Foundation Giving for Gay Causes Expected to Hold Steady in 2009

Foundation support for charities that help gay people continues to grow steadily, rising by 18 percent in 2007, according to a new study The recession is expected to slow but not halt that growth, it said.

Grant makers gave $77.2-million to gay causes in 2007, the last year for which data was available, according to Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, in New York.

The number of foundations supporting gay causes also grew, from 266 to 293.

“It’s very encouraging,” said Karen Zelermyer, executive director of the group, which advocates for greater giving to gay causes. “The foundations and the dollars continue to grow and are keeping pace with the growth in institutional philanthropy.”

Overall, efforts to help gay people attracted 0.18 percent of foundation support.

Ms. Zelermyer said giving by foundations to gay causes could increase this year by as much as 15 percent. In late April, her group gathered information from 33 foundations that give significantly to gay rights. A few said they planned to give less in 2009, but the drop was more than made up by foundations that said they planned to increase their giving.

But Ms. Zelermyer said the outlook for 2010 is far less certain. Community foundations and public foundations that operate donor-advised funds will be the worst hit, she said.

Half From 10 Foundations

The study of 2007 giving found that a few foundations provide the lion’s share of support to gay issues.

Ten foundations in the survey accounted for nearly 50 percent of total support. The Arcus and Gill Foundations, two grant makers created by gay men, provided the most support.

They were followed by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the H. van Ameringen Foundation.

Large, national charities tended to win the most support. A quarter of the total grant dollars awarded by foundations in the study went to the same 10 charities. Just 10 percent of grant dollars went to help lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of color specifically.

Ms. Zelermyer said smaller groups and those that help minorities and marginalized people — the types of charities that will be particularly hard hit by the recession — deserve more money.

“You need to have strong national organizations, but you also need strong statewide and local groups, and organizations that bring the voices of people of color, of women, of transgender people to the table,” she said. “I don’t think we can be strong unless those voices are strong and healthy.”