Community Grants

TSF Community Grants were first launched in the spring 2020 as an emergency fund to meet immediate needs created by coronavirus within LGBTQ+ populations. We reacted quickly, donating 29K to 23 projects in 16 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces.

In launching our Community Grants, we realized the overwhelming need of grassroots organizations for seed funding to support their communities. Since our first set of grants, we’ve released multiple rounds of grantmaking to organizations serving specific communities most in crises. We’re committed to additional rounds of Community Grants funding that reach more organizations and activists often overlooked by traditional funding institutions, and to being nimble and flexible in our funding strategy.

We do this by reducing the application burden for grantees, accelerating the pace and volume of giving, partnering with other donors and increasing support and donations to many of our established relationships with LGBTQ+ community organizations.

In 2023, we held our first Community Grants Town Hall, convening our cohort of all Community Grantees to discuss the key needs of LGBTQ+ grassroots organizations in the US and Canada, three years on from the start of the program. The final report will be shared soon.

Applications are not currently open for TSF Community Grants. Please continue to check back and follow us on social media to stay up to date on our latest funding rounds.

COVID-19

In March of 2020, we launched our first Community Grants initiative, offering microgrants ($500-$2000) to individuals and small organizations with projects that are supporting LGBTQ+ community through the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequalities facing LGBTQ+ girls and women before the pandemic have been exacerbated by the crisis and isolation — such as lack of health coverage, provider discrimination, poverty, homelessness and unsafe home environments. To date we have granted $29,000 to grassroots organizations addressing these issues by providing crucial resources, creating spaces online for community and more.  

BLACK LIVES MATTER

To immediately support and center Black lives, Tegan and Sara Foundation has released another round of Community Grants to Black-led, LGBTQ+ organizations – with a focus on women. These first six grantees address systemic racism by organizing to end police violence and providing legal counsel, policy development, and mental health services. TSF’s mission is founded on gender and racial justice, and we are committed to using our resources to directly center those protesting and organizing for real change now.

CANADA

In November of 2020, we launched our third round of Community Grants, this time to center grassroots Canadian LGBTQ2S+ organizations making real change at the community level. We are supporting 13 projects in 6 Canadian provinces, including initiatives to preserve Indigenous art, reach Black queer youth with mental health services, bring queer-inclusive books to schools in Canada and more.

TRANS YOUTH

In March of 2022, we launched a round of Community Grants to support organizations in the US and Canada directly providing services to trans youth, especially as we experienced a rise in anti-trans legislation. This round deepened our support to existing grantees as well as adding new partners to our cohort. This group included:

·         Pride Center San Antonio - San Antonio, TX, who provide multiple services to trans youth including weekly group therapy sessions, gender marker and name change clinics

·         Magic City Acceptance Center - Birmingham, AL, who offer weekly in-person and statewide virtual events on Discord for LGBTQ+ youth, ages 13-24

·         Pridelines - Miami, FL, a youth-founded LGBTQ+ organization, and one of the few trans & nonbinary-focused programs in Miami-Dade County

·         OKEQ - Tulsa, OK, an LGBTQ+ youth community center that offers trans-specific resources including name change clinics and support groups

·         OUTMemphis - Memphis, TN, who offer multiple trans-specific services including name ID clinics, trans committees to inform programming, and trans-led HIV testing and PrEP navigation

·         Supporting Our Youth - Toronto, ON, an LGBTQ2S+ community initiative with trans youth support groups, mentorship, housing support and more

·         Etcetera - Kelowna, BC, a program of The Bridge, supporting youth of varying gender identities through peer mentorship and gatherings 

·         LGBT Youthline - Toronto, ON but operating across Canada, offering confidential and non-judgmental peer support for LGBTQ2S+ Canadian youth

·         Pride and Less Prejudice - Providing LGBTQ-inclusive books to pre-K to 3rd grade classrooms in Canadathis time to center grassroots Canadian LGBTQ2S+ organizations making real change at the community level. We are supporting 13 projects in 6 Canadian provinces, including initiatives to preserve Indigenous art, reach Black queer youth with mental health services, bring queer-inclusive books to schools in Canada and more.

LGBTQ+ INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE SURVIVOR SUPPORT

LGBTQ+ people, especially LGBTQ+ girls and women, face domestic and intimate partner violence at a greater rate than their cisgender and straight counterparts. In May of 2022, we launched a round of Community Grants to support organizations in the US and Canada that provide services to LGBTQ+ survivors of intimate partner violence. We funded Trans Lifeline to pioneer this work at a national scale, as well as a group of four grassroots organizations to support community-led solutions:

• The Network/La Red (Boston, MA): Survivor-led, social justice organization that works to end partner abuse in queer communities. Offer a 24 hour hotline, individual advocacy, a housing pathways program and more.

• Northwest Network (Seattle, WA): Supporting queer and trans survivors of abuse. Provide one-on-one advocacy-based counseling to survivors, particularly during uptick in services from pandemic.

• Ending Violence Association (Vancouver, BC): Core provincial services include providing information, resources, support, and training to hundreds of front-line anti-violence workers in Community-Based Victim Services; delivers the Safe Choices LGBT2SQ+ Education Program

• Montrose Center (Houston, TX): The Anti-Violence program targets and has expertise in serving LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault; includes crisis intervention, emergency rehousing, counseling and more

Please click here to donate and support! 

We are currently fundraising for additional rounds of community grants.