The Trans Community Could Use Some Investment In Our Advocacy Infrastructure and Our People

I noted with interest a conversation Renae Taylor had on her FB page recently in which she talked about the struggle we trans advocates have just making enough money to sustain our lives or the viability of our organizations.

She expressed a wish that a fund be created that would pay the bills of a trans advocate for at least a year so that they can focus full time on advocacy work instead of having to work non advocacy jobs to pay bills.

Renae's modest proposal sounded to me similar to the MacArthur Foundation's Fellows Program, or what is called the 'Genius Grant'. 

Fellows must be citizens or residents of the United States, can be working in any field, and have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction".  

The Foundation doesn't take applications for it.   They solicit at a certain time anonymous and confidential nominations that are reviewed by a confidential group of a dozen people.  Those people review the nominations and recommend awardees to the foundation president and board of directors. 

Usually the first sign that a person has won a MacArthur Fellowship is when they get a congratulatory phone call from the Foundation.  According to the website, 'The fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishments, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential". However, it is considered a significant honor to receive it.

MacArthur Fellows get a no strings attached $625,000 grant paid to them in quarterly installments over a five year period. 

That is a life changing amount of money.  These fellowship grants have been awarded to 945 people since 1981, and people such as Marian Wright Edelman, Junot Diaz, Ta-nehisi Coates and Alison bechdel are just some of the distinguished people who have received MacArthur Fellowships.

So back to discussing Renae's idea.

The trans community and trans activism suffers from a major lack of significant investment in our organizations via a vis organizations primarily focused on the lesbian and gay community.   If those trans organizations are focused on trans communities of color,  they get even less funding than their white trans counterparts..

Heaven help that trans organization if it is based in the eleven state southern US region, AKA the former Confederacy.   It gets as a whole only 8% of the available donor funding made to TBLGQ organizations, with the majority of that money being gobbled up by Atlanta and Houston based orgs.

These underfunded trans organizations are fighting well funded right wing orgs with people who get paid quite well to come up with ways to oppress us.  The ED's of many of the anti-trans hate orgs are making just on their salary alone, more than the annual operating budget of many POC trans led organizations.

And since 2014, the trans rights legislative battles have predominately been in the southern US.   Considering we're majorly outspent, it's a miracle we have been as successful and do the work we do on basically a shoestring budget.

So imagine what we trans folks could do, especially in communities of color if we could spend our days working full time in well funded organizations to help our communities,

Imagine if our most talented advocates didn't have to do Go Fund Me appeals just to get the money to pay their bills or have to spend time being stressed out and worried about how next month's bills are going to get paid

Just having them paid for a year would be a load off the minds of an advocate, and would allow them to focus on doing what is needed for the community and allow them to save what money they may earn elsewhere.

That's why Renae's idea is an intriguing one.   The question is where would the seed money come from for it? 

 Would be nice if Renae's idea became a reality, because at this critical point in our trans human rights struggle, we could definitely use the investments in our trans advocacy infrastructure and our people. .

Help Trans United Fund Elect More Trans People To Office

TransGriot Note: In the interests of journalistic integrity, I sit on the board of the Trans United Fund.


As you know, I do a lot of writing through my blog, TransGriot (which just won a GLAAD Media Award, making history as the first time a trans person has won for Best Blog!) But what you may not know is that I'm a Board Member and key leader in Trans United Fund, a trans-led organization working to build political power for trans and nonbinary people across the country.

One of the main ways we build this power is electing transformative trans leaders. We are decisive in electing trans leaders because when we do that, there are more trans people who see ourselves reflected in leadership, and more people of our communities who believe they can run. When they do run, they come to Trans United Fund as the go-to organization for help in their races, and we need the resources to help them win.

Will you stand up and help build political power that our communities need with me and Trans United Fund? Whether it's in your budget to give $15 or $150, every dollar makes a difference in the lives of trans people like me, and our ability to join the decision making tables where decisions about us are made. Nothing about us, without us!

In this environment, with a presidential administration which is actively hostile towards trans people, it is crucial that we elect trans folks to public office at all levels of government. It is critical to elect trans people to office not only to defend against the attacks of the opposition but to advance our interests, rights, and needs in decision making bodies at the local, state and national level.. As a trans-led, trans-run organization, run by a majority of trans people of color like myself, Trans United Fund has proven that we have the best interests of trans people at heart. We are actively working to build political power across the country by building a diverse coalition of leaders across different identities, experiences, and backgrounds.

And that's exactly the group we need leading this charge to make change right now.

Join us and our work and pitch in now: we can go so much farther together.

$20 Million To Be Donated For Trans Causes

As someone who once upon a time was political director for NTAC from its founding until 2002 and died  currently sits on the boards of several trans oriented organizations, I can tell you from painful experience that one of the problems that we face as a community with many problems that cry out for help is lack of funding to tackle those challenges and sustain our organizations, or having to do so much on shoestring budgets.

And with the increased media attention we transgender people are getting, we in Trans World are also getting attacked politically by right wing organizations with far deeper pockets than we have to combat them.

That fiscal funding problem for trans organizations may mercifully be coming to an end.

I was happy to hear the announcement by two funding organizations that over the next five years starting in 2016. they plan an unprecedented increase in their funding contributions for trans organizations here in the US and around the globe to $20 million to improve the quality of life for trans people around the world.

The Arcus Foundation, which gives to social justice and human rights causes, is pledging the bulk of this increase at $15 million.  The NoVo Foundation, which focuses on girls and women's issues is pledging $1 million, with a coalition of funding organizations contributing the other $4 million.    

The money will initially go to US groups that focus on transgender issues or led by trans people, instead of established organizations that include transgender issues as part of a broader agenda.  It will then expand globally in the subsequent five year period, and target poorer and developing nations.  Much of the money will go to organizations with budgets of $100,000 or less while increasing the capacity of larger groups to ensure their long term stability.

The ground breaking news was hailed by Trans Persons of Color Coalition (TPOCC) Executive Director Kylar Broadus. "We applaud Arcus, NoVo and the othe foundations participating in this trans funding initiative for realizing the need of transgender groups to lead their own cause and own our power," said Broadus. "Funding Trans groups should help to allow Trans people to lead the work and have the resources to do the work," he added.
And in light of us now having the undivided attention of the right wing orgs and being under attack by them, it is timely, needed by the various trans organizations doing the work of uplifting our community, and necessary.

The goals for this funding boost are to increase understanding of trans people, expanding the pathways for economic sufficiency for trans people, put a dent in the off the charts levels of anti-trans violence, provide job opportunities, boost the long-term societal inclusion of trans people, and encouraging long term philanthropy for the trans human rights movement,

The funders will begin accepting applications for proposals by mid-2016 with the first disbursements of this transformational funding to happen by the end of 2016.  .