the region.
Bills attacking trans and non-binary people were rampant this year, as they were in 2021 and are predicted to be in 2023. We made 4 historically large grants to essential organizations responding to this work (TransVisible in MT, Native Movement in AK, Add the Words in ID, and Rogue Action Center in OR), and are bringing these organizations together as a cohort to share and learn across state lines.
We showed LGBTQ+ student leaders they have a community of supporters behind them.
Pride Foundation scholars are incredible leaders in their communities. Alongside our scholarship fundholders and volunteers, we were thrilled to award $705,000 (the most in our history!) to 108 brilliant students this year.
We elevated the stories of BIPOC trans, gender diverse, and Two Spirit people in the Northwest.
Our Community Advocacy, Research, and Education (CARE) program expanded to all 5 states in the region, began collecting the full, authentic stories of our people to build and shift the narratives of the reality of the full breadth of our community.
We got ‘Out and About’ across the Northwest!
We have missed gathering in-person these past few years when travel was restricted. This fall we hit the road on our Out and About tour. Our team hosted gatherings in Boise, Bozeman, Anchorage, Pocatello, Portland, and Seattle, and there will be even more in 2023 – we can’t wait to see you!
We supported some important legislative wins.
While the Pacific Northwest continues to be host to laws that seek to erase trans and gender-diverse people from existence, a bill in Alaska that would have banned trans girls from sports that aligned with their gender-identity, and a bill Idaho that would have criminalized providers of gender-affirming medical procedures, were both shelved. Our CARE work supported our partner organizations on the ground fighting back against these bills.
We hosted our second annual hybrid Pride Month event
We were so proud to make Tend: A celebration of community accessible all across our region and gather the breadth of our community together by making it a hybrid event! We had over 19 watch parties hosted throughout the Northwest, and many supporters who tuned in from home. Together we surpassed our goal, raising over $195,000!
Looking Ahead to 2023
We know there is much on the horizon in 2023 that will require our collective actions and support. Together, our strength, perseverance, and actions will carry us through.
Thank you for being in this work with us.
With Pride,
Katie Carter
CEO, Pride Foundation