Raising Money From Us, For Us.
Author: Diana Hanford
The name “Our Fund” is listed as a supporter on almost every LGBTQ event, program and agency in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Since its inception in 2011, The Our Fund Foundation (its official name) has grown to be the third largest LGBTQ community foundation in the country with nearly $25M in assets. It’s an incredible accomplishment for a relative newcomer on the scene, but Our Fund President & CEO, David Jobin, insists the number of millions of dollars invested is only half of the story – and maybe not even the most important half.
“In our early years, we always led with talking about our asset base because it provided Our Fund with an aura of stability. And it was important back then as we were asking people to leave us their estate – or a part of their estate – when they pass, and we needed to give the appearance of being rock solid.” Now, says David, “We lead with the stories of impact and the stories of what our asset base has allowed The Our Fund Foundation to achieve for our community.”
Examples of this impact are found throughout the community.
There are the more visible accomplishments. A courtyard next to Island City Stage is designed to host patron events paid for with a grant from Our Fund. SAGE@Sunshine, a program that trains volunteers to look in on isolated LGBTQ elders, bears Our Fund’s name as the funder. The new Sunshine Pride House, Our Fund’s most ambitious endeavor, opened in January 2024. The Pride House is a 12-bed facility for unhoused LGBTQ youth operated by Sunshine Cathedral in partnership with SunServe and The FLITE Center, for which 100% of the monies were raised by Our Fund coordinating with two key donors.
Says Board Chair Scott Bennett about Our Fund’s achievements, “There are flagship organizations serving the LGBTQ community that certainly are on our list of grantees, agencies like Equality Florida, SAVE, and The Pride Center. And that will always be the case. But what I’m particularly proud of is how Our Fund seeks out grassroots organizations and start-ups with a good idea and gets behind them with our financial support and our linkage to others in the community who can offer support.”
Scott is quick to point out that it is David Jobin’s passion that he brings to Our Fund that has fueled much of the growth of the organization and its outreach into the community. “Because of David’s background leading non-profit agencies, he is particularly effective at understanding the needs of the agencies and leveraging how Our Fund can best support their missions.”
Says David about his role at Our Fund, “It wasn’t until I landed at Our Fund in 2015 that I was able to utilize all of the skills I had developed through my 30-year non-profit career and do it on behalf of a community and causes for which I care passionately about. I think I still see the community and its needs through the eyes of the agencies doing the good work, which helps me to be a better partner to the agencies. Also, at Our Fund, I try to leverage my privilege as a white cis-gender male to raise funds for communities and movements that might not have the access I’ve been afforded.”
Our Fund’s mission is what drives David’s leadership
“It’s a mouthful, but we are serious about creating a more philanthropic environment among the LGBTQ community in South Florida. And we are having much success on that front,” says David.
Prior to moving to South Florida in 2012, a move prompted by Jobin’s husband Angel Burgos’s taking a position at Florida International University, the couple lived in Washington DC where David served as the Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC for five years. Once in South Florida, David became the Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives.
“Before I took the job at Stonewall, I remember Robert Boo, Executive Director of The Pride Center, telling me to be careful, that the place was ready to go under. But I didn’t listen to him and jumped at the chance to lead the agency. We still laugh about it today. Much of Stonewall’s recovery story can be attributed to the support we received from Our Fund,” says Jobin. Stonewall Museum was a good fit for David as he believed (and continues) in championing Stonewall’s mission of preserving and celebrating LGBTQ history.
“When Angel’s job prompted our move to South Florida and I started thinking about a job search, I remember Googling “LGBTQ,” “non-profit” and “South Florida” and the first thing that popped up was OUR FUND.”
Our Fund was in its infancy at the time – but David was drawn to a community within a community foundation concept. “I had worked closely with community foundations throughout my career and knew their intrinsic value – but the fact that South Florida had one in place told me two things: that this was a very welcoming place for LGBTQ people and that there was an infrastructure to support and grow the community.”
Our Fund’s initial leaders put in place a stable community foundation model that instantly developed a following that trusted its leadership and vision. Says David, “I got to follow the founding president and CEO, Tony Timiraos, who served in the role for five years prior to retiring. Tony had in his arsenal all of the experience and proficiencies that created the infrastructure for success that we see today.”
David and Angel were interestingly among the “First 100 Funders” supporters that helped to launch Our Fund. “We had just landed in town, and I was working at Stonewall – but I instantly saw the value in Our Fund and what it could mean to South Florida’s LGBTQ community. So even though we barely had the resources at the time to donate to belong at that level, we made the stretch gift and are still listed among Our Fund’s initial donors, never having guessed that I would someday come to lead the agency.”
“When I took over Our Fund after Tony,” says David, “I remember thinking that there’s no money.” While it was a successful launch of a community foundation, Our Fund’s model for success depended upon legacy members – those individuals and families who leave Our Fund in their wills and estate plans. So, while there were over 50 households who had made that commitment, no one had passed away. David says, “Right as I was starting and Tony was leaving, a gentleman, Walter Gaugler, died and left Our Fund $400,000 in his will. It was a game changer.”
The money left to Our Fund by its initial legacy donor allowed Our Fund to begin investing in LGBTQ causes and organizations serving South Florida. This then allowed people to see the purpose of a community foundation – for people to carry on the values by which they lived their life when they are no longer here.
“I never got to meet Walter Gaugler – but I can tell you this – he’s had an impact on every LGBTQ life in South Florida because he provided a runway for Our Fund to become what it has,” says David.
The Epicenter of LGBTQ South Florida
The Our Fund Foundation has a firm grasp on the community’s shifting needs and invests in the collective vision of what South Florida’s diverse LGBTQ community can and should be.
“The Our Fund Foundation is not only the most trusted source for LGBTQ philanthropy, but also where donors and nonprofit organizations turn to for collaborative support and solidarity,” said Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin, Executive Minister of the Sunshine Cathedral. “When we learned Our Fund was supporting an effort to develop a home for unhoused young LGBTQ adults, we quickly signed on as the lead agency to make the Sunshine Pride House a reality.”
Because there was very little money for granting in Our Fund’s initial years, the network of agencies supported by Our Fund was limited. In the past eight years, Our Fund has vastly expanded that network and now grants to over 50 agencies annually from its endowed funds. Our Fund’s success in diversifying the network of agencies it supports helps to lift up voices and programs that might otherwise not be heard.
A sampling of organizations and agencies funded through Our Fund’s Health + Wellness; Arts + Culture; and Social Justice + Equity Funds include: SunServe, Chainless Change, Black LGBTQ Liberation, Aqua Foundation for Women, TransInclusive, Hued Songs, Thinking Cap Theatre, South Florida Pride Concert Band, Plays of Wilton, Museum of Discovery and Science, American Civil Liberties Union, Poverello, Gilda’s Club, Prism, Ujima Men’s Collective, Sunshine Cathedral, and Jewish Community Services of South Florida – just to name a few.
G Wright, Executive Director of the nonprofit organization BLINC which produces Thou Art Woman, a LGBTQ+ performance and visual arts event series and a grantee of Our Fund since David arrived, says “I’m so proud that the art event series I co-founded with Nik Harris just celebrated 10 amazing years. Without The Our Fund Foundation’s sustained financial support and invaluable mentorship on how to best lead a nonprofit I’m not sure we could have made it this far.”
Says SunServe CEO Tony Lima about Our Fund and its support of his agency, “SunServe had gone through a rocky transition period prior to my arrival, and I can say with certainty that it is because of Our Fund’s financial support and the guidance that David Jobin provided that I was able to stabilize the organization. SunServe has strengthened and not only do we continue providing lifesaving mental health and social services to our community, but we’ve grown exponentially. David is the first call I make when confronted with a challenge or opportunity. David and Our Fund have always been there for us.”
The Right Solution at the Right Time
Just prior to the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, two of Our Fund’s Legacy Society members passed, Ted Emery and Jim Laird, leaving Our Fund in their wills. The monies received allowed Our Fund to distribute over $600,000 in rapid response grants to agencies in its network. The monies came at a desperate time for many agencies as annual galas were canceled and annual fundraising drives were coming up short due to peoples’ uncertainties about their own finances. Says Board Chair Scott Bennett, “Our Fund’s ability to pivot quickly and for our Board to make the extraordinary decision to release funds in an emergency situation no one could have predicted illustrates the importance of having an LGBTQ community foundation in South Florida. We come together to take care of our own. We’ve been doing it since the AIDS epidemic. As a marginalized community, we must be able to support ourselves in times of need.”
David Jobin says about the pandemic, “Not only did our ability to provide rapid response grants help to keep agencies’ doors open, lights on, and salaries paid, it also made a statement to the community about the necessity of Our Fund and how we manage donor’s gifting when they are no longer here to do it themselves.”
It was also during the pandemic that Our Fund began partnering with The Community Foundation of Broward and The Miami Foundation as both foundations had new leadership during the pandemic that allowed for a forging of new and fruitful relationships that benefit all of South Florida. “It’s been rewarding to work with both foundations,” says David, “and provide the knowledge and experience we have to make a greater impact in our community than we would otherwise be able to do. We have a great respect for the work of The Community Foundation of Broward and The Miami Foundation. Together we are able to make life better for everyone in our region.”
Donors Making a Difference
With nearly 180 households signed up to leave legacies with The Our Fund Foundation, the Foundation has changed the conversation about philanthropy in South Florida’s LGBTQ community, creating a focus on wealth transfer through wills and estate plans that did not exist prior to Our Fund.
Jim Barber, a longtime member of the South Florida Pride Wind Band, reached out to Our Fund about his legacy wishes because he wants his estate plan to support the Pride Band which has played an important role in his life since he joined the group in 2011. “Whatever I leave behind,” says Jim, “I want it to help the Pride Band make life better for its musicians, its student musicians, and those whose lives are impacted by the music we make. The whole process with Our Fund couldn’t have been simpler and more straight-forward and it gives me comfort that it’s all resolved when I’m gone.”
Our Fund also engages a network of Donor Advised Fundholders and helps them to make sure their philanthropy is well-directed and makes optimal impact. Our Fund’s CFO Mark Blaylock says about Donor Advised Fundholders’ granting, “In addition to grants made from Our Fund’s endowment, we also leverage the support of our 180 Donor Advised Fundholders to invest in the community’s greatest needs. The partnership we have with Donor Advised Fundholders and the trust they place in us to help guide their giving amplifies the impact we make on the region and ensures that our supporters’ philanthropy is directed at the community’s most pressing needs. This philanthropic guidance and pulse on the community’s needs is what makes a donor advised fund at The Our Fund Foundation so much more effective than a similar fund at one of the institutional DAF providers.”
Driving Southward
With an original mission to serve Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties, most of Our Fund’s donors and grantees and all of its board members were from Broward County at its start. When Jobin arrived, he recommended to the Board that Our Fund recognize its limitations of reach and to focus on Broward, with an eye to expanding after its reputation grew. That began to happen in 2019 when Our Fund adopted a Miami Strategy to “matter more in Miami.” A commitment of grant dollars to Miami-based agencies elicited notice from Miami’s LGBTQ philanthropy community and Our Fund now has a significant footprint in Miami with 8 of its 23 board members hailing from Miami-Dade. “Palm Beach is still on our radar for the future – but we probably want to focus on Broward and Miami-Dade and make sure we are prepared before we attempt a third county to serve,” says Jobin.
The Power and Potential of Legacy Giving
Through Our Fund’s efforts to grow its legacy society, Our Fund projects $150M+ in future estate gifts from those who have already signed on. “Even if we don’t grow beyond our current scope of legacy members, Our Fund will be investing $7.5M every year in the future in perpetuity to support the work of agencies like SunServe, Pride Center, Latinos Salud, The Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida, Island City Stage, Plays of Wilton, Lesbian Thespians . . . the list goes on and on and on.”
David conservatively estimates that there are 1,000+ LGBTQ charitably-minded households in South Florida who could leave Our Fund in their will – but haven’t yet reached out. “If each of these households leaves behind one million dollars, and remember that’s the value of retirement savings, condos, cars, it would result in a $1Billion asset that Our Fund could have in the future that would generate $50M every year in grants. That’s nearly enough to power every current LGBTQ-serving non-profit in Broward and Miami-Dade. We could live in a world free of galas and constant fundraising if people would just take the time to talk to their attorney about making sure their wills reflect their values.”
Says David, “When childless LGBTQ folks first think about wills when they’re younger, they consider their nieces and nephews, who might be pre-college at the time and could benefit from an estate gift that would help to establish their futures. But the reality is that when most people pass, their nieces and nephews will be in their 50s or beyond and already established. Did everything we work for in life, everything that matters to us as out and proud LGBTQ folks . . . did we do all of this to pass along our wealth to people who may not even share our values, or could we make a difference to our community that has supported us as a chosen family?”
That is the question that The Our Fund Foundation asks the community to think about every day, both now and in the future.
“It’s the reason we exist. We help answer a question for people who want their wills to reflect their values and their lived experience. We have these conversations with people every day. It’s the best feeling in the world for our supporters to know they’re making life better for others. As they say, you can’t take it with you.”
For more information or to make a donation of any size, contact The Our Fund Foundation.
TheOurFund.org (954) 565-1090
