home

about us...

staff/board

photos

grants

sponsors

contribute

news & events

contact us
 

 

 










7.6.10

Doug Noffsinger was named Chairperson of the Alliance Fund, succeeding Randy Soderstrom.  Click here for details.


5.7.10

The Alliance Fund held its 10th Anniversary Evening with Music and Friends on May 7th.  Click here for details.

2.8.10
Farewell to Maurice Grossman. Click here for info.


1.7.10
Aboud, Fitzsimmons and Hoby Headline 2010 Alliance Fund Award Event.  Click here for more details.



11.15.09
The Alliance Fund announces 2010 grant recipients! Click here for more info.



11.7.09
The Alliance Fund presented Kate Clinton at the Temple of Music and Arts. Click here for the story.



11.5.09
The Alliance Fund was on KUAT! Listen here.




5.1.09
Click here to read about our 6th Annual Evening with Music and Friends.



1.8.09

Alliance Fund gives $30,000 to eleven projects in Southern Arizona, click here to learn more about the funded organizations.



Alliance Fund Grants Program

The Alliance Fund's grant-making process ensures that donors' dollars are well spent. Grants provide funding for a one-year period, which provides a specific time frame for spending the award. A panel of Board members and volunteers from the community review requests and visits agencies that have applied for funding. Once a grant is made, the Alliance Fund monitors grantees' progress at six months and at the end of the grant cycle.

Our grantees have included –

  • American Red Cross, Southern Arizona chapter
  • The Arizona Human Rights Fund
  • Arizona Theater Company
  • Arizona OnStage Productions
  • Beowulf Alley Theatre Company
  • Bisbeee Coalition for the Homeless
  • Bisbee Pride Celebration
  • Bisbee Women's Transition Project, Inc.
  • Borderlands Theater
  • City of Tucson Commission on LGBT Issues
  • Ethica LGBT Adoptions
  • Family Counseling Agency
  • Jewish Community Center
  • LGBT Alliance/Raytheon Missile Systems
  • Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
  • Habitat for Humanity: Tucson
  • Kore Press
  • LGBTQ Behavioral Health Coalition
  • La Frontera Center
  • Lesbian Cancer and Health Program
  • Loft Cinema
  • Open Inn, Inc.
  • OUR TOWN Family Center
  • Pan Left Productions
  • Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc. (PFLAG)
  • Pima Community Access Program
  • Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona
  • Pride Family of Cochise County
  • Reveille Men's Chorus
  • Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF)
  • Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault
  • Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA)
  • TGNet Arizona
  • Tucson Centers for Women and Children
  • Tucson Metropolitan Community Chorus/Desert Voices
  • University of Arizona Foundation: Committee on LGB Studies
  • Voices (Matkin-Sincox Award Winner)
  • Wingspan, Inc.
  • YWCA
  • Zuzi Move-it Dance Company


2000: Twelve grants were awarded for a total of $99,525.*

2001: Twelve grants were awarded for a total of $81,500.*

2002: Ten grants were awarded for a total of $50,000.

2003: No grants were awarded.

2004: Eight grants were awarded for a total of $24,040.

2005: Seven grants were awarded for a total of $24,265.

2006: Eight grants were awarded for a total of $25,725.

2007: Fifteen grants were awarded for a total of $41,308.

2008: Eleven grants were awarded for a total of $30,000.

2009: Seven grants were awarded for a total of $28,600.

*Included $50,000 in matching funds from the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership



“We believe that the funds secured from the Alliance Fund were influential in the decision of other funders to support Wingspan.”

Wingspan grant report, 2001

“Your gift provides the resources for wood, nails, plaster and paint. But equally important, your gift fills the hearts of Habitat families with the warmth and compassion they need to make their house into a home.”

Michael McDonald, Executive Director,
Habitat for Humanity Tucson

“As with many local grassroots organizations, your help has been key to our continued growth and development.”

C. Michael Woodward, Executive Director,
Southern Arizona Gender Alliance

 

"What I really liked best about this training is that it was in-depth on the issue at hand and improved my knowledge on the gay/lesbian topic. . . . A very wonderful and stimulating seminar."

Participant in a La Frontera Center workshop

“I now realize the amount of violence within and against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community and it is unacceptable. It's not enough to help victims, although we must continue to do so, we must also work to educate people to eradicate prejudice and the roots of the abuse of power."

Client of Wingspan's Domestic Violence Project

"The continued philanthropic leadership of the LGBT&S Alliance Fund plays a critical role in providing the local funding necessary to secure and maintain Federal support for this project and for LGBT young people in Southern Arizona.

Kenneth McKinley, Program Director
Open Inn, Inc. 2009


The LGBT&S Alliance Fund will make grants in the following five interest areas:
Please note: the examples listed below are for illustrative purposes only. The Fund will give equal consideration to other programs that fall within at least one of the five interest areas.

  1. Youth and Youth-Parent Issues: Increasing support for LGBT individuals and their parents/families. Examples might include:
    1. Programs for parents and/or children who are alienated from one another because of sexual orientation or gender identity issues
    2. Support for coming out to family
    3. Projects that aid LGBTQ youth who are particularly disenfranchised, e.g., youth of color, rural youth, low-income youth, gender non-conforming or questioning youth, young women, and other youth in particular need of assistance
  2. Human Services Issues: Improving health care, substance abuse treatment, and social services. Examples might include:
    1. Access to informed medical professionals for transgender people
    2. Shelter for LGBT victims of domestic violence
    3. Programs to address substance abuse among LGBT people
  3. Political Advocacy & Involvement: Educating legislators and working for changes that promote civil rights for all. Examples might include:
    1. Educating LGBT people to be activists and do community organizing
    2. Work for political change in Arizona (but not to directly support candidates or influence specific legislation)
    3. Increase the involvement of LGBT people in the political process
    4. Work that creates equity, increases the well-being of LGBTQ communities, and advances gender, racial, and economic justice
  4. Education Issues: Educating both the larger community and the LGBT community to promote acceptance, health and well-being.
    Examples might include:
    1. Educating heterosexuals about LGBT issues, including broad issues such as gender expression
    2. Educating students (high school and college) as well as teachers and school administrators
    3. Educating the LGBT community about being philanthropic
    4. Educating social service providers about LGBT issues
  5. LGBT Community Infrastructure: Giving organizations the tools they need to be effective. Examples might include:
    1. Funding staff positions
    2. Strengthening organizational skills (boards and staff members)
    3. Increase solidarity between groups working on related social justice issues (i.e. immigration, women's rights, racism, poverty)
    4. Enhancing and/or improving existing programs



We seek to fund a diversity of organizations, populations, programs and geographic areas. We encourage applications from rural areas.

  • Organizations are not required to have IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
  • Emerging grassroots organizations or informal groups that have come together for a program consistent with the interests of the LGBT&S Alliance Fund are eligible to apply.
  • To be considered for funding, groups without tax-exempt status must have a governing/advisory board that consists of five or more people and have a clear statement of purpose and decision-making process.

Funding Restrictions
The LGBT&S Alliance Fund will not provide grants for:

  • Individuals
  • Campaigns to elect public officials or influence legislation/lobbying
  • Capital fund drives
  • Debt reduction
  • Endowments
  • Fundraising events
  • Scholarships, fellowships and tuition reimbursement
  • Programs inconsistent with federal, state and local non-discrimination statutes regarding equal employment opportunities
  • Programs that promote religious activities (although faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for non-religious activities)
  • Programs outside of Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties
  • Direct-treatment HIV-AIDS programs. (Contact the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona @ 770-0800 for information on Ryan White Title II programs.) Alliance Fund will consider proposals for other HIV-AIDS issues such as education and prevention programs.



Our annual grant cycle begins in early Fall each year (See “Request for Proposals” which follows this section). Applications for funding are reviewed by the Fund's grants panel, which includes volunteer Board and community members and is staffed by our Program Coordinator. After proposals are reviewed for completeness and given a priority, those with a reasonable chance for at least partial funding will be scheduled for a site visit. After these visits, funding recommendations are made to the entire LGBT-Straight Alliance Fund Board. Its approval recommendations are then considered and approved by the Board of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona. Successful grant applicants are informed in December and an awards reception is held in January. Grants begin in January of the award year and are for one year.

To be notified about each year's grant round, send the information listed below to:

Felipe Caldeira, Program Coordinator
LGBT-Straight Alliance Fund
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
2250 E. Broadway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85719
Phone: 520-393-9684
Fax: 520-770-1500
Email: alliancefund@cfsoaz.org

Please provide the following information about your organization:

1. Organization name and contact person
2. Contact information: mailing address, website, phone
3. Mission statement



The LGBT-Straight Alliance Fund is pleased to announce its 2010 competitive grant round.  Proposals are being accepted for one-year grants that would begin 1/1/2011.  Deadline for applications is September 24, 2010.  Site visits for proposals rated highly by the grant panel of Board members and community volunteers will be from October 20-22, 2010.  Decisions about awards should be announced in November and checks presented for winning proposals at an award ceremony in early January, 2011.

Click here for guidelines and instructions for grant applications.  Click here for required grant forms and tips on writing good proposals.

Please note:  focus areas in which we welcome proposals change with need and should be reviewed above and in the guidelines/instructions.  We welcome projects that provide benefit to LGBTQ youth and other particularly vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community, e.g., youth of color, youth with gender issues, etc., but encourage applications in any of the areas listed above in the section on “Supported Programs.”  The instructions for preparing forms and the forms themselves have also undergone minor changes, so read them carefully
.



 

 

 

Sign Up

 

 

Donate Button

 

Please patronize our generous sponsors!
Click here to browse