#InvestInTransLives Coalition Manifesto
A Call to Action to Philanthropy
To change the philanthropic culture and encourage increased funding allocation of LGBTQ+ foundations and donors to 20% specific allocation to Trans-led organizations, to ensure equitable practices in philanthropy.
Introduction
Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, Intersex (TGNCI) communities are one of the most marginalized communities in our society, but many lack the knowledge to address the social and health inequities that exist in our own communities. Lack of access to the basic social determinants of health (housing, health care, education, employment, basic needs) does not allow our community to thrive. This existed prior to the pandemic and has only been exacerbated by COVID-19.
What the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed to the wider public, what is already experienced by the TGNC community, is the lack of resources. In a time that we are met with emergency and scarcity, we are seeing the effects of a society that has historically failed to address the many-specific needs of TGNC people.
TGNCI people experience significant barriers in society that have only been exacerbated by the coronavirus. Houselessness, economic instability, and difficulties in accessing health care are only a few of the barriers that have been deepened during the world’s response to the pandemic. Discrimination runs rampant in the lives of trans people regularly, especially for those that identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Navigating society, TGNCI people are often met with ridicule and ignorance, attributed to a lack of understanding and deeply rooted stigma toward gender identities other than cisgender identities. Because of these discriminatory mindsets, this often leads to a lack of access to many of the social determinants of health for TGNCI people. COVID-19 is not only impacting the literal medical and physical health of trans people, but the financial, spiritual, and mental health as well. What COVID-19 means for trans people is uncertainty and scarcity, in deeper ways than are felt on a daily basis. This is especially true for trans people at the intersections of other underrepresented identities, such as young people, disabled people, undocumented people, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and others.
Additionally, the conservative political right has long targeted trans communities through anti-trans legislation, policies and litigation often using us as a tool of division. Now with a less hostile federal administration the right has made clear that attacking the lives and devaluing the humanity of TGNCI people continues to be core to their strategies and ultimately is a tool to oppose rights and equality for everyone. For example, to date in 2021 over 20 states have introduced anti-trans legislation seeking to prevent trans young people from participating in sports and from receiving life saving healthcare even going so far as seeking to criminalize medical providers for providing health care to trans youth.
This call to action is a call for solidarity work between philanthropy and TGNCI people. This document is more than asking philanthropy to be more in solidarity with all of us. It is asking to redirect money towards a specific kind of activism; we’re making demands to philanthropy to commit increased support to TGNCI organizations that prioritize race, class and gender. We need services and resources that allow us to address these disparities and fight back! Philanthropy can help by funding life-saving programs developed and implemented within TGNCI organizations. Trans people have been put into survival mode, and organizations that are providing services to our communities are being forced to close or reduce the amount of services that they provide to communities in dire need because of COVID-19. We have been working tirelessly to ensure that our people are able to live, feeding our own communities, housing our own communities, and addressing all of the needs that have failed to be addressed by our society. Because of this high need of resources in our community, and the little grant opportunities and funding pools for TGNCI organizations, we are often competing for funding. This leads to conflict amongst our own community, and if there were ample funding sources, this would not be the case. We have a collective responsibility, and we believe that together we can change the livelihoods of TGNCI people.
Foundation Context
On March 30, 2020, Funders for LGBTQ Issues published the 2018 Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations, which revealed that only four cents out of every one hundred dollars was invested in trans-led organizations. Although the overall funding for LGBTQ organizations has increased, there is disappointment in the huge disparity in funding that is specifically allocated to support the leadership of trans people and trans-led organizations. This lack of funding prevents the infrastructure of our community to be built. Our organizations cannot grow and expand the life-saving services and programs we offer, further setting our community behind. Philanthropy is contributing to the set back of the trans movement.
What would happen if philanthropy actually invested in TGNCI organizations and communities? We believe that this would drastically improve our livelihood.
Through either intentional or unintentional efforts, philanthropy has contributed to the diminishing of the political power, legitimacy, and effectiveness in addressing the immediate needs of TGNC communities, therefore slowing the leadership development in our communities. Because of the lack of investment in TGNC communities, the Trans/GNC community has been set behind in research and in the overall advancement of the Trans/GNC community nationally. We understand that this fight must be holistic, this effort is only one of many ways that our community will reach equity. We understand that for our community to reach an equitable place in society, we must target our government, politicians, and other state actors that structure our society. Philanthropy also has a role in what our community has access to, funding allows for our communities to build the systems and structures we need, aside from the government. This document serves as a critique of philanthropy but also full with hope that philanthropy would understand our issues and will actually invest in the lives of trans people.
Who We Are
We are leading by example. The #InvestInTransLives Coalition is a national coalition of community leaders in philanthropy and leaders from trans-led organizations that have come together to address the disparities in funding towards trans-led organizations, and urge the philanthropic sector to distribute wealth in a more equitable way. This coalition’s goal is to ensure that there is equitable access to funding for trans-led community groups by seeking philanthropic accountability, and by bringing awareness to the inequality that exists historically and at present. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic was actively destructive to Trans/GNC communities and groups, in the loss of crucial pieces of our movement infrastructure and the in loss of life, and we are going to be set even further behind in our society as a result. Meanwhile, there continues to be many institutions and powerful individuals within our society that perpetrate institutional violence against Trans/GNC people.
Thesis
Philanthropy has contributed to the violence our community faces. Through our efforts, we plan to eradicate this systemic injustice and hope that there will be people in the philanthropic world who can see these disparities and intentionally #InvestInTransLives.
Recommendations
To change the philanthropic culture and encourage increased funding allocation of LGBTQ+ foundations and donors to 20% specific allocation to Trans-led organizations, to ensure equitable practices in philanthropy. In addition, other philanthropic institutions should also invest in the lives of trans people. We also encourage allocating a minimum of 20% of their overall portfolio to TGNCI led organizations and groups by 2023, prioritizing organizations that are BIPOC, grassroots and fem led.
Increase general support opportunities for trans-led organizations to provide funding and resources to communities on the ground. This includes flexible, unrestricted general support funding, along with rapid response funding, that allows our communities to be supported in the short-term. When funding is restricted by large deliverables and metrics, it makes it difficult to support our communities now. There is also a need for multi-year funding that allows us to address the needs of our communities in the long-term in general support and rapid response.
Increase capacity building opportunities for trans-led organizations to learn about funding opportunities and technical assistance while applying, AND capacity building for funders, assisting in reframing what it looks like to fund trans people and assist in building their ability to give more to trans-led organizations. Additionally, the tedious application process is what also does not contribute for our communities to have access to funding.
Increasing the presence of TGNC people as staff members within philanthropy organizations, as well as on foundation boards and among trustees. Hiring and recruiting trans people into your foundation at all levels to assist in setting strategy and goals, building your capacity, and providing training will allow for there to be community leadership as grantmaking happens. This will ensure TGNC people are included in the decision making processes and the needs / capacities of our community are at the table.
Intentional naming of TGNC people and their realities in the portfolios foundations currently fund. This will allow for other foundations to realize the landscape of our community and uplift the marginalization that currently exists. If we center the stories and narratives, this humanizes our community and does not leave us simply as organizations being funded, but it shows us as human beings and community members trying to survive.
Increase funding opportunities that allow for research efforts to be implemented nationally and locally that is driven by community and using community participatory modalities, that allow for data collection that represents that vast experiences of survival that our communities are currently experiencing in the pandemic and moving forward. For example, identifying specific data that is missing that would speak about the needs of our community (i.e. housing, economic development).
Ensure that funding is prioritized and inline with the request of this group. Funding priorities should be allocated for BIPOC TGNCI organizations and groups, these are organizations that prioritize race, class and gender.
We want to ensure that you understand that our calling is to directly fund TGNCI led organizations and groups. We do not want for organizations to claim the work that we do in our communities and continue to have access to the funding that should be going to TGNCI led organizations. We demand to fund TGNCI led organizations and groups with the minimum of 20% for us to be able to do the work in our communities in urban and rural areas.
COVID-19 has given us the opportunity to be creative and innovative. Many TGNCI led organizations have raised funds to redistribute resources to our own community. We ask philanthropic organizations to provide more opportunities to TGNC organizations who are already redistributing funds to use this model and create space for members of our community who understand our values to be managers of these funds and fund TGNCI led organizations to redistribute funds to our community. For example, For the Girls in NYC has distributed over a million dollars. Using this recommendation outstrips what mainstream philanthropy has been able to do in our community. Funneling funds through organizations that the community trust will alleviate this issue with philanthropy.
