Nonprofit organizations are an important part of Pride Month - from the organizations that plan annual parades and festivals in cities across the country, to those serving and advocating for the LGBT community year-round. Whether you're one of the millions of LGBT Americans or an ally to the community, this is a great time of year to support a nonprofit working to protect and uplift the LGBT community in your area. This year we asked our team to share some of their favorite LGBT-focused nonprofits, so if you're looking for inspiration, here's a place to start.
Your Local LGBT Center
LGBT Centers exist in many cities and serve as a hub for providing services and building community for LGBTQ people and allies in that area. CenterLink is an international nonprofit organization and member-based association of LGBTQ centers and other LGBTQ organizations serving their local and regional communities. You can search their directory of over 325 member LGBTQ centers worldwide providing essential services, promoting growth, wellness, and connectivity in their communities, here. We’re particularly big fans of the LA LGBT Center, San Diego LGBT Community Center, and LGBTQ Center OC.
The Trevor Project
Outside of work, you'll find one of our team members regularly volunteering with The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project’s mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ young people. They offer a range of resources to LGBTQ youth, including a 24/7 crisis intervention helpline with text and chat-based options, an online community for LGBTQ youth, educational programs and workshops in schools, colleges, and other community settings to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ issues, promote acceptance, and provide resources for those in need, and political advocacy for policies that protect LGBTQ+ youth from discrimination and provide inclusive support.
Your Local Gay Chorus
Across the country, LGBTQ people come together to create music through LGBTQ chorus groups. GALA Choruses leads the North American LGBTQ choral movement, cultivating the artistic development of 10,000 singers from more than 190 choruses of all sizes in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. You can browse their chorus directory to find and support an LGBTQ chorus in your area. Outside of work, you'll find one of our team members on the board of Out Loud Chorus.
Equality Federation
Equality Federation is an advocacy accelerator rooted in social justice, building power in a network of state-based LGBT advocacy organizations. They work collaboratively on critical non-partisan issues—from advancing workplace fairness and family recognition to defeating anti-transgender bills and HIV criminalization laws—that affect how LGBTQ+ people experience the world from cradle to grave. You can find your state's affiliated organization through their directory. Our team is a particularly big fan of the work of Outfront Minnesota and their recent work to end conversion “therapy” and protect those seeking gender-affirming and reproductive care in the state of Minnesota.
Out At The Movies
Each year, you can find one of your team members participating in an annual drag show fundraiser for this LGBTQ film series. Out At The Movies hosts an annual International Film Festival, provides film grants to emerging LGBTQ artists, and regularly screens LGBTQ films for enthusiastic audiences in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
LGBTQ Task Force
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people, building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we’ve made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. That’s why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you.
GLAAD
Founded in 1985, GLAAD is a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. GLAAD works to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive representation and creates national and local programs that advance LGBTQ acceptance. Serving as a storyteller, media force, resource, and advocate, GLAAD tackles tough issues and provokes dialogue so that authentic LGBTQ stories are seen, heard, and actualized. GLAAD strives to protect all that has been accomplished and helps create a world where everyone can live the life they love. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD ensures fair, accurate, and inclusive representation that rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and envisions a world with 100% LGBTQ acceptance.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is the only national organization dedicated to electing out LGBTQ+ people who can further equality at all levels of government. They provide campaign, fundraising and communications support to LGBTQ+ candidates to increase the number of out LGBTQ+ elected officials – because representation is power. When LGBTQ+ elected leaders are in the room, they humanize our lives, impact policy and legislative debates and influence straight lawmaker colleagues to vote in favor of equality. LGBTQ+ elected officials are our best defense against anti-LGBTQ+ efforts at all levels of government, and are best positioned to advance equality for our community.
PFLAG
PFLAG is the nation's largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. Founded in 1973 by a mother and her gay son, PFLAG was born from the unified front of a family leading with love. An inspiring alliance of LGBTQ+ people and their loved ones continues to fuel PFLAG, fifty years later. PFLAG’s network of hundreds of chapters and more than 325,000 members and supporters are helping create an equitable and inclusive world where every LGBTQ+ person is safe, celebrated, empowered, and loved. Find a chapter near you here!
GLSEN
GLSEN was founded by a group of teachers in 1990, who knew that educators play key roles in creating affirming learning environments for LGBTQ youth. As well as activating supportive educators, they believe in centering and uplifting student-led movements, which have powered initiatives like the Day of Silence, Ally Week, and more. GLSEN coordinates a network of 43 chapters in 30 states across the nation, to ensure access to schools and districts across the country to reach every student. Every day GLSEN works to ensure that LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment.
GSA Network
GSA Network is a next-generation LGBTQ racial and gender justice organization that empowers and trains queer, trans and allied youth leaders to advocate, organize, and mobilize an intersectional movement for safer schools and healthier communities. Their overall strategy for fighting for educational justice is to work with grassroots, youth-led groups and GSAs, empowering them to educate their schools and communities, advocate for just policies that protect LGBTQ youth from harassment and violence, and organize in coalition with other youth groups across identity lines to address broader issues of oppression.
National Black Justice Coalition
Since 2003, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) has been America’s leading national civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS through coalition building, federal policy change, research, and education. Our mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ+/SGL bias and stigma. NBJC supports Black individuals, families, and communities in strengthening the bonds and bridging the gaps between the movements for racial justice and LGBTQ+/SGL equity. They envision a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith, and community, regardless of race, class, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
National Center for Transgender Equality
The National Center for Transgender Equality advocates to change policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. In the nation’s capital and throughout the country, NCTE works to replace disrespect, discrimination, and violence with empathy, opportunity, and justice. The National Center for Transgender Equality was founded in 2003 by transgender activists who recognized the urgent need for policy change to advance transgender equality. With a committed board of directors, a volunteer staff of one, and donated office space, they set out to accomplish what no one had yet done: provide a powerful transgender advocacy presence in Washington, D.C. Today, NCTE works at the local, state, and federal levels to change laws, policies and society.
Transgender Law Center
Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation. Transgender Law Center changes law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.
National Center For Lesbian Rights
NCLR is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, legislation, policy, and public education. We were the first national LGBTQ legal organization founded by women, bringing a fierce, longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and our community’s most vulnerable. We are a non-profit, public interest law firm that litigates precedent-setting cases at the trial and appellate court levels; advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBTQ community; provides free legal assistance to LGBTQ people and their legal advocates; and conducts community education on LGBTQ issues. Our legal, policy, and legislative victories set important precedents that improve the lives of all LGBTQ people and their families across the country. Our free legal assistance empowers individuals to assert their own legal rights. Our community and public education broadens public support for LGBTQ equality.
Lambda Legal
Lambda Legal’s lawyers have won precedent-setting civil rights cases on everything from marriage equality to expressions of gender identity to health care discrimination. They have made legal history since day one, and today they continue to protect our community from homophobic and transphobic attacks while making the case for equality. There is no one LGBTQ+ or HIV+ experience in America. That’s why Lambda Legal’s standard-shifting work in litigation, public policy, and education spans a range of issues that touch nearly every aspect of our lives, including employment, family protection, healthcare, immigration, police misconduct, and more.
Stonewall Foundation
Stonewall Community Foundation strengthens the LGBTQ community and Movement by making strategic, values-driven investments in dynamic organizations, projects, and leaders. They raise money and fund hundreds of nonprofits every year in over 30 issue areas that advance queer liberation, including racial, social, and economic justice. They also administer a variety of donor funds and house six unique scholarship programs, including the largest in the country created to support LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers. Their grantmaking, which began during the height of the AIDS crisis, is complemented by capacity building initiatives that equip changemakers with the tools needed to maximize their impact. That includes free consulting, coaching, and monthly workshops.
SAGE
SAGE is the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ older people. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in New York City, SAGE is a national organization that offers supportive services and consumer resources to LGBTQ+ older people and their caregivers. Their goal is to touch the lives of as many LGBTQ+ elders as possible. For 40-plus years, SAGE has worked tirelessly on behalf of LGBTQ+ older people. Building off the momentum of the Stonewall uprising and the emerging LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, a group of activists came together to ensure that LGBTQ+ older people could age with respect and dignity. SAGE formed a network of support for LGBTQ+ elders that’s still going and growing today. SAGE is more than just an organization. It’s a movement of loving, caring activists dedicated to providing advocacy, services, and support to older members of the LGBTQ+ community. LGBTQ+ elders fought— and still fight—for our rights. And we will never stop fighting for theirs.