Our Fund Foundation, South Florida’s only LGBTQ community foundation, has reaffirmed its fundamental mission of making South Florida the most livable and thriving place in the country for LGBTQ people. 

With unprecedented legislative efforts aimed at dismantling LGBTQ civil rights, coupled with ever-growing, social-political forces in Florida and beyond seeking to reverse advances toward full equality, Our Fund is more committed than ever to expand awareness and promote advocacy among the LGBTQ community and its allies so that they remain informed, vigilant, and focused. 

“Our Fund’s work and mission have never been more important to South Florida’s LGBTQ community than it is now,” said David Jobin president & CEO of Our Fund Foundation. “We are sadly once again enduring a time when the national political discourse is re-engaging discussions about the basic civil liberties afforded to LGBTQ citizens. It is of critical importance to the well-being of our society that we work collectively to end discrimination against LGBTQ people.”   

Hard-earned advancements which the LGBTQ community forged over the past five decades are now in jeopardy. This became increasingly apparent over the past year as policies and bills hostile to LGBTQ youth and families and the transgender community became hot button topics as evidenced in Florida’s recent election results.   

This past year Our Fund was able to successfully rally support, awareness, and dollars to protect and uplift LGBTQ people, especially those most marginalized and vulnerable.   

Weeks before the Don’t Say Gay bill was signed into law, Our Fund partnered with The Miami Foundation and The National LGBTQ Task Force to create a South Florida Youth Equity Fund that provided fast-track grants to LGBTQ youth-serving agencies, knowing that these support services and programs would be crucial in the coming days, weeks, and months.   

On the heels of the Supreme Court Roe decision outlawing abortion and the language coming from the Court about the uncertainty of marriage equality, Our Fund pulled together national and local legal and financial experts to share with couples and families steps to take now to protect and preserve legal and financial rights associated with marriage in the event marriage equality is overturned.    

In the spirit of and inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Our Fund worked with the Community Foundation of Broward to provide grants that created pathways for diverse and Black participation and leadership in South Florida’s LGBTQ community.  

When the threat and uncertainty of Monkeypox loomed over the community with a preponderance of cases affecting gay men, Our Fund partnered with The Pride Center to bring together leading medical experts to share lifesaving information with a community at high risk of infection.   

  “At every turn that put LGBTQ people in South Florida in harm’s way, Our Fund met the moment with financial support, leadership and ingenuity,” says Jobin. “By creating a more informed and empathetic community that is supportive of protecting the civil liberties and expression of LGBTQ people, our goal is to reverse the tidal Red Wave of intolerance that wishes to make invisible again LGBTQ people, families and issues.” 

Since its creation in 2011, Our Fund Foundation has grown into the nation’s third-largest LGBTQ+ foundation, awarding more than $18 million in grants to support LGBTQ+ initiatives in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. With more than $1.5 million in grants deployed each year in the areas of Social Justice, Health & Wellness and Arts & Culture, Our Fund Foundation improves the quality of life for the local LGBTQ+ population through responsive, relevant, and impactful philanthropy. To contact the Our Fund Foundation, email info@our-fund.org or call 954-565-1090.