Grants to Promote Healing in the LGBTIQQ Community

Posted by on August 08, 2011

North Star Fund’s Queer Consciousness Fund Offers Grants to Promote Healing in the LGBTIQQ Community
Deadline: August 15, 2011 (Letters of Inquiry)

The Queer Consciousness Funding Circle, a donor-advised program of the New York City-based North Star Fund, supports organizations that provide healing and empowerment to lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender, intersex, queer, and questioning (LGBTIQQ) communities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Through the Queer Consciousness Fund (formerly called the Queer Wellness Fund), the circle funds programs and curriculum focused on the advancement of psychological, spiritual, and physical healing aimed at transforming individuals and communities through conscious dialogue and innovative practices (i.e., individual therapy and support groups, outdoor environmental healing, arts and cultural programs, and other queer affirming activities); confronting the shame, disgust, and contempt that a heterosexist paradigm creates for LGBTIQQ communities; reversing the understandable but destructive patterns of LGBTIQQ people who deal with their oppression by turning to alcohol and/or drug abuse, compulsive sexual behavior, and other forms of self- harm or community violence; and creating a connection among LGBTIQQ people to build a greater sense of community by overcoming and preventing destructive isolation.

The fund makes grants to state and local organizations conducting programs or initiatives to help improve the quality of life among LGBTIQQ populations. National organizations may apply for support of programs in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

The fund seeks to support community-based solutions that are practical, grassroots approaches to building a healthier LGBTIQQ community. The fund encourages applicants to go further in attacking the systemic root causes of homophobia.

The QCF is particularly interested in supporting projects that have inspired replication by others. The fund seeks to support the expansion and dissemination of exemplary projects and services.

The fund will award one-year grants of $25,000 to 501(c)(3) organizations (or groups with fiscal sponsors) conducting specific work that matches the grant guidelines. Groups may be asked to renew their application in successive years for up to a total of three years. Applicants must have an operational budget under $1 million. (For fiscally sponsored projects, this restriction only applies to the group applying for the grant, not the fiscal sponsor.)

Visit the North Star Fund Web site for complete grant guidelines and Letter of Inquiry instructions, as well as further information on the Queer Consciousness Funding Circle.

http://northstarfund.org/programs/queer-consciousness-fund.php