Our Fund Foundation, South Florida’s only LGBTQ+ community foundation, announced it will donate a second round of Resilience Fund grants, providing $300,00 in frontline emergency financial aid for 30 LGBTQ+ organizations whose operations continue to be devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. All monies will be distributed immediately to agencies throughout the tri-county area to help support essential needs while also positioning them to have the greatest impact in the future.

“The LGBTQ community has overcome devastation brought on by a pandemic in the past and we can do it again, together,” said David Jobin, president and CEO of Our Fund Foundation. “We are humbled to be able to provide critical support for these 30 deserving LGBTQ+ agencies which in turn aid thousands in our community.” 

Our Fund Foundation created the Resilience Fund to help support LGBTQ+ nonprofit agencies in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. Through a simple, low-barrier application process, the non-profit continues to be a lifeline, providing crucial financial aid and emergency assistance to dozens of South Florida’s LGBTQ community organizations.

“Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen a 60% surge in the number of South Florida neighbors living in poverty and experiencing food insecurity for the first time,” said Thomas Pietrogallo, CEO of The Poverello Center. “To meet these challenges, we’ve had to expand our services to include online grocery shopping and deliveries to homebound clients. The Resilience Fund grant will help stock our food pantry, enable our social workers to educate clients on how to apply for supplemental food programs, and allow us to meet people’s basic needs while we care for those with comprised immune systems, such as HIV.”

At the start of the pandemic, Our Fund Foundation took immediate action and created the Resilience Fund which raised and distributed $310,000 in funds. It also pledged $150,000 from its board-restricted fund as a 1:1 match to galvanize donors, the first time the non-profit has done so in its almost decade-long history.

“Cancelling our signature fundraiser, Transinclusive’s LGBTQ Prom, greatly impacted our financial resources, so we are especially grateful to receive the Our Fund Resilience grant,” said Tatiana Williams, co-founder and executive director of TransinclusiveGroup. “This grant will help us stay connected to our transgender community members via our virtual platforms, subsidize emergency funds for food, prescriptions, ride share assistance and vouchers for temporary hotel stays to avert homelessness, all of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Commenting on the need to confront racial inequality and health disparities in the Black community and the unjustifiable stigma of HIV, Dr. Réquel Lopes, executive director of the World AIDS Museum and Educational Center, said, “Before the coronavirus upended our world, we were pacing very well. We took this challenge as an opportunity to reevaluate our programs and found virtual platforms to engage in meaningful conversations, like our weekly Facebook Live spotlight series which features people from all walks of life talking about HIV from their perspective. We are honored to again receive funding from Our Fund, which will allow us to expand educational programing and collaborations within the LGBTQ community.”

The Our Fund Resilience Fund is providing emergency aid to 30 local community agencies, with varying levels of financial support between $5,000 to $20,000. Grants to * agencies were made possible by the Tuesday’s Angels Donor Advisory Group at Our Fund Foundation.

The deserving LGBTQ+ non-profits include:

Donations continue to be gratefully accepted. Please visit www.our-fund.org/response/

Established in 2011, Our Fund Foundation has grown into the third largest LGBT foundation in the nation. As South Florida’s only LGBT community foundation, Our Fund promotes a culture of philanthropy by uniting donors with organizations advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties and supporting causes within the LGBT community. For more information on Our Fund Foundation, visit our-fund.org or call 954-565-1090.