This past week, the Contigo Fund and Funders for LGBTQ Issues released a new report on the state of funding for the Orlando area’s LGBTQ+ communities – just over six years after the Pulse massacre left our communities reeling. The report shows that Orlando continues to feel the ripple effects of the tragedy and is unique in the nation – both for its exceptional range of community assets and for its distinctive challenges.
The new report seeks to assess where we are in building a sustainable set of resources to meet the many needs of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ communities. It essentially asks, “Are we making progress?” and it provides a benchmark for future studies on the state of local LGBTQ+ funding. I was one of the lead authors and researchers for the report, and my perspectives on the findings are shaped by my eight-year tenure as president of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and my current role as an independent consultant for Contigo Fund and other philanthropic organizations.
The report shows that, since Pulse, Orlando has built up an exceptionally diverse ecosystem of LGBTQ+ community organizations – more than 30 nonprofits and grassroots groups addressing issues ranging from housing to the arts. Of those groups, 20 were established in the past six years: 10 of them led by and for LGBTQ+ communities of color, and several focused on transgender communities. Never in my career have I seen a city fill so many gaps and cultivate such a diverse LGBTQ+ ecosystem so quickly. This unprecedented achievement is a testament to the strength and resilience of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ communities.
It’s also a testament to the Contigo Fund, which the report shows to be the region’s largest funder of LGBTQ+ community organizations and programs, providing 42% of all funding from 2017 through 2020. Some LGBTQ+ Orlandoans may not realize just how special it is for a city of Orlando’s size to have an LGBTQ+ community-based foundation of Contigo’s scale and impact. Contigo gives out more grant dollars annually than most of its peer LGBTQ+ foundations around the country – even the one for New York City. Contigo is also the only LGBTQ+ Latinx foundation in the country, and one of the largest funders of LGBTQ+ communities of color in the U.S. South. Contigo has helped make Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community a model for the South and the nation.
In 2016, many other local funders gave large grants to the One Orlando Fund to assist survivors and families of victims in the wake of Pulse, but few have given in the years since. In fact, other than Contigo Fund, local funders only gave about one-fourth of all foundation and corporate funding for Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community organizations from 2017 through 2020.
In 2016, within days after Pulse, multiple local corporations pledged six-figure and seven-figure gifts to the One Orlando Fund. But none of those local corporations gave more than $75,000 for LGBTQ+ issues locally over 2017-2020. We need local corporations and funders to show leadership and solidarity with LGBTQ+ communities, not just with a single gift in response to our greatest tragedy but with consistent support and partnership, year in and year out.
The report also shows that the resources of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community groups are extremely lopsided. Four local HIV/AIDS service providers had combined revenue of $70 million, far larger than any other local LGBTQ+ nonprofit. These organizations derive revenue largely from insurance reimbursements and restricted federal dollars, and they address vital needs for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, including LGBTQ+ people.
Outside of the four largest HIV service organizations, all of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community groups had a total combined revenue of $7.2 million in 2020. Of that, nearly half went to the onePulse Foundation, which is currently leading a $45 million capital campaign to establish a national museum for Pulse. This capital campaign aspires to raise 150% of all the funds raised by One Orlando Fund for relief for survivors and victims’ families – which in itself was the world’s largest fundraising effort in LGBTQ+ history. The scale of the museum itself may create challenges in building a well-balanced LGBTQ+ ecosystem as we continue the recovery.
Even six years later, our communities affected by Pulse have a long way to go in the journey of healing. We need resources to address the full, diverse range of needs faced by LGBTQ+ communities, such as mental health and substance use, food insecurity, housing instability and the urgency of mobilizing in response to the hateful stream of legislation from Tallahassee.
In contrast to the four largest HIV service providers and onePulse, most local LGBTQ+ groups have annual budgets of less than $250,000. With just one or a few staff people, these grassroots groups have helped our community get through the pandemic, provided emergency case management and bilingual counseling services, and connected trans community members with life-saving healthcare and peer-to-peer support.
Like local corporations and foundations, the region’s larger HIV providers and LGBTQ+ organizations have an opportunity to leverage their resources in support of these grassroots groups that have low access to resources but high impact. As one model, the Campaign for Southern Equality – one of the largest LGBTQ+ organizations in the South – has committed to “tithing” 10% of its revenue to smaller LGBTQ+ groups across the region. Imagine how impactful it would be if our largest organizations made big commitments to supporting smaller grassroots groups. This support could take many forms, ranging from grants to in-kind support and sharing access to crucial resources such as financial expertise, legal support and systems for communications and fundraising.
With 42% of funding for Orlando’s LGBTQ+ communities relying on a single funder, our rich ecosystem is in a precarious position. Contigo Fund cannot do this work alone. The new report from Contigo and Funders for LGBTQ Issues is the first of its kind. I hope that in future iterations, we’ll see local funders, corporations and large nonprofits join Contigo among the leading LGBTQ+ funders, building a rich ecosystem that fully addresses all of our diverse communities’ needs and allows us to build a future where all LGBTQ+ Orlandoans can thrive.
Ben Francisco Maulbeck has more than two decades of experience in LGBTQ+ community work and philanthropy, including serving as president of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and as vice president of Hispanics in Philanthropy.
