Giving Compass' Take:

· Funders for LGBTQ Issues discusses the growth of charitable giving for LGBT organizations over the past three decades. Records show gay philanthropies have substantially grown and are providing much needed funding for advocacy, civil rights, and other pressing issues.

· Why has funding increased over the past few decades? How does this influence the gay community? What else needs to be done to achieve equality?

· Philanthropy is constantly changing with the needs of modern times. Learn about the changing face of philanthropy and diversity in family giving.

On a recent Thursday morning, Joseph Rosenthal, 77, drove from his barn-red, four-story house on Buena Vista Terrace to a lawyer’s office in the Castro, where he quietly transferred a substantial part of his estate to the endowment fund of the Horizon Foundation, a grant-giving organization for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

“I have almost no family living at this time,” said Rosenthal, a retired librarian. “Certainly, not having children prompts one to consider other options, such as supporting charitable organizations in the area of my particular interest.”

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement has traditionally depended on smaller, grassroots donations for specific causes. But more aging philanthropists like Rosenthal, whose generation was the first to be “out,” are making end-of-life gifts to help secure the future of the community.

In the past three decades, gay philanthropies such as Horizon Foundation, Pride Foundation and Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice have helped shape today’s lesbian and gay community, funneling millions of dollars into numerous HIV/AIDS treatment services, and civil rights, social advocacy and political campaigns. According to a group that advises grantmakers, New York-based Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, grants made to gay organizations nationwide have more than doubled from under $30 million in 2002 to $65.5 million in 2006.

Read the full article about the future of the gay community at Funders for SF Gate.