A lifelong peace practitioner, educator, and community organizer, Christopher leads their work for cultural transformation by centering the unapologetic and unwavering power of radical love. A child of undocumented immigrants and a queer person of color, Christopher interconnects their lived experience, and drives the necessary heart work of building a culture of peace, compassion, and change through advocating for LGBTQ+, immigrant, and racial justice movements. Through their work with state, national, and transnationally recognized initiatives and organizations, Christopher has led conversations and facilitated education campaigns specifically addressing structural racism, health equity, and LGBTQ+ issues.
Please join us in welcoming Christopher to the LGF team! Christopher will begin working with LGF on October 5th, and you can reach them after that date at christopher@laughinggull.org.
LGF Supports the Southern Power Fund
The Southern Power Fund is a timely, ambitious campaign to raise $10 million in rapid response funds to support frontline Black-led organizations leading transformational efforts across the South. The Southern Power Fund is a collaborative effort of four Southern cornerstone organizations, each with decades long history in the struggle for Black liberation: Southerners on New Ground, the Highlander Research and Education Center, Project South, and Alternate Roots. In August, LGF awarded the Southern Power Fund a $100,000 grant to be redistributed to Black-led organizations doing transformative work across the South. We encourage our peers to consider joining LGF in supporting this important collaboration! Contact Tamieka Mosely (tmosley@g4sp.org) at Grantmakers for Southern Progress if you are interested.
Laughing Gull Foundation Welcomes New LGBTQ Equality Program Officer
Durham, NC – The Laughing Gull Foundation (LGF) is pleased to announce that Christopher J. Cuevas (they/them) will join the staff of the Foundation as the LGBTQ Equality Program Officer in October 2020. In this role, Christopher will help guide LGF's grantmaking focused on supporting the LGBTQ community in the U.S. South to exist without discrimination and live full lives. In 2016, following the horrific massacre at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Christopher co-founded and served as the executive director of QLatinx, a racial, social, and gender justice movement working toward the advancement of intersecting LGBTQ+ Latinx issues. Christopher also previously worked with the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Disease Control and Prevention, where they led efforts to address health disparities, and introduce comprehensive measures for practical solutions that directly support communities living with HIV in the U.S. South. Christopher serves on the Board of Directors for the Peace and Justice Institute, a nationally recognized center for peace education.
September 2020
LGF Gives a Record $2.47 million to LGBTQ Organizations
LGF is pleased to announce 36 grants awarded in 2020 to 29 organizations supporting the LGBTQ community in the U.S. South. In addition, LGF increased grant amounts by a total of $250,000 to 13 current LGBTQ grantee partners that are on the front lines of the fight for racial equity and supporting those most impacted by the pandemic. “There are so many polarizing forces currently at work in our country today, and amidst that, we are proud to support many community-based organizations working toward a better future for all of us. We are honored to continue our investment in the work of stellar groups with a vision of LGBTQ equality AND racial justice, and to provide multi-year, general operating support to the majority of our grantees.”- Meg Baesmith, LGF Board President The portfolio continues LGF’s focus on North Carolina and Virginia, and on strategic opportunities to support the LGBTQ community across the South. The LGBTQ Equality Program supports emerging organizations focused on transgender communities, and multi-issue organizations doing significant work in the LGBTQ community with an intersectional, racial justice lens.
LGF’s LGBTQ grants approved in 2020 include:
Astraea Foundation for Justice’s LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund. (Regional) $50,000 for 1 year
LGBT Life Center. (Norfolk, Virginia) $210,000 over 3 years
LGBTQ Center of Durham. (Durham, North Carolina) $210,000 over 3 years
NCIC/ US LGBTQ+ Women’s Research & Organizing Initiative. (National) $50,000 for 1 year
National LGBTQ Task Force. (National) $75,000 over 3 years
Southern Vision Alliance’s Frontlines Fund. (North Carolina) $10,000 for 1 year
The following existing grantees received interim payments on multi-year commitments in 2020:
ACLU-NC Legal Foundation. (North Carolina) $225,000 over 3 years
Campaign for Southern Equality. (Regional) $450,000 over 3 years
El Centro Hispano. (Durham, North Carolina) $75,000 over 3 years
Equality Federation’s Victory South Initiative. (Regional) $90,000 over 3 years
Equality Virginia. (Virginia) $450,000 over 3 years
Freedom Center for Social Justice. (North Carolina) $325,000 over 3 years
Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ Out in the South Initiative. (Regional) $375,000 over 3 years
Health Brigade. (Richmond, VA) $120,000 over 3 years
Horizons Foundation’s Give Out Day. (Regional) $60,000 over 3 years
LGBT Center of Raleigh. (Raleigh, NC) $150,0000 over 3 years
Lynchburg Diversity Center. (Lynchburg, VA) $60,000 over 3 years
Nationz Foundation. (Richmond, VA) $110,000 over 3 years
SHIFT NC. (North Carolina) $90,000 over 3 years
Side by Side. (Virginia) $250,000 over 3 years
Southerners on New Ground. (Regional) $300,000 over 3 years
Southern Vision Alliance. (North Carolina) $120,000 over 3 years
Time Out Youth. (Charlotte, NC) $360,000 over 3 years
Tranzmission. (North Carolina) $75,000 over 3 years
Virginia Anti-Violence Project. (Richmond, VA) $150,000 over 3 years
Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. (Virginia) $120,000 over 3 years
For further grant and organizational details, please visit LGF’s website or contact Hez Norton, Executive Director, at hez@laughinggull.org.