Stonewall Community Foundation rolls out grants for LGBTQ organizations under ‘Reclaiming Our Power’ initiative

The Stonewall Community Foundation, which funds LGBTQ community initiatives in New York City and across the country, rolled out grants to 10 organizations last month as part of a new multi-year initiative intended to support impactful trans and queer-led groups nationwide. The first batch of grants — which will eventually expand to support a total of 15 organizations — will initially amount to $825,000 in funding, with a focus on two main categories: community resilience, which supports direct services for LGBTQ individuals, and power building, which funds work intended to mobilize, organize, and shift policies or systems to advance justice and equity. The funds will be delivered to the organizations over the course of the next three years as part of Stonewall Community Foundation's new Reclaiming Our Power grant initiative. The Reclaiming Our Power grant, drawing from funding provided by the Mark L. Brant Legacy Fund, entails distributing $20,000 per year to the organizations for two years, with the possibility of another $15,000 in the third year. New York-based organizations receiving the grants include Trans formative Schools, which is a free after-school program focused on serving the needs of trans, queer, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth; Out My Closet, which addresses the needs of under-resourced and unhoused LGBTQ youth and adults through clothing donations, counseling, and educational workshops; Chosen Family Law Center, which utilizes advocacy, education, legislative development, and legal services to support social and legal recognition of LGBTQ families and individuals; and Sex Workers Project, Urban Justice Center, which provides free immigration legal services to current and former sex workers and trafficking survivors. Other organizations receiving funds under the Reclaiming Our Power grant include Mashup Nashville in Tennessee, Traction Project in Oregon, Therapy Center of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, the St. Louis Anti-Violence Project in Missouri, the Queer Trans Project in Florida, and Building Out Safer Spaces and Skill Sets in Arizona. “With this initial cohort, we believe these organizations reflect the strength and resilience of the LGBTQ+ movement and are advancing transformative work across a range of issues, from healthcare access and legal services to policy advocacy and safety initiatives,” Elisa Crespo, the executive director of Stonewall Community Foundation, said in a written statement. The grants were highly competitive: 182 proposals were delivered to the Stonewall Community Foundation in a four-week stretch, which the foundation said reflected both the urgency and the depth of LGBTQ leadership. The Stonewall Community Foundation said it intends to work with other philanthropic groups to grow the Reclaiming Our Power initiative, which prioritizes overlooked and underfunded LGBTQ organizations, including ones by and for trans individuals and people of color. “In a time when LGBTQ+ communities are being targeted at an unprecedented scale, we are investing in their power, their safety, and their future,” Maryse Pearce, who serves as Stonewall Community Foundation's program director, said in a written statement. The five remaining grantees will be determined in 2026.