Giving Compass' Take:
- The 20th edition of the Resource Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations was released this week.
- This report illuminates how philanthropy is supporting LGBTQ organizations and the communities they serve. What can individual donors learn from funding patterns over the years? What barriers to financing exist for these organizations?
- Read more about LGBTQ+ rights in this guide for donors.
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We are pleased to share the 2022 Resource Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations. This 20th edition of the annual tracking report builds upon our updated approach to grant reporting, which has been developed in partnership with Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, an LGBTQ-led research firm with expertise in philanthropic strategy and evaluation. This approach is guided by our continued commitment to sustainability, transparency, and durability to develop consistent research protocols and methodologies that can grow with Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and respond to the evolving needs of the philanthropic sector and LGBTQ* communities across the country.
Consistent with the 2021 Resource Tracking Report, this edition of the Resource Tracking Report looks only at U.S. foundation funding to domestic LGBTQ communities and issues. Anyone interested in the global LGBTQ funding landscape should consult the Global Resources Report, a robust biennial report series produced by the Global Philanthropy Project.
For this report, we identified 6,110 grants for domestic LGBTQ communities and issues from 903 foundations in 2022, for a total of $258.1 million, excluding funding for the purpose of regranting.7 Though the 2022 total represents a slight nominal increase of $7.3 million (less than 3 percent increase) from the total of $250.8 million in grantmaking from U.S. foundations in 2021, there was a real-dollar decrease in total funding for LGBTQ communities and causes in 2022 due to the impact of inflation.
As a result, additional funding above and beyond the 2021 level of inflation, which was 8 percent
according to the Consumer Price Index, would have been necessary to overcome the impact of inflation
on the total funding for LGBTQ communities in 2022.8 According to an analysis completed by Candid as
part of the Foundation Giving Forecast Survey, approximately one in five funders reported that
inflation impacted 2022 grantmaking decisions, and only 29 percent of funders anticipated that inflation would impact grantmaking decisions in 2023.
Read the full article about LGBTQ resource tracking at Funders for LGBTQ Issues.
As grantmakers continue to consider myriad factors when making funding decisions, we encourage them to adjust their funding levels to account for the ongoing and lasting impact of inflation on their grantees.