San Diego Pride announced Thursday it is distributing $250,000 in grant money to 44 organizations and initiatives committed to serving the LGBTQ community.
The group is reigniting its community grant program after a three-year pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year marked the return of the San Diego Pride Parade and Festival, the organization's tentpole events that raise funds for the grant.
San Diego Pride executive director Fernando López says the grant money will help fund organizations across the globe.
"Our Pride in San Diego is special. We approach our work with an abundance mindset. It's how our organization grew to have over 40 year-round programs and how we became the most philanthropic Pride in the world," said López. "It was a model established by founders like Christine Kehoe, Neil Good, Tim Williams, Larry Baza, Vertez Burks, Joseph Mayer, and more who wanted to ensure the role of Pride was one that helps build the capacity of our LGBTQ community beyond Pride weekend events. To help our LGBTQ community thrive, we must invest in our LGBTQ community. That is how we can and will pursue justice with joy!"
According to the press release, leadership behind San Diego Pride in 1989 visualized a fundraising model that would not only support the group's own events and programs, but also turn a profit that would be invested back into the LGBTQ community. With this mindset, San Diego Pride started giving out grants in 1994, leading to it becoming the most philanthropic Pride group in the world, according to its press release.
In 2020 and 2021, San Diego Pride's philanthropy took different forms, like providing masks for seniors, free vaccines, food and clothing drives, scholarships for transgender students and giving gift cards to employees at LGBTQ-owned small businesses. The group was able to give out some grant money in 2021, focusing on smaller, local organizations as it gave out $136,000.
Over the years, the group has given more than $3.5 million to organizations serving the LGBTQ community.
The following organizations will receive a portion of the $250,000 grant:
- America's Finest City Softball League
- Bilitis Resource Center Foundation
- Breakthrough Workshop Theatre
- CAPI - Consolidated Association of Prides
- California Community Education Center, Inc.
- CBB4Life
- Children of the Sun Foundation Uganda Limited
- CHOSING IS LIFE S H GROUP
- Colors+ Youth Center
- San Diego County LGBTQ+ and Allies Employee Resource Group
- Diversionary Theatre Productions, Inc.
- DTLA Proud, Fondo de Asistencia para el SIDA A.C.
- Free to Thrive, Gay Men's Spiritual Retreat
- Global Center for LGBTI+ Freedom and Education
- GLSEN San Diego
- Imperial Valley LGBT Resource Center, InterPride
- Lambda Archives of San Diego
- Lambda Rising Soccer Club
- May 17 Association
- Media Arts Center San Diego
- FilmOut San Diego
- Minority Humanitarian Foundation
- MoPride
- Movimiento SOMOS
- North County LGBT Resource Center
- Oxygen Charity
- Pacific Arts Movement
- Quatrefoil Library
- Queer Humboldt
- Rainbow Spaces
- San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition
- San Diego Gay Men's Chorus
- San Diego Women's Chorus
- SEED Malaysia
- Sisters of St. James Productions
- Special Delivery San Diego
- Stepping Stone San Diego
- The San Diego American Flag Football League
- Think Dignity
- Tracie Jada O'Brien Transgender Student Scholarship
- Track-T
- TransFamily Support Services
- Volunteer With Cheli
