COMMUNITY GRANTEE
TOWN HALL OUTCOMES REPORT

Last year, the Tegan and Sara Foundation convened 50+ of our Community Grants partners to discuss the state of their work as it was impacted by COVID, mounting pressures against the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and more.

We asked our grantees: What do you want to say to your funders that you might otherwise be afraid to share?

We learned that grassroots, community-level partners are facing greater obstacles than ever. They are scared that they will lose their funding sources and that legislation may come down against their work, all while their staff faces low pay, burnout, and restrictive funding requirements.

Grassroots 2SLGBTQ+ organizations need trust, unrestricted funding, and their communities to rally behind them. These are the values that we built the Community Grants program on: To be nimble, flexible, and fast with our funding support, for organizations that are typically passed over by major funding institutions.

In 2024, we look forward to convening another gathering of our partners. Read the full report below.

 THE TEGAN AND SARA FOUNDATION

OUR IMPACT

The success of our approach

The Tegan and Sara Foundation began with a mission of supporting 2SLGBTQ+ women and girls. Over time, we learned to embrace the umbrella effect of that mission - that we are able to uplift a broader community by centering the most marginalized within 2SLGBTQ+ people. Across our programs, we bring specific focus to the most historically excluded among us - e.g. trans women, people of color, and 2SLGBTQ+ youth in rural communities - and embrace them all in our work.

Our progress in 2024

2024 was our biggest year yet. With your support, we:

• Continued and expanded our flagship programs, Community Grants and 2SLGBTQ+ Summer Camperships

• Published a report of our Community Grants Town Hall

• Continued to grow our largest venture yet, the LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory, providing a free resource to find inclusive healthcare providers

• Deepened our impact with our bench of grassroots 2SLGBTQ+ partner organizations across the U.S. and Canada

• Revitalized our mission statement to invest in the potential of 2sLGBTQ+ communities more broadly

MORE WORK HIGHLIGHTS…

THE TEGAN AND SARA FOUNDATION
LGBTQ+ COVID-19 VACCINE ATTITUDES SURVEY

In March, the Tegan and Sara Foundation launched a healthcare survey to understand experiences with the COVID-19 vaccine within the LGBTQ+ community. The survey was developed in collaboration with health communications firm Entree Health and reviewed by researchers at SurveyMonkey, a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback, with contributions from physicians and healthcare experts specializing in LGBTQ+ healthcare. 

The completely-confidential survey, developed with leading LGBTQ+ healthcare experts, was designed to be sensitive to the needs of the community. While current gender was asked in this survey, there was no question asking sex assigned at birth. These questions are often asked insensitively create unnecessary barriers for gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and transgender people. The survey did include 17 gender and sexual orientation choices, including the option to write-in or choose not to disclose. With the help of our community, we received 7,700+ responses.

To obtain a holistic understanding of the queer community, TSF we prioritized survey outreach and distribution to community-level organizations and underserved groups, to make sure that survey responses included the diverse voices of the LGBTQ+ community. We hope that LGBTQ+ people of all identities are able to see themselves in this data, and use it to start conversations and create change within their communities.

For questions or to request access to the complete raw data set, email info@teganandsarafoundation.org.

IN OUR IMAGE
THE INAUGURAL TSF ZINE

“The spirit of zines represents who we are as a queer family: authentic, self-made, rebellious, joyous, community-focused, and hopeful. What you have before you is our 2021 digital homage to the zines of underground community organizers, riot grrrls, and punk rockers. In Our Image is our contribution to the queer zine canon: celebrating the resilience, activism, and creativity of queer women and girls during a year of hardship - and the ways that we’ve continued to hold space for necessary conversations, hope for the future, and each other.”

- Tegan and Sara

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

Amanda Picotte is a non-binary photographer from New York. Their work focuses on uplifting the queer community, and has been featured in The New York Times, Refinery29, The World Photography Organization, and Vogue.com, among many others. Picotte was previously nominated for an award by the Royal Photographic Society for their series on survivors of sexual assault. 

Fabiola Reyna is the founder and CEO of She Shreds Media—a community driven, comprehensive answer to guitar culture and music media, envisioned and led by BIPOC womxn/femme/non-binary musicians for the world. Alongside reimagining culture and industry, Fabi Reyna is the guitarist, composer, and multi instrumentalist in Sávila and Reyna Tropical.

Blair Imani is a critically-acclaimed historian, social activist, public speaker, educator, and influencer. The New York Times praises Blair Imani’s unique “brand, combining progressive lessons with vibrant visuals and a perky, quirky delivery.” Her work centers women and girls, global Black communities, and the LGBTQ community.

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performer, coach and consultant based in Toronto/tkaronto. She is the author of five award-winning books, including a poetry collection, essay collection, novel, and two children's books.

Sherenté Mishitashin Harris intertwines stories of cultural existence with their Two Spirit identity, to evoke emotion, spark dialogue, and amplify ideologies that are too often silenced. Sherenté’s efforts oppose the prolonged issue of Indigenous Invisibility. Sherenté is Niantic Narragansett and a citizen of the Narragansett Tribal Nation. Named a 2019 LGBT Icon, Sherenté is also a 2018 Presidential and Rhode Island Foundation Carter Roger Williams Scholar and is currently enrolled in a five year dual degree program at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design.

A.B.O. Comix is a collective of creators and activists who work to amplify the voices of LGBTQ prisoners through art. By working closely with prison abolitionist and queer advocacy organizations, they aim to keep queer prisoners connected to outside community and help them in the fight toward liberation. The profits they generate go back to incarcerated artists, especially those with little to no resources.

The Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) is an organization by and for Indigenous youth that works across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice throughout the United States and Canada.