LGBTQ nonprofit statistics show a large but uneven funding landscape. U.S. LGBTQ+ organizations received $929.9 million in philanthropic support in 2023, while foundations awarded $209.4 million to domestic LGBTQ communities and causes. The figures below distinguish organization revenue from foundation grantmaking and identify the year, geography, and source for each measurement.
Contents
- The size of the nonprofit sector
- Organizational revenue, expenses, and capacity
- Foundation grantmaking in 2023
- Who and what received funding
- Regional and state funding
- Rapid-response and service funding
- Global and entrepreneurial context
The size of the nonprofit sector
The 2026 LGBTQ+ Index counted 3,593 U.S. charitable organizations in its approximately 2022 registry cohort. These organizations represented about 0.2% of all registered charities in 2023, and they received 0.17% of total U.S. charitable giving in 2023. The index covers 12 years, from 2012 through 2023. [LGBTQ+ Index page]
The index’s final rules produced 4,237 LGBTQ+ organizations after being applied to more than 2 million registered charitable organizations in IRS Business Master Files spanning 1989 to 2023. Researchers hand-checked 5,527 of 8,758 potential LGBTQ+ organizations. The final rules were organized into 17 categories. [LGBTQ+ Index page]
The 2026 index used a population of around 1.5 million registered 501(c)(3) domestic charities for fiscal year 2023 when accounting for non-filers and smaller organizations. More than 600,000 organizations filed Form 990-N in the data pipeline, while almost 500,000 non-filing registered charitable organizations were used to gather information. [LGBTQ+ Index page]
Philanthropic support for U.S. LGBTQ+ organizations reached $929.9 million in 2023. That was 2.3% higher than 2022 in nominal terms, but support fell 1.7% after inflation. Civil rights and advocacy organizations received $519.6 million in 2023. The seven leading mission-focus categories retained the same rank order from 2022 to 2023. [LGBTQ+ Index page]
Organizational revenue, expenses, and capacity
Across the organizations covered by the LGBTQ+ Index, total revenue increased 8.5% from 2022 to 2023, while total expenses increased 16.2%. Those are sector-level changes, not a typical budget for every nonprofit. [LGBTQ+ Index page]
The following 2022 case studies illustrate how different organizational models can be. The National Center for Lesbian Rights had 25 employees, $12,026,594 in revenue, $11,299,485 in expenses, and $7,015,895 in total assets. More than $6 million of its revenue came from donated pro-bono legal services, and MacKenzie Scott gave the organization $3 million in 2020. [NCLR case study]
| Organization | Employees (2022) | Revenue | Expenses | Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Lesbian Rights | 25 | $12,026,594 | $11,299,485 | $7,015,895 |
| Trinity Haven | 6 | $763,838 | $601,691 | $1,794,539 |
| Rocky Mountain Arts Association | 4 | $725,896 | $673,602 | $761,799 |
| Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico | 10 | $2,253,670 | $1,313,314 | $2,304,475 |
Sources: [NCLR case study], [Trinity Haven case study], [RMAA case study], and [TGRCNM case study]. All financial figures and employee counts in this table refer to 2022, except where the source describes an earlier founding or gift.
Trinity Haven was established in 2018 and housed its first residents in 2021. It raised $1.5 million in start-up funding. Its long-term housing program can serve up to 9 youth, while its host homes program can serve up to 10 youth and young adults. A founder-facing task force estimated that 72 LGBTQ+ unaccompanied youth experienced homelessness each night in Indianapolis. The case study also reported that LGBTQ youth and young adults were 120% more likely to experience homelessness than heterosexual and cisgender peers, and estimated that 75% to 85% of LGBTQ youth without a place to stay had been forced out by parents or were fleeing rejection or mistreatment at home. [Trinity Haven case study]
The Rocky Mountain Arts Association was established in 1982 and had 4 employees in 2022. The Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico was established in 2007 and incorporated in 2010; it had 10 employees in 2022 and had provided trans competency trainings across the United States for more than 15 years. [RMAA case study] [TGRCNM case study]
Foundation grantmaking in 2023
U.S.-based foundations awarded $209,443,913 to domestic LGBTQ communities and causes in 2023. The grants came from 826 foundations through 5,458 grants to 2,926 grantees. General LGBTQ communities received 78%, or $164.1 million, while transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary communities and issues received 17%, or $36.4 million. [2023 Data Explorer]
Private foundations accounted for 42% of domestic LGBTQ grantmaking in 2023. Private-foundation LGBTQ grantmaking fell 27% from 2022 to 2023, and community-foundation grantmaking fell 39%. Corporate foundations awarded $43.4 million, while public foundations awarded $37.5 million. Other funders represented 11% of total LGBTQ funding and included 30 funders. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Funding was concentrated among a relatively small group of funders. The top 10 funders awarded 46% of total LGBTQ funding in 2023, and the top 20 awarded 61%. The remaining 806 funders awarded 39%. The top funder supplied 10% of total funding, down from 14% in 2022, and awarded 41% less than the top funder did in 2022. The top 10 funders awarded $76.2 million in 2023, compared with $149.2 million in 2022. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Less than one-third of grants awarded by the top 10 funders in 2022 lasted longer than one year. This duration measure concerns those 2022 grants and should not be read as a 2023 average. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Who and what received funding
LGBTQ children and youth received $38.4 million in 2023, equal to 18% of total funding for that population focus. That amount fell by $27.7 million, or 42%, from 2022 to 2023. Funding for LGBTQ immigrants and refugees fell from $23 million to $11.5 million over the same period. Funding for LGBTQ people of faith rose by about $326,000. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
By strategy, advocacy received $65.4 million in 2023, or 31% of total funding, after falling 28% from 2022. Direct services and health care funding fell 11%, from $49.7 million to $44.1 million. Culture and media funding fell 24%, from $32.5 million to $24.6 million. Capacity-building moved in the opposite direction, rising 28% from $33 million to $42 million. Unspecified-strategy grants fell from 14% of funding in 2022 to 8% in 2023. COVID-19-related LGBTQ grant funding fell to 2% of total funding in 2023. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Health and wellbeing funding fell from just under $72 million in 2022 to $61.7 million in 2023. The report said issue-area funding other than civil and human rights was down 17% to 27% year over year. These changes describe grantmaking totals, not the total budgets of LGBTQ nonprofits. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Regional and state funding
National-level LGBTQ funding fell from $76.1 million in 2022 to $51 million in 2023, accounting for 24% of LGBTQ grant funding in 2023. Local funding fell from $41.6 million to $27.9 million. Regional funding rose from $16.5 million to $28.9 million, while state-specific funding rose from $30.9 million to $37.4 million. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
| Geography or region | 2023 funding or share | Reported comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Southeast | $36 million; 17% | Up $7.6 million, or 27%, from 2022 |
| Pacific | $28 million; 13% | — |
| Northeast | $23.8 million; 11% | — |
| New York | $8.2 million | Up from $6.5 million in 2022 |
| California | $17.6 million | Down 43% from $30.6 million in 2022 |
Source: [2023 Resource Tracking Report]. The seven named Southeast states were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia; the report said each of the remaining seven Southeast states received less than $1 million in 2023. It also reported LGBT adult populations of 2.9 million in the Midwest and 1.1 million in the Mountain region. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Rapid-response and service funding
Rapid-response funding totaled $6.7 million in 2023. It came from 36 foundations and reached 278 grantees through 325 grants. Almost 60% of rapid-response grants lasted less than 12 months; the average length was just under eight months, and less than 3% lasted longer than one year. Duration data was missing for 16% of grants. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Program or project support represented 61% of rapid-response LGBTQ grants and totaled $4.1 million. General operating support represented 37% of rapid-response funding. By geographic focus, 32% supported state-level activities, 19% regional work, 13% national work, and 12% local work. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
The Southeast received just over $2 million in rapid-response funding, or 31% of the pool. The Pacific received 14%, the Northeast 12%, and the Midwest 11%. National or unspecified geographic focus accounted for 18%. These percentages describe the rapid-response pool, not all LGBTQ grantmaking. [2023 Resource Tracking Report]
Global and entrepreneurial context
Global LGBTI funding totaled $905 million in 2021–2022, up 57% from 2019–2020, an increase of $329 million. Of that increase, $147 million focused outside the United States. Funding focused on the Global South and East increased $287 million, or 56%. More than 8,000 grantees worldwide received LGBTI grants, a 35% increase from the previous report. [Global Resources Report]
U.S.-focused funding made up 57% of global LGBTI funding in 2021–2022. Global LGBTI foundation funding was less than 39 cents per $100 of overall worldwide foundation funding. These measurements cover the global reporting period, not U.S. fiscal year 2023. [Global Resources Report]
For a U.S. comparison point, Funders for LGBTQ Issues reported more than 6,000 grants totaling $258.1 million in 2022. Transgender communities received $48.1 million, up 34% from 2021. The Funders for LGBTQ Issues network had more than 100 foundations, corporations, and funding institutions, collectively awarding more than $1 billion annually, with roughly $200 million specifically devoted to LGBTQ+ issues. [Ford Foundation]
The StartOut Index reported that LGBTQ+ founders raised 0.5% of $2.1 trillion in startup funding and that 7.1% of the population identifies as LGBTQ+. Startup funding is an entrepreneurial measure, not nonprofit revenue or charitable grantmaking. [StartOut Index]