Power in Practice: A Decade of Community-Led Grantmaking for Trans Futures

Since its founding nearly a decade ago, Borealis Philanthropy’s Fund for Trans Generations (FTG) has been guided by a core belief: those closest to the problems are also closest to the solutions. Grounded in this truth, our grantmaking has been driven by a participatory grantmaking (PGM) model that places decision-making power directly in the hands of trans organizers, artists, and healers—ensuring that resources flow in ways that reflect the lived experiences and strategic brilliance of trans communities.

As we approach ten years of resourcing trans leadership, we’re reflecting on what this model has made possible, and how it continues to shape our understanding of what philanthropy can be. To date, FTG has moved over $17 million to trans-led organizations nationwide, resourcing efforts that respond to both immediate needs and long-term movement building efforts. In each grant cycle, we’ve gained insight into how trans organizers are leading and what challenges they’re facing.  This year was no exception. We’re honored to share reflections on long-standing and newly-emerging priorities and uplift the wisdom and strategy of our participatory advisory committee, the trans leaders guiding this work.

How It Works: Grantmaking by and for Community

Each year, FTG convenes a national advisory committee of BIPOC trans organizers and community leaders who review applications, identify pressing needs, and collectively decide where funding goes. The process is designed with accessibility and language justice at its core, so that monolingual Spanish speakers and others who have often been excluded from philanthropy can wholly participate in decision making. By prioritizing lived experience and community accountability, the PGM model shifts power directly to grassroots leaders and strategies, ensuring that our Fund’s distribution of resources reflects the wisdom, breadth, and priorities of trans-led movements.

 

“FTG has done something radical in conditions that never fully welcomed it. Staff and leaders have shown that our lives and our work deserve to be resourced.” — Advisory Committee member

During this year’s review process, advisory committee members surfaced clear, recurring themes about what trans organizers are up against right now, including:

• Major funding losses—particularly from federal and state sources.
• Escalating safety and surveillance threats; and
• Rising burnout due to limited staff being stretched far beyond capacity;

They also identified trends across priorities, including: 

• Arts, narrative change, and legal advocacy as vital tools for visibility, healing, and protection.
• Mutual aid, housing, and community safety networks as essential infrastructure, especially for trans folks living in rural and Southern communities.

In response, the committee moved $1.5 million to 32 organizations leading this life-saving and-affirming work—supporting housing access, strengthening digital and physical safety, advancing food sovereignty, expanding legal protections for migrants, and shifting cultural narratives. Nearly half of this funding went to groups based in the South, where trans communities are navigating some of the most aggressive political attacks in the country.

“FTG is one of the rare spaces where trans people’s multifaceted lives aren’t reduced to our identities.” – Advisory Committee member

This kind of funding is only possible because of our process. Thanks to the leadership of our advisory committee, Borealis is able to move funding in alignment with the strategies of trans organizers on the frontlines. This year, the FTG also moved $72,000 in safety and security grants to six community-based groups supporting undocumented trans folks facing immediate threats, and directed $450,000 to the Flower Crown Project, deepening our investment in the same leaders building powerful networks of care, resistance, and healing. Through the guidance of our movement partners—and the sustained support of a network of committed funding partners—over the past nine years, we’ve been able to collectively resource hundreds of organizations to grow their influence, expand their offerings, and anchor local and national movements for justice.

“[We] could not be the org, resource, movement force it is growing into without FTG seeing and believing in us a long time ago.” —Lavender Phoenix

As attacks on trans and queer lives escalate and philanthropic support continues to shrink, the participatory model offers our sector a clear path forward. With this approach, we don’t have to guess what strategies will work, or what communities most urgently need from us. Community-led funding is both effective and essential to realizing our vision of co-creating an equitable and just future.

Where We Go From Here

This year’s grantmaking cycle—and the past nine years of resourcing trans leadership—have made one thing clear: lasting impact comes from sustained, community-rooted funding, and trust for movement leaders.

As we considers the days and decade ahead, the philanthropic sector must resource the conditions that allow trans movements, committing to:

• Unrestricted, multi-year funding that gives organizations flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing landscapes.
• Investing in movement infrastructure—from healing justice to leadership development—to ensure that organizers can sustain themselves and their work amid escalating threats.
• Placing deep trust in trans leadership to guide our collective path forward by shifting power to those closest to injustice—through participatory grantmaking and beyond.

To better understand how Borealis can support you in forging connections with—and funneling resources to—the frontlines of trans-led movements, connect with us.