Ten years ago, Borealis Philanthropy launched its very first fund—the Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color (ELLC) Fund—to help fill a gap in philanthropic funding and resource grassroots movements at the intersection of queer, trans, and BIPOC justice and liberation.
At that time, very few funders were willing to invest in this work. Support for queer and trans communities—especially those living at the intersections of Blackness, Indigeneity, and disability—was short term, siloed, and mostly in response to crisis events. There was almost no investment in the long-term power building, healing, and infrastructure movements needed to thrive.
Over the last decade, the ELLC Fund has worked to change that by resourcing queer and trans-serving grassroots organizations through multi‑year, unrestricted funding; rapid response grants; organizational coaching; and leadership development, collectively allowing organizers to lead in ways that are responsive and grounded in their communities’ needs.
Now, as the work of the Fund continues through Borealis’ expanded Racial, Gender, and Disability Justice giving area, we’re reflecting on what the last ten years has taught us—and what this moment is asking of funders. The ELLC Fund was proud to join movement and donor partners on panels at four national gatherings—Funders Committee for Civic Participation, Neighborhood Funders Group, Feminist Funded, and Grantmakers in the Arts—to share many of these reflections, uplift the ways grassroots organizers are defending and reimagining democracy, and name what it takes to sustain movements for the long haul.
[From left to right, Morgan (Mo) Willis in a light tan top, Nichelle Baez in a white short-sleeve top with glasses, and Sixto Wagan in a purple button-down, sit together on a panel at Grantmakers in the Arts.]
Intersectionality Is Not an Option—It’s How We Save Democracy
Across every gathering, our partners made clear: you can’t say you want to save democracy without funding the people who are already doing the work to save it. Democracy can only thrive when those most impacted by its erosion are holistically resourced.
Oftentimes, philanthropy funds in silos, isolating movements for justice from one another— separating voting rights from trans justice, or reproductive justice from migrant rights, even though our communities “do not live single–issue lives.” Funding organizations working across issue areas is essential to building movements that reflect the complexity of people’s lives and the realities of our collective struggles. And when BIPOC queer and trans leadership is centered, movements become stronger, more inclusive, and more visionary.
ELLC has resourced organizers whose work and lives live at these intersections and understand that our liberation is bound together. That fighting for gender-affirming care for example, is also protecting reproductive justice and right to bodily sovereignty; ICE raids are attacks on community infrastructure because they sever access to housing, health care, and economic security for so many. And that addressing police violence is also about advocating for disability justice, because BIPOC folks experiencing a mental health crisis are often the first to be criminalized instead of receiving the care they need.
[From left to right: Alvaro Fernandez in pink pants and a black shirt; Josh Vincent wearing a beige shirt and shorts; Nichelle Baez in a blue striped dress and Dr. Krystal Redman in a beige vest and beige pants.]
To Fund Civic Engagement We Must Fund Power Building
Civic engagement was a major theme across the conferences, and organizers reminded us that it doesn’t start, or end, with the ballot box—it’s about the everyday work of bringing people in, knocking on doors, building community trust, countering feelings of powerlessness, removing barriers, nurturing leaders, and creating systems that keep people engaged between elections.
Funding for civic engagement is often tied to election cycles, not to the organizing that makes it possible for folks—especially those most marginalized—to take part in them. Our partners, particularly those in the South and Midwest where the barriers are higher, know that you cannot build civic engagement without investing in folks building the long-term power behind it. That means funding groups that are leading base-building, political education, mutual aid, and leadership development—which is the daily work that holds communities together and makes civic participation possible.
Fund The Work That is Already Creating New Worlds
Across all of our gatherings and conversations, this was the clearest message of all: the work to protect and reimagine our democracy is already happening—it just needs continuous funding. Queer and trans BIPOC organizers have been building networks of care, safety, educational hubs, and cultural resistance for generations. What they need from us is consistent and flexible support to keep doing—and expand upon—what they know works.
This must include support for cultural organizing, which partners named as an essential strategy for how communities stay connected, heal from harm, and practice joy. Art and storytelling hold people through grief, strengthen collective memory, and shift narratives in ways policies simply can’t. Cultural work is how movements spread messages and imagine new worlds—and it deserves the same steady, unrestricted funding as any other form of organizing.
Through the ELLC Fund, we’ve been proud to resource this work—supporting organizers and artists who are building sanctuaries of safety, shaping culture, and creating the infrastructure for long-term change. Whether through legislative advocacy, emergency support, or creating health and wellness spaces, our grantee partners’ everyday efforts show us that the liberated world we dream of is already being built.
[From left to right, Toni-Michelle Williams in a white top, dark jacket, and green skirt; Nichelle Baez in a bright pink dress; and Monserrat Padilla of Satterberg Foundation in a brown shirt and matching pants stand together onstage at the Feminist Funded conference, smiling with their arms around each other.]
Looking Ahead to the Next Decade – and Beyond
At national gatherings throughout this year, the ELLC Fund team and our partners named the urgency of this moment, and lifted up the power communities have and continue to build in response to it. In the face of constant attacks, queer and trans BIPOC serving organizations organizers are holding each other through crisis, offering economic support, creating the infrastructure movements need to endure, and more . What was shared in each of these spaces affirmed what Borealis Philanthropy has known—and practiced—for the last ten years: when queer and trans BIPOC serving movements are resourced and trusted, they’re more effectively able to fend off attacks, protect communities, and lay the groundwork for a future in which we all have access to safety, belonging, and joy.
Since its inception in 2015, the Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund has awarded more than $18.7 million to movements, showing what’s possible when philanthropy follows the leads of those closest to the issues. While this year marks the Fund’s final round of grantmaking as a standalone entity, its critical work will continue through Borealis Philanthropy’s Race, Gender, and Disability Justice thematic area—where the insights gained over the past decade will continue to inform our collective strategies and visions.
We invite funders to join the Borealis community to pool and distribute resources to the frontlines of all intersectional movements for justice. To learn more about how to partner with us, please connect with us at development@borealisphilanthropy.org.