Equality Fund FY25 Applications

Application deadline: Friday, March 7, 2025, by 5:00 P.M.

About the Equality Fund

Starting in 2023, the Equality Fund embarked on a new strategic vision to better serve Greater Boston’s LGBTQ+ community and, as part of our strategy, contribute meaningfully to address the racial and ethnic inequities that exist within this community. The Equality Fund’s grantmaking approach takes a proactive intersectional lens, as we work across the many diverse spaces that make up the LGBTQ+ community and in working to support the most urgent community needs. This year, the Equality Fund is awarding grants at three levels (see further details below). 

Applications are due on Friday, March 7, 2025, by 5:00 P.M.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Grants will be made for general operating support, to organizations and/or projects serving the LGBTQ+ community in Greater Boston and the Boston’s Foundation “catchment area."
  • Applications will be evaluated based on the organization’s mission, programs, and sustainability.

Eligible organizations and programs include:

  • Organizations serving primarily LGBTQ+ populations.
  • LGBTQ+ serving programs or projects, fiscally sponsored by another organization, in which at least 60% of the program’s participants identify as LGBTQ+.
  • LGBTQ+ serving programs or projects, housed or operating within a larger organization, in which at least 60% of the program’s participants identify as LGBTQ+.
  • Programs and organizations serving LGBTQ+ communities, and whose composition of boards, staff, and volunteers are representative of the demographics and lived experiences of their constituencies.

Funding Considerations 

Grants will be awarded at three (3) levels: 

  • $1,000 to $5,000 
  • $10,000 
  • $25,000 

Grants will be awarded in June of 2025. Organizations receiving funding will share their experience and impact of the grant via a brief report in early 2026.

Funding will support the following types of work:

  • Organizations or programs providing critical research, advocacy, or field-building support for the LGBTQ+ community.
  • Organizations or programs serving the general needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Examples include but are not limited to: community-building activities; capacity building (except capital construction costs and related); outreach and educational activities; legal services; mentoring; cultural awareness and racial and social justice campaigns; and health and human services (such as addressing food insecurity, homelessness and housing instability, healthcare access, refugee support services, and more). 

Priority consideration for larger grants will be for organizations and/or programs that starts with, and is centered around, the most marginalized groups in the LGBTQ+ community: people of color (particularly youth of color), transgender and gender expansive communities, refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQ+ aging adults and senior populations, and homeless individuals, and whose work seeks to address:

  • Healthcare access: healthcare access within underserved communities with a focus on a) mental and behavioral health (especially for LGBTQ+ youth to help address high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation), b) gender affirming care, and c) a healthcare workforce that is trained to work with older LGBTQ+ adults, including older adults living with HIV.
  • Housing and economic stability: a) support for safe and affordable housing options for low and moderate-income LGBTQ+ individuals and families, b) trainings for shelter and housing staff to ensure consistent and affirming care, c) expanding initiatives to provide housing to prevent homelessness, d) programming that reduces food insecurity for LGBTQ+ individuals and families, e) work that supports upward economic mobility for LGBTQ+ individuals and families, and f) support to reinforce anti-discrimination measures in housing and employment.
  • Legal services and advocacy: work that a) advocates for the structural and lived-equity for the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ+ community, b) educates the public about the LGBTQ+ community’s needs, and c) amplifies the voices of LGBTQ+ people of color who speak out against the current racial, economic, and legal disparities in our own community.
  • Safe schools: work that seeks to a) increase safe and welcoming school environments for LGBTQ+ students with supportive and inclusive general curricula and health education, and b) support ongoing advocacy by parents, youth, educators, and community residents at the local and state-level.
  • Decrease social isolation and increase community building: work that seeks to foster community building, relationships, and connections for individuals and groups at risk of social isolation.

How to Apply:

  1. Visit our Grants Portal to create and/or verify your user account. Last year the Boston Foundation updated our grant management system, so we encourage you to activate your account well in advance of submitting your grant.

    • Please first try using the "Password Reset" link to access the system, as you may already be in our database. You should receive a password reset email after 10 minutes, with additional prompts and instructions.
    • If you do not receive this email, click the "Register" button underneath the Login box and follow the prompts to create a new account.
    • For detailed instructions on how to activate your account, please review this guide. If you have any difficulty logging in, please reach out to scott.knox@tbf.org.
  2. Once in the grant portal, follow the instructions to open the Funding Opportunities and select "Equality Fund FY25".
  3. Fill out the application, and don’t forget to attach your Organizational Operating Budget (in any format you have it).
  4. Please complete the application on a computer (do not attempt to complete on a hand-held device).

Reminders

Applications are due by 5:00 PM, Friday, March 7, 2025.

If you have any further questions, please email Equality Fund Executive Director Scott Knox at scott.knox@tbf.org.

Return to the Equality Fund page