LGBTQ+ non-profits in the U.S. receive less than 1% of all charitable contributions, according to a report published by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy on May 23.
The report provides information on philanthropy related to non-profits in the U.S. “that primarily serve the LGBTQ+ community” by analyzing data from 2019, the latest year for which information is available.
“To be included in the LGBTQ+ Index, nonprofits must be primarily dedicated to serving the LGBTQ+ community (with approximately 80% or more of program expenses serving this purpose for organizations that do not exclusively focus on the LGBTQ+ community),” the report explained.
Only information from public charities was analyzed, so private foundations and houses of faith were not included because there wasn’t data available to determine whether or not they met the criteria for inclusion in the report.
Only 1% of all philanthropic support for LGBTQ+ organizations was directed to faith-based LGBTQ+ entities. This is the third smallest percentage, ahead of only international (0.8%) and environment and animals (0.1%).
By comparison, LGBTQ+ organization with a mission focus on civil rights and advocacy received 52.8% of all philanthropy in 2019, followed by youth (19.2%), HIV/AIDS (18.7%), human services (15.6%) and community centers (14.8%).
The religious LGBTQ+ organizations that received the highest levels of contributions in 2019 were: SVARA ($1.29m), The Reformation Project Inc. ($0.89m), JQ International ($0.70m), Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries ($0.38m) and Eshel ($0.35m).
When looking at the overall philanthropy in 2019, religious organizations in the U.S. received a plurality (33.4%) of all charitable donations in 2019, followed by education (16.2%), human services (15.1%), and health (10.3%). Only 0.13% of all contributions went to LGBTQ+ organizations.
Translated into dollars, faith-based organizations in the U.S. collectively received nearly $129 billion dollars in charitable donations in 2019. By comparison, education non-profits received $62.55b, followed by human services ($58.48b), health ($39.97b), public-society benefit ($39.07b), international ($24.43b), arts and culture ($19.53b), and environment and animals ($13.29b), while LGBTQ+ organizations collectively received $0.56b.
However, LGBTQ+ organizations have seen a 46.3% cumulative increase in financial support from 2015-2019, compared to 24.9% cumulative growth for non-LGTQ+ organizations.
“The Index provides groundbreaking insights that enables people and organizations in the LGBTQ+ community to see themselves in charitable giving data,” said Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, in a press release. “This new research shows that LGBTQ+ organizations are operating with relatively low levels of philanthropic support and other financial resources while still achieving powerful results for the diverse communities they serve.”
The full report is available here.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
