August 4, 2020 - Just a few days ago, MacKenzie Scott announced that she would be giving directly to organizations “tackling a variety of social issues.” Although this is a great and noble effort by Mackenzie, we would like to give reference to the report that was released by Funders for LGBTQ Issues, which states that only four cents of every one hundred dollars are allocated to trans led organizations. Although what MacKenzie is doing is a great and noble intention, we hope that Trans-led organizations are part of the LGBTQ funding portfolio that will be distributed, and that they not only give the funds to the usual LGBTQ organizations who are transphobic and do not necessarily have internal programs to address the unique needs and issues that trans people are currently facing. It is important that through this process, MacKenzie Scott understands that there needs to be an intentional investment on trans led organizations, and that through this well intended action, if trans-led organizations are funded, they will be able to not only support trans people but also to build the organizational infrastructure that our community needs to continue to thrive and succeed.
This noble initiative by MacKenzie Scott is an example of how philanthropists and those with access to wealth can intentionally redistribute wealth and resources to communities and organizations that are impacted by state violence. As a corporation, Amazon has harmed millions of lives and people by hoarding money, privatizing resources, exploiting workers, and collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We are grateful that MacKenzie Scott understands this and decided to make sure that some of her money gets put back into the communities who have been damaged and continues to be damaged with its capitalist practices. We see Mackenzie Scott’s donations as a start to addressing the impacts of deep wealth inequality in the United States and how resources can truly support people to achieve a better quality of life in the near future.
We hope that The TransLatin@ Coalition is one who is approached to receive some of the funds to be donated, which will be directly use to providing immediate resources for the urgent needs of our Trans, Gender Non-conforming, and Intersex (TGI) clients, many of which have become more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we would like to use some of the donated funds for initiatives such as trust funds, land acquisition, and direct services that include food, housing, transportation, and re-entry support. This is an intent for our organization to be set up as a sustainable organization. This is also an initiative that is very much needed in other trans led organizations and I hope they are thinking in this way. We need to think about how the future of the trans movement is going to be sustainable, especially now that we are going through a global pandemic and we do not exactly know what are going to be the repercussions that this global pandemic will leave for our community and organizations to deal with.
We want to use MacKenzie Scott’s intention as an example for the philanthropic world and those hoarding money to continue redistributing their wealth in ways that do not put communities, issues, and organizations against each other to fight for money but rather we can see that there is ways for our organizations to be sustainable organizations if trust funds are donated to trans led organizations as well. Please think about wealth redistribution and funding increases to trans-led organizations, as these efforts will elevate the capacity of trans-led organizations to continue to build the infrastructure of the Trans community and the futures of trans people. We urge the philanthropic world to put words into action and fund trans-led organizations directly. We urge funding allocation to organizations led by state impacted individuals like trans people, who are criminalized simply because of who we are... This could be the beginning of an example of how the intention of MacKenzie Scott will set precedence and what the future of the trans community can look like. When those with money and privilege trust and invest in trans-led organizations, then we will see that the work and the possibilities that many trans people who have been doing social justice work will get to see a world that we wish we can live in, a world that we have been fighting for too long...