Funding Rural | Episode #3 | Season 3: Katie Carter “You Shouldn’t Have to Leave to be Your Whole Self”
How much is philanthropy currently investing in LGBTQ organizations? Not a whole lot, especially in rural. Katie Carter is the CEO of Pride Foundation, which was founded 40 years ago to support Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer folks. Pride currently works in the Northwest, providing support to nonprofits in both urban and rural places. Katie grew up rural and recognizes the importance of being your authentic self, no matter where you live.
“This is the moment when we can’t hide what we’re doing and we need to be bold and unapologetic in our commitment to our communities…now more than ever, because if [you] don’t do that, you are not sending the signal that you are here for us, or you’re supporting us.” – Katie Carter
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About Katie Carter
Katie Carter has been working for social justice as a nonprofit professional for the past 10 years,
with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ and gender justice. Originally from the Midwest, she moved
to Portland, Oregon in 2008 to contribute her passion for social change with her skills in
organizational development, fundraising, communications, and strategy.
In 2019, she relocated to Seattle to become the CEO of Pride Foundation after being on staff for
5 years. In her role as CEO, Katie supports the foundation’s efforts by building community and
institutional partnerships, developing creative communications strategies, and mobilizing
resources to affect change in the Northwest. Prior to her current role, Katie was the Director of
Strategic Priorities and before that the Regional Philanthropy Officer in Oregon. Katie believes
deeply in community involvement and the importance of volunteering. She currently serves on
the Board of Directors for Grantmakers of Oregon and SW Washington. She also was a
co-founder of a restorative justice group that facilitates a gender and sexuality seminar for
people who are incarcerated.
Katie earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy of Science from Indiana University and a Bachelor
of Science in Psychology and Philosophy from DePaul University. In addition to her professional
and volunteer commitments, Katie is an avid reader of feminist and political writing, philosophy,
poetry, and memoir, and has had a lifelong interest in science and the natural world, particularly
animal cognition and behavior. She also enjoys crafting, watercolor, writing, everything having to
do with cats, and all bodies of water, especially the Oregon coast.
“We get to decide what our community needs and what we need to be able to offer, and it means the work is harder, but we will figure out a way to make sure that young people can access the care and support that they need.” – Katie Carter
Discussion Questions
- Katie encourages funders to be brave and to champion LGBTQ support, and that support goes beyond writing a check. In what ways can your organization stand up for LGBTQ communities, especially in rural spaces, where there could be more challenges for those folks?
- What are your grantees saying they need in LGBTQ rural spaces? How can you provide the specific resources they are requesting, even if it’s outside of your normal giving?
Resources
- Katie Carter – Pride Foundation
- Interview: Katie Carter of Pride Foundation
- Queer Heroes Northwest 2016: Katie Carter
- My First Note To You As CEO – Pride Foundation
- Funders for LGBTQ Issues
- LGBTQIA+ Funders | Association of Fundraising Professionals
“People aren’t waiting until they leave their homes and move away to some other place to be themselves. They are coming out as kids and young people, which is incredible and really an opportunity for them to live as their whole selves earlier and gain that acceptance in that community.” – Katie Carter
Transcript: Episode #3 | Season 3: Katie Carter “You Shouldn’t Have to Leave to Be Your Whole Self”
Erin Borla 0:11
you’re listening to funding rural I’m Erin Borla with the Roundhouse Foundation based in sisters Oregon, just 20 cents, 20 cents out of every $100 of philanthropic investment goes to LGBTQ organizations, 20 cents, and that amount has actually decreased in recent years. Today, I’m talking with Katie Carter. She’s the CEO of pride Foundation, which was founded 40 years ago to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer folks. Pride works in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Alaska, providing support to nonprofits in both urban and rural places. They offer grants, fellowships, scholarships and other forms of support for underserved and underrepresented communities across the region, and roundhouse is proud to have supported them over the years, Katie grew up rural and recognizes the importance of being your authentic self, no matter where you live. She’s been with the foundation for 10 years,
Katie Carter 1:07
and I came to pride foundation originally as a grantee. I wrote a grant to pride foundation for, I can’t remember how much it was like, $2,500 or something for fans and folding chairs for an X rated open mic night called Dirty queer, which was at the feminist community center that I was the co director of in Portland, Oregon, called, in other words, which for folks familiar with Portland India, it’s that bookstore that’s featured prominently on there, and we got the grant, and that grant made that event so accessible. It helped our sustainability as an organization, I started participating as a volunteer reviewer, and really like fell in love with the work that pride Foundation did of helping to resource LGBTQ communities across the Northwest. I originally am from the Midwest, so I grew up in a smaller town in northern Illinois called Rockford, and then as part of that, I grew up in a little tiny town, I think there was 300 people called Monroe center that was outside of Rockford. And so spent a lot of time in rural Illinois and rural Indiana, and ended up moving to the northwest, in part to be able to come out and find my community and find the place and the people and the work that I was supposed to do. And here we are. And part of what has always really resonated with me from Pride foundation is our belief in our mission is that you should be able to get to be your whole authentic selves, and all of the communities that you call home, you shouldn’t have to leave the Midwest or your, you know, home community and move to big cities in order to be all the versions of yourself. And you know that isn’t all of my story, but that’s part of why I moved out here, is so I could be my my whole self, and that continues, especially in this in this climate, to be such an important part of the work that we do, and why I do this work.
Erin Borla 3:10
Well, talk a little bit you about how pride Foundation works. You have a grant making program. You have a scholarship program. What? What other offers, offerings Do you all have?
Katie Carter 3:20
Yeah, so grant making is, we’re a foundation, so that is clearly one of the big things that we do. And we both have multi year general operating support that we call our community grants, and then we have some responsive funding that we have each year, depending on what what crisis is, is, you know, being experienced. So during the first Trump administration, we had responsive funding to support trans folks and immigrants and refugees. During the pandemic, we had responsive funding for all of the things that our communities were experiencing. And this year, we launched what we’re calling the fortitude Fund, which is just a way of supporting organizations during the, you know, sort of multiple levels of crises that that are being experienced this year and as a result of the administration. So grant making is a big, big part of what we do across all of our region, really focusing on those groups who are most kept out of resourcing. So who are LGBTQ and bipoc LED and serving trans led and serving groups in rural spaces and just groups who are in places where there aren’t other, you know, ways of accessing resources, either because of geography or location or because of the work that that they’re doing in that geography and location. So we do scholarships, we support LGBTQ student leaders who are going on to any kind of post secondary education all across the region, which is a program that started in 1993 and has since grown to this year, we almost awarded almost a million dollars to 110 scholars, which is absolutely incredible, to support the leadership of LGBTQ people in every you know area of study. Work that you could imagine them going into, because that is such an important part that we are represented in all of those different spaces and places. We have our community advocacy, Research and Education Department, which we lovingly call our care department, that has a fellowship that is focused on narrative power and narrative building, specifically for bipoc, trans, non binary, Two Spirit and intersex people. And so it’s a year long fellowship where they get to learn narrative power and building skills and be able to share their own stories and work with their community to gather and collect stories too about our community, which is really thinking more about long term change in our community?
Katie Carter 5:41
Yeah. So how do we tell this narrative or help? I know that recently in Oregon, you all did a data project that was LGBTQ, led to talk about folks that are in community in Oregon, in rural places. How are you telling that narrative through the work that you’re
Katie Carter 5:58
doing? Yeah. So that is our fiscally sponsored project, pride in numbers, that is doing community led and driven research to really have a better understanding of who our community is and what our needs are, and what that looks like. Because I’m sure that some people listening to this podcast are in philanthropy, and know that, like our community of philanthropy, loves data and loves numbers, but the fact is that LGBTQ people are not counted in so many of the survey data, in so many of the you know, national studies and different kinds of research that happens at all different levels, we are not called out as A group that are that we should be looking at, or we should be thinking about how we are impacted by housing or educational outcomes or food security. There’s very, very little data about the actual lived experience of LGBTQ people, broadly speaking, and even less data around our communities specifically. And while data isn’t the full story, like I don’t want that to be the takeaway that we need these specific data points in order to legitimize or to elevate the realities that we’re experiencing. But the truth is, if people don’t have that information, what we’re facing is invisiblized. Maybe five years ago, I did a presentation with a colleague of mine at vendors for LGBTQ issues called the Will and Grace effect. And it was about how the reality of what people saw about LGBTQ people on television and popular media was, you know, these white, affluent, you know, relatively happy, you know, secure folks. That’s who is represented, at least historically, if we are represented at all, in media that doesn’t tell the story of the the reality that, you know, a significant portion of houseless youth or LGBTQ identified that that is a big and significant issue for our community. And if groups who are trying to address houselessness or trying to address food security or any any issue that you could think of, if you don’t know that LGBTQ people are being impacted by that, you’re not building out strategies to support us, because the reason LGBTQ young people are houseless are different than our straight and cis counterparts, right? There’s a different reality that that they’re facing that is causing those outcomes and those realities, and if you don’t even know it from the data standpoint, then organizations aren’t supporting them in the kind of meaningful way. So I’m happy to share that there’s more data about our community than has ever happened before, but like, you know, even the census, think of this right like the census is only counting LGBTQ married couples, which is not by any stretch of the imagination, representative of the lived experience of our community. So even in these, like really critical basic studies, we don’t have information about those pieces. But I think it also that those data points, and that especially the research that, for example, pride in numbers, is doing, is being driven differently and thinking about how community members talk about their experience and think about their lives and the the things that they are impacting that might be different if those if that research was being conducted, not by our community, for our community,
Erin Borla 9:38
Yeah. Have you seen examples of Pride celebrations in rural places. I know that there are like people exist in these places, but sometimes it can. There’s this narrative that it’s a scary place to be out and proud in rural places. What does it look like? Is it
Katie Carter 9:54
changing? It is I mean, Erin, you know this from other conversations we. Had, but I used to be our regional organizer for Oregon, and I will still say it was one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever gotten to have, because my job was to travel to every, you know, square inch of Oregon that I could get to and meet the folks in different communities and there, I mean, I don’t often go to the big city prides, I like the smaller rural prides, because the vibe is completely different. There they are community resource fairs, among many other things, they are fun, incredible times for people to be able to come out and be, you know, together and be in community space. And they are critical community building spaces. I think so often when we think about prides, we think about like the big corporate pride parades, or like the big, you know, Festival in New York City or San Francisco, and have a particular perspective on them, and forget that in smaller communities, that is where many of the organizations that, you know, we now Fund started as pride festivals of some kind, whether it was a day long event, whether it was a parade, it’s been several years, but Ashland pride was one of my favorites to go to because there was a march, and it was just like, so beautiful and special to be in this community, and then, you know, sort of March to this resource fair that folks could come and learn about different groups and organizations. And of course, there were performances all day, and folks could just come and hang out. And those spaces are so important to be reminded that you are not alone, right, like there are, if there aren’t like QSAs or GSAs and schools, sometimes that one time of year festival is the opportunity for LGBTQ young people to find one another and to see that there’s other other folks that they might not be connected with. So literally, in almost every community, there are so many pride festivals and groups that are organizing all across the region like we literally couldn’t go to all of them if we tried. There are, like, hundreds of them across the five states that we that we serve.
Erin Borla 12:14
So I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about some of the barriers to accessing services for folks. I mean, now is even harder than ever, right? I think we’re in a in a place where it’s really tough, and a big piece of my portfolio is suicide prevention, and I know that’s a big issue with LGBTQ youth, and especially now that we’re seeing some challenges to the 988 lifeline and other mental health resources. How’s pride foundation showing up in that space?
Katie Carter 12:40
Yeah. I mean, this is something we we do a lot of work around LGBTQ young people, and as you mentioned, there is really an epidemic of suicidality among LGBTQ young people. And right now it’s we’re at this sort of like triple whammy of a crisis moment that more than ever, the narrative that is taking hold is that it’s not okay to be LGBTQ identified, and especially not okay to be trans and non binary at the same time, where we have a Gallup Research poll that is showing something like 20 or 25% of young people are identifying within the LGBTQ spectrum, in some kind of ways, we have this massive increase of young people, which is incredible. That’s actually something that I want, you know, want to say is not a barrier, that’s something to celebrate, and also to just name that that’s because there is a different culture that exists where LGBTQ young people can come out right and be able to be their whole selves. It is a different kind of reality, and that means that there’s actually been huge, huge strides by our community in terms of representation, in terms of culture shifts, where it is safer for young people to come out. People aren’t waiting until they leave their homes and move away to some other place to be themselves like they are coming out as kids and young people, which is incredible and really an opportunity for them to live as their whole selves earlier and gain that acceptance in that community. But this is also at a time when support services for LGBTQ young people are being cut like drastically, you know, like you were talking about suicide prevention hotline being cut and their other truth is, many of the organizations that support LGBTQ young people had their federal dollars frozen or Cut because they were serving LGBTQ young people. And organizations that are set up to support young people broadly are scared to admit or say or advocate for the fact that they are supporting LGBTQ people because of the attacks on dei at the federal level. Well, and so we’re hearing from our grantees is that they are getting much, like, much, much higher, like, you know, double, triple, quadruple, the number of calls requests for different kinds of support from LGBTQ people, because they’re getting turned away at service providers that are not LGBTQ specific, because there is a lot of fear around whether you can serve LGBTQ people. There’s a lot of misinformation about what will happen, even if you’re not getting federal dollars. There’s very much a culture right now where, like, you shouldn’t touch LGBTQ peoples in any kind of way in your work, you shouldn’t, you know, focus on that, or say that you want to focus on that, because it could somehow make you a target, and that the real, lived impact of that is that LGBTQ people don’t have the same level of support now that they used to. There were not that many service I mean, you know this from the work that you do, there’s not that many service providing organizations out there, and especially in rural communities, we have relied on non LGBTQ specific organizations to provide support and services to the breadth of communities, because that is the best way of creating infrastructure in rural spaces. And we just don’t know that that that is happening at the same level anymore. It’s evolving, and we’re trying to get better information about where the gaps are and what organizations are experiencing, but especially through the fortitude fund applications, what we heard overwhelmingly is that groups are being inundated with neat calls for support. Can you
Erin Borla 16:38
talk a little bit about what some of that support looks like,
Katie Carter 16:41
yeah, it can be like literally anything from navigating like a lot of it is navigating identity documents right, like a lot of the groups that we’re supporting, like being able to make sure you have, you know, either a driver’s license or a passport. We are also hearing a lot one of our our grantees, which I think this is an important conversation for this podcast to have, are getting massive increases in folks who are relocating from states that have less inclusive laws in place or Have outright discriminatory laws in place are leaving those communities to access support and services in places like Portland and Seattle, we are seeing, I mean, this is like, one of the things that so many groups are thinking about right now is that we’re seeing very much of, you know, sort of forced displacement of LGBTQ people and trans and non Binary people and families with trans and non binary kids in particular to leave, you know, both states, but also rural spaces where the service provider that you might have had to be able to get, you know, affirming care is no longer willing to support you, either because, you know, the law changed in places Like Idaho and Montana, or because there’s a general fear that that is something that you could be targeted with as a provider. So people are looking for relocation assistance. People are looking for providers that they can go to. People are looking to figure out how to navigate, you know, immigration issues and being able to be safe in their communities. It’s really like runs the gamut of anything that you could think of. You know, we fund across all sorts of different issue areas. And, you know, groups and organizations across those issue areas are just saying that there’s a huge increase.
Erin Borla 18:33
Yeah, no. Thanks for helping me understand. I think there. You know, sometimes when you think about support, we don’t really understand what different communities are needing. So it’s helpful to have a better, deeper understanding, especially in places that are more rural and remote, right? The access points become less just for in general, not even necessarily based on community, but just it’s just a sheer geographic distance where things are,
Katie Carter 19:01
yeah, one of the things that we saw in a lot of our information and data is coming from both what folks are sharing with us generally and also what folks are applying for funding for. And one of the things that didn’t surprise us, but was notable is that in in these rounds of funding, we have seen a really dramatic increase in organizations who are providing like self defense training. So not just like organizational security, but there were a number of groups. There was one in Eugene. There’s a couple that are in cities, but are providing virtual self defense trainings for individuals across those states to be able to know what to do. I mean, pride foundation even hosted a webinar that was a virtual self defense training in advance of Pride Month, to be able to really help people understand what they could do if they were were faced with individual violence. And I elevate that just because I think. Think that’s not something that you know, that isn’t a priority that we have funded in the past, and we saw such a huge increase, and we knew that safety and security, especially for organizations, was going to be so needed. But the you know, sort of increase in groups that are offering self defense trainings, and those groups are saying that all of their classes are maxed out, that they are offering, like, you know, 10 times more classes than what they expected to offer, just gives you a real sense of what individual LGBTQ people in both urban and rural spaces are thinking about and experiencing on a daily basis, and what it means to protect ourselves.
Erin Borla 20:41
Yeah, I think we hear that Mr. Rogers quote a lot of like, when you’re in crisis, you look for the helpers, right? For the helpers taking care of themselves. And those are things that we’re all trying to think about. I mean, when we’re in these moments of like, things are changing constantly, and on the funders perspective, we hear about it all the time, right? You’re reading applications talking about crisis after crisis and how it looks in different communities. That’s a lot to take in, just as a staff person for the types of organizations that we’re working with, and if you’re even slightly empathetic, it’s like, oh, how do you manage that. We found a great program through the Canadian Red Cross Mental Health First Aid, similar to mental health first aid, but it’s crisis responder support. So trying to find ways that it’s like, it’s okay to take a minute. It’s okay when things are hard because you can’t be there for your community if you’re not your full self?
Katie Carter 21:42
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more, yeah.
Erin Borla 21:45
Well, and recognizing, like, what we can actually carry too, I think that’s the other piece. We have that conversation with our kids at home all the time, like, what’s your emotion to carry, and what’s, what’s the thing that you can try and help with, but it’s not yours to carry, yeah? And that’s a really hard
Katie Carter 21:59
distinction. It is. I know I’m like, Gosh, I wish. I wish those were conversations I had as a young person that would have been so different. But also like understanding too, in this moment where there is, like we were talking about before, so much negative narrative about our community and sort of multiple levels, we need to stay aware of what’s happening, but we don’t need to sit in that stew like we don’t need to, like, immerse ourselves in the terrible things that are being said about us, that are being legislated about us. And I think that is again, where being really, like, having really good boundaries around who you share space with, and how you share that space, and what you read and what you let come into your psyche, and, like you said, being clear about, like, what’s mine to hold and what can I set down and let some and say that’s not for me? Yeah,
Erin Borla 22:55
yeah, that’s such an important thing, and it’s so hard in practice. Like, it’s so easy to say out loud. Of like, I’m not, I’m gonna read that headline and not let it bother me. The practice itself is so hard, but I think it’s something that we have to remind each other about on a consistent basis. Like, who? Okay, what’s ours to carry? And I love that don’t sit in the stew. That is,
Katie Carter 23:19
yeah. And like, you know, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who heard about the Supreme Court’s decision on scrim Eddy come down. And like, you know, just broke down in tears to be like, I can’t believe that this means that so many trans and non binary young people are not good. I can’t even talk about it now without getting emotional, are not going to be able to access the life saving care that they deserve, that they absolutely need, and that is critical, and that doesn’t define this moment right? Like we do not need to let the scrim Eddy decision define this moment. We get to decide what our community needs and what we need to be able to offer them, and it means the work is harder, but we will figure out a way to make sure that young people can access the care and support that they need. And they do not define us, right? They do not that decision doesn’t tell us what is actually okay and not okay. We don’t have to let the legislation, the judicial decisions, the, you know, political rhetoric, define who we are as people, either. And I think that part is, you know, takes a lot, because you take it in. And I think about, and I worry about young people in so many instances, you know, having to hold this in a different kind of way that, you know, really it, it, it’s trying. So I just, yeah, not sitting in the stew and, you know, figuring out what is, what is yours to hold. And I think also, like reminding ourselves that these institutions don’t get. To decide for us what our communities need and deserve. Yeah,
Erin Borla 25:05
I you know, I think we just have to think about how our communities lost three kids in the last year. Sorry, and it is so hard to watch a parent go through that. And the reality is and for a variety of different issues, right? Accident, all sorts of different accidents, different things, regardless. Yeah, losing a child is devastating, and if this legislation or this moment in time means we’re going to lose more young people, it’s not acceptable. No,
Katie Carter 25:42
no, genuine and I think that’s what I appreciate. I’m so sorry that I’m so sorry for the parents and the family and the communities. Sorry, who who lost these people. Sorry. I just need a minute. Yeah, it’s all good.
Katie Carter 26:09
I just am. I’m genuinely just so sorry that we are having to continue to find ways to make sure our young people can stay alive. That is that is absolutely wild, that that is the world that we’re in, that we are creating such hostile environments that our young people don’t know that they get to live and that they should live, and that is something that they should be able to have access to. And I also just think I genuinely believe in my heart that if people understood the effect of the legislation or the policy or the piece of political rhetoric that they’re saying for whatever reason, if they knew that this is the effect it was having on young people, that they would stop If they really understood that this is the humanity of our community. Should not be used as this political weapon, because the damage is real and the impact is really, really profound. And no parents, no families, no community should ever have to hold that kind of pain, and it doesn’t have to happen. There’s enough other issues that exist out there that this just doesn’t have to happen. And it is absolutely reprehensible that young people are being targeted in the way that they are. And I just, I hope people understand the effect that it really has, and that there is a direct link. Yeah.
Erin Borla 27:42
So this show talks a lot about philanthropy, a lot about philanthropy in rural places. What do you think of some of the barriers for philanthropic organizations that are prioritizing LGBTQ issues but want to fund in rural places? How do they how do they do that? What are, what are some of the challenges?
Katie Carter 27:59
Yeah, I think some of the challenges is knowing who to fund, right and like, a lot of the way we find groups and organizations was when I 11 years ago, again, dating myself in this like, we only had the Facebook, we didn’t have the other means of communication, but you had to go and meet people and, like, Find the folks who were in that community, who were moving and doing work and connecting things, and they would kind of point you in the right direction. A lot of it was online, but you didn’t build a relationship online, right? You had to go and be able to show up and say, we want to, we want to support the work you’re doing. And I think a lot of foundations don’t have the kind of model where they are engaging directly with organizations outside of where they’re headquartered, right? And, you know, that’s for logistical reasons, but I also think it’s cultural within the organization, right? Like our staff team assumes we are going to be traveling. You know, our board and staff retreats are in different places every year our you know, staff retreats are in different places every year we move around our region and we try to be present there. You know, each of us are traveling regularly to be able to connect with different groups and communities and showing up and being present, because that’s not only how you learn about the groups, but that’s how the groups know that you are, you know, a partner and a trusted partner who is going to actually show up for them in a meaningful kind of way. And I think it’s sort of you know wrong that in philanthropy, we should be seeking out groups to fund, versus those groups finding us to fund them, right? Like, it’s a shift in the way we think about the dynamic, and I think it’s an important shift that we should make, right. Like, what would it mean for us to go to different communities and show up and say, you know, we understand the work that you’re doing, and we understand why. Matters. And an example of this that I could offer is, you know, years and years ago, when we used to do community grant making panels, we had a panel of folks who were primarily from Portland, right reading applications from all across the state. And one of the applications was from Pendleton, and it was for the Pride festival in Pendleton, Oregon, which should have been like an obvious yes, no questions. And it was literally for, like, pens and printing and like a banner. You know, it was like things that in Portland seemed like, why would you even need that? What’s the importance of that, like, we’ve got these big pride festivals when you know, you go to Pendleton and you know that that Pride festival is incredibly important, and I’m proud to say that we have, like, supported that, that work for many, many years, and been able to see that grow from, like a small festival to a full parade a couple years ago, right? Which is like this critical community building opportunity, but if you’re not there, you don’t understand why that you know, tabling opportunity, seemingly would be so critical for an organization, if you’re not connecting with folks having conversations, understanding what the experiences are of folks when you’re having dinner, the in the evening, or whatever. So I think that that is one of the barriers, is that you know the assumption that groups should be finding us and that we shouldn’t be finding them, and that we should be evaluating whether their work is worthy, versus we should be actively building trust with them to say we understand what you’re doing and why it’s impactful and important.
Erin Borla 31:46
How can philanthropic organizations get more involved on this issue or better serve LGBTQ plus communities? How can they better connect with you? What are things that folks can do if they’re interested in doing this more?
Katie Carter 31:59
Yeah, I love this question. I want to specifically say too that at this moment, we need philanthropic institutions to continue investing in our communities. And I want to call out in this conversation LGBTQ communities specifically, because just today, the funders for LGBTQ issues tracking report dropped, which is a national organization that tracks how foundations are investing in LGBTQ communities. And this is data from 2023 their most recent year, but it went from 25 cents for every $100 invested in institutional philanthropy. So we’re here, we’re queer. Give us a quarter, literally a quarter out of every $100 invested, it went down to 20 cents for every $100 in 2023 and like, remember, this is like, you know, at the late stages of the pandemic. This is still when our communities are being impacted. This is when all of the anti LGBTQ legislation is ramping up. Philanthropic investments are going down, and we have no reason to believe that that trend is going to change, certainly not now, when what we’re hearing from our grantees is that foundations are pulling out because they’re afraid that if they fund LGBTQ organizations, they’re going to somehow be at risk for being targeted for doing dei work. And I just want to encourage every foundation to remember that it is a risk to not fund our communities. It is a very real, lived experience risk. It is an organizational risk to not be funding LGBTQ organizations intentionally. You’re not going to achieve any of your strategies, because across almost every single social indicator that you are trying to impact, LGBTQ people are disproportionately impacted. And so understanding that we need to be a part of these strategies, that foundations are moving forward. So I want to, I want to say that part, as you know, just an important reality, and I’m not doing my job well, if I’m not advocating for our sector to invest more resources in our community at a time when we are directly under attack and when we were already making magic with pennies that we were able to gather from different foundations. But I think the other thing that foundations can do are looking for the LGBTQ organizations in their region, intentionally. If you don’t know of any, you can use Google. Turns out I couldn’t when I was, you know, 12, but you can now. You can find those groups. I mean, Aaron, one of the things that you have done that so few people in this field are have done. You keep sending me groups that we haven’t heard of, that you have conversations with, and that we are so excited to build those relationships and those funding partnerships with, you know, because we can’t be we have a team of 16 staff total across five states. It’s a lot of places we are certainly, you know, not able to connect in every single. Place, but you know that means so much for other for you. As another foundation leader, to be like, Hey, I care enough to make sure to elevate this to you and to do an introduction for those organizations. And then I know roundhouse is doing funding of your own to make sure those resources are going to LGBTQ communities, but giving us the opportunity that I know you aren’t. You weren’t fishing with this question. But I think I want to really elevate that that isn’t what other colleagues in this field are doing. They’re not looking for the groups that are doing critical work in the areas that they’re funding. They’re coming to us and asking who they are, who are the groups that they should be talking to, which we’re happy to share, and part of our work is building better philanthropic practice, building those relationships, building that trust, finding out the groups and organizations that are doing this work for LGBTQ communities and talking about it. This is the moment when we can’t hide what we’re doing, and we need to be bold and unapologetic in our commitment for our communities at this moment, now more than ever, because if we don’t do that, you are not sending the signal that you are here for us, or you’re supporting us. If you are hiding this work behind it, it’s not, it’s not going to have the effect that you want it to. So I think really just the whole conversation around building those relationships, finding those groups, and then, you know, investing for long term, general operating, multi year support always will give a plug for that, and remembering that the work might look different in different communities, and trusting organizations and groups to know those communities well And to know what they need and to fund that work like we really want them to succeed in the long term.
Erin Borla 36:46
Yeah. So if you could, if you had a magic wand, magic pride wand, what would you do? What would be the one thing that you would do today, the
Katie Carter 36:55
one I’m trying to like, I’m immediately went strategically to be like, how could I make the biggest impact with this pride wand that I possibly could to where is the place where we would make the I mean, for philanthropy, I would wave my wand and there would be, all of a sudden, billions of dollars flowing to LGBTQ communities and organizations to do everything from support services to narrative building work that would completely change everything, and that those resources are flowing with love notes from foundations and donors and different people reminding us that our lives matter, that our work matters, and that, you know, we have support across all sorts of different places and areas.
Erin Borla 37:39
Well, I would say that your lives matter, and we are so glad that you’re here, and so glad that you shared some time with me today on this so thank you for spending time telling your story, the work that you do, it’s just such a gift. So thank you for being here and and for and for continuing to fight. Yeah,
Katie Carter 37:58
thank you so much. Thank you for creating space to have this conversation. I always love talking to you, and we will continue to fight. That is absolutely true.
Erin Borla 38:20
We need to fight, and funders need to be brave. Now more than ever, I think this is our moment together to support the communities that need us by not only funding them, but I love the narrative work. How can funders step in and support that narrative work? Some projects we’ve done here at roundhouse include videos and other ways that we’re sharing stories of different folks on the ground doing incredible work, self defense trainings. Fund those. Fund these out of the box ideas, if that’s what your grant partners are saying that they need now’s the time to show up for them when the report is finished from Pride foundation about the numbers that Katie discussed for funders and others around data for LGBTQ issues that will be in our show notes as soon as it’s available, you can find all sorts of other resources. More information about pride Foundation, at funding rural.com you you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
