For the first time in its existence, the national organization of LGBT Community Foundations is holding its annual conference – the 10th – in Vermont October 9-12, hosted by the Samara Foundation and the Unity Project. Seventeen LGBT Community Foundations make up the group, of which perhaps a dozen will be represented at the gathering at North Hero House.
      Two of the organizations – Astraea Foundation and Uncommon Legacy – are national or international in scope. The rest are focused on their own communities or states. In the west, there’s the Pride Foundation in Washington, the Equity Foundation of Oregon, and the Horizons and Human Dignity Foundations of California. In the heartland, Wisconsin hosts two foundations – Cream City (Milwaukee), and New Harvest – Illinois has the Acorn Foundation, and Minnesota has the Philanthrofund. The East has Samara, the Stonewall Foundation, Dade Human Rights, Delaware Valley Foundation, and the L/G Community Appeal (Toronto).
      According to the group’s web site, the organization’s goals are “supporting new and emerging groups and building capacity of existing LGBT organizations both through direct grants and technical assistance,” and “encouraging, promoting and educating LGBT people on how to become effective philanthropists.”
      The organization further points out that “less than one percent of foundation giving and individual contributions nationwide goes to LGBT causes, whereas the commonly cited number for gays and lesbians as a percentage of the population is eight to 10 percent.” They aim to change that ratio.
      In the year 2000, the LGBT Community Foundations says its members collectively raised over $8.5 million in contributions and distributed nearly $3 million to organizations and programs that have the least access to philanthropic support. The difference isn’t just overhead, but the building of endowments to generate annual revenues for distribution.
      Like most professional conferences, this one will be heavy with workshops and plenaries, including one on transgender issues, according to Samara Foundation Director Bill Lippert. “We’re looking to be more thoughtful and knowledgeable,” he said. Other presentations will focus on socially responsible investing and working with major donors.
      Nancy Cunningham, executive director of Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues – the conference’s convening and coordinating organization – explained its goals a bit further.
      “The representative of the organizations plan what they want, so the program is up to them. We try to provide assistance and information about grant-making, fundraising, and policy. Sometimes we bring in outside speakers, but often we can take advantage of expertise within the ranks of the attendees,” Cunningham said. Some of the organizations have considerable experience on which to draw: Horizons has been around for 20 years, the Pride Foundation for 17.
      The hot topics in philanthropy this year are “planned giving” (soliciting bequests in people’s wills), “donor-advised funds” (in which the major donor keeps a hand in how his or her money is used while leaving the administrative details to the community fund), and “endowment building” (accumulating enough cash to generate income without spending the capital).
      But perhaps the real reward, again as with other professional gatherings, occurs during “down time,” at meals and between sessions when the representatives get to connect and share informally what has worked well for them and what has not or how a particular problem was solved.
      Any budding philanthropists among our community are invited to join Samara Foundation’s staff and board of directors in welcoming the LGBT Community Foundation Conference attendees at a reception on Wednesday night, October 9 at the Burlington Community Boathouse at 6:30 PM.