Working Together to Keep LGBTQ+ Movements Resourced
As we step further into 2025, the call to resource LGBTQ+ movements is not just urgent, it’s essential. Across the country, organizations that serve our communities are facing increasing threats and diminished funding, even as demand for their services grows. From restrictive state policies and DEI rollbacks, to reduced foundation giving and shifting philanthropic priorities, the organizations that protect, empower, and celebrate LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, people of color, and youth are navigating incredibly challenging conditions.
And yet, despite it all, these groups continue to show up every day. They serve meals. They provide safe housing. They fight unjust laws. They make art. They hold one another. They make liberation possible.
We know that many of our fund partners are looking for ways to respond. Below is a list of grantee organizations Stonewall Community Foundation has vetted and supported, groups doing exceptional work in direct services, advocacy, culture, education, and community building. We encourage you to consider these nonprofits when recommending grants this year.
Stonewall staff and members of Love Wins NYC at their annual holiday party/toy drive in Queens, NY
Direct services
Love Wins NYC is a queer-centric and volunteer-led effort addressing food insecurity among our neighbors in New York City. They distribute free, fresh produce to hundreds of families every month.
Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo promotes and secures the rights of transgender, sex worker, and Latinx people through advocacy, support groups, and connecting their members to resources.
Caribbean Equality Project is a Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrant rights organization in NYC that advocates for and represents Afro and Indo-Caribbean LGBTQ+ people through culturally responsive community organizing, public education, healing, civic engagement, racial justice, health & gender equity, legislative advocacy, immigration, and ending hate violence in the Caribbean diaspora.
Free to Be Youth Project at the Urban Justice Center is the one of the only legal services programs in the nation dedicated to serving at-risk, street involved, and homeless LGBTQ+ youth. Through their free legal services, they help LGBTQ+ youth lead fulfilling lives, including seeking educational pursuits, obtaining stable housing, and preparing for a career.
Offering support groups, crisis intervention, sexual health services, and affirming housing for their clients, Capital Tea provides much-needed services to trans folks in Florida - one of the most virulently anti-LGBTQ+ states in the country. One of their cornerstone programs is the Capital Tea Safe House, a haven providing shelter for up to six at-risk trans women of color.
Advocates for Trans Equality members and supporters on the steps of the US Supreme Court
Advocacy & organizing
Advocates for Trans Equality is a national organization that works to shift government and society towards a future where trans people are no less than equal. Their work includes research, voter engagement, organizing, strategic litigation, and a pro-bono name change clinic.
New Pride Agenda advances the economic, health, racial, and gender identity justice needs of marginalized LGBTQIA+ individuals in New York State. Working with a diverse network of communities and elected officials, NPA educates members of the LGBTQIA community and allies, as well as the public, about our legal protections and rights.
Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Their work includes strategic litigation, policy advocacy, educational efforts, and movement building.
Freedom Center for Social Justice’s focus is creating culture shifts in social justice, civil rights, LGBTQ+ communities and spaces where people of low wealth and racial minorities dwell. Based in Charlotte, NC they work in collaboration with local and national organizations that fight for equal protection under the law.
Gender Liberation Movement is a national coalition of activists, organizers, and creatives building cultural, media, and policy interventions. Since 2024, they have organized flashpoint marches and demonstrations that shift the narrative on trans people and bodily autonomy.
Supporters of the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York City
Youth, arts, & education
Lesbian Herstory Archives, located in Brooklyn, NY, is home to the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities. LHA exists to gather and preserve records of lesbian lives and activities, ensuring future generations will have ready access to materials relevant to their lives.
National Queer Theater is a NYC-based theater collective dedicated to celebrating the brilliance of generations of LGBTQ+ artists and providing a home for unheard storytellers and activists. Their work includes new play development and afterschool theater programming for queer youth.
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art is the only dedicated LGBTQIA+ art museum in the world with a mission to exhibit and preserve LGBTQIA+ art and foster the artists who create it.
American LGBTQ+ Museum is a new collaboration dedicated to preserving, researching, and sharing LGBTQ+ history and culture. Over the past two years, they have partnered with many organizations around the New York City and beyond to bring queer history to life, including hosting film screenings, panel discussions, performances, poetry slams, book talks and more at various partner locations across the United States.
Trans formative Schools’ mission is to support trans futures by uplifting the lives of trans children, trans educators, and their families. TfS operates a free afterschool program in NYC designed to center the needs of trans, queer, nonbinary, and gender expansive middle school students.
Staff and clients of Positive Images - an LGBTQI+ community center in Sonoma County, California
Community centers
Brooklyn Community Pride Center is the primary provider of community space, programming, and resources for LGBTQ+ Brooklyn. They offer health & wellness, fitness, arts, and social programming, as well as support groups and services specifically for immigrant and trans community members.
Audre Lorde Project is a center for LGBTQ people of color in New York City to organize, connect, and build community. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, they work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice.
Our Spot Kansas City is a hub for resources that support, advance and equip LGBTQ+ individuals to ensure sustainability and improvement in and of the community. Located in Kansas City, MO, their mission is to offer safe, accepting, and affirming programming, services, and resources that empower the LGBTQ+ community.
Positive Images is an LGBTQI+ community center in Santa Rosa, California that serves the Sonoma County area. They provide peer support groups, trainings, leadership development for LGBTQ teens, and a safe space for community members and their allies. Many of their clients are undocumented and do not speak English; as a result, they’ve been increasing their bilingual and Spanish programs.
Since 1996, GRIOT Circle has provided a welcoming space, culturally sensitive services, and member-centered programming that affirm the lives of LGBTQ elders of color. Their core programming includes Buddy to Buddy, a program that matches older LGBTQ adults of colors with younger people to combat loneliness; Still Standing, their sexual health and HIV prevention program; and GRIOT After Dark, which offers evening events for seniors who are still working and can’t attend daytime senior programs.
These are only a few of the extraordinary groups that define what it means to fight for LGBTQ+ liberation at the community level. Your support, through your fund at Stonewall, can help them remain resourced, resilient, and responsive in a time of deep need.
If you’d like to discuss where your grantmaking could have the most impact, Stonewall’s program team is always available to connect. Get in touch!