Announcement and 2010 Open Invitation for Letters of Inquiry
The Gill Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, and an anonymous donor, in conjunction with Tides Foundation, are pleased to announce the fourth year of the State Equality Fund. This is an open announcement and invitation to submit a Letter of Inquiry. The State Equality Fund, operating as a donor advised fund of Tides Foundation, is the grantmaking entity. However, the Fund is staffed on behalf of the donors by the Gill Foundation’s National Center. By virtue of this arrangement, almost all of the State Equality Fund assets–$2 million for 2010–will be re-granted.
Since 2007, the Fund has granted almost $5 million to advance LGBT equality at the state level. It is an outcome-based fund, focusing on plans to achieve elements of equality in the form of policy change. While working in conjunction with the Civil Marriage Collaborative, the State Equality Fund supports issues not eligible for funding from the Civil Marriage Collaborative. For organizations engaged in state or local LGBT advocacy work that are not eligible for the Civil Marriage Collaborative, the State Equality Fund is the only avenue for directly or indirectly accessing Gill Foundation funds.
Please note the following changes for 2010: The State Equality Fund is more strategically focused on one- to five-year statewide policy-change outcomes in the areas of nondiscrimination, relationship recognition, parenting rights, and safe schools. To a lesser extent, the Fund will consider one- to three-year local or incremental policy-change outcomes that help pave the way for later, broader statewide gains. More information on guidelines, priorities, and outcomes is included in this packet. If a proposal is invited, a detailed, written plan for achieving the outcome will be required, but the plan must carefully and completely separate non-lobbying activities, which are fundable, from direct and grassroots lobbying activities, which are not. Specific candidate or electoral work may not be mentioned in any submission to the State Equality Fund.