After Two Decades, the Haas, Jr. Fund Is Winding Down LGBTQ Grants. Who Will Fill the Void?

Protest in Brooklyn for trans youth rights, 2021. Luigi Morris/shutterstock

For 21 years, the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund stood among the top funders for LGBTQ+ causes, including marriage equality, ending the ban on military service by gay and lesbian Americans, and other civil rights issues. The San Francisco-based foundation made more than $105 million in investments to tackle these issues over that timeframe—the most funding in any area in the private foundation’s 68-year history. Over the course of two decades, Haas partnered with 186 grantees across the country on anti-discrimination litigation and policy at the local, state and federal levels. 

Haas is included in an Inside Philanthropy shortlist of marriage equality hall of famers, and for good reason. “Haas, Jr. Fund’s early and sustained support for the creation and duration of Freedom to Marry—the successful campaign and strategy to win marriage for same-sex couples nationwide—was absolutely pivotal,” civil rights attorney and Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson told IP. “Not only did Haas’s generosity make a huge difference, but its example and support helped bring in other partners and funders. Haas set a very high standard for philanthropy’s role in helping achieve social and legal transformation.”

But in late January, the foundation announced plans to wrap up its program supporting LGBTQ+ issues, as it shifts focus toward other equity issues close to home in California, including immigrant rights. Started in 1953 by heirs to the Levi Strauss fortune, the fund will offer transitional support to LGBTQ+ partner organizations over the next two years so they can continue their work and plan for a Haas-free future.

As with any time a foundation exits a funding area—especially one with just a handful of major backers—Haas’s announcement has elicited a range of responses among grantees and allies, including disappointment and concern over the loss of funding—especially at a time when equity issues loom large for members of the LGBT community. Accompanying such comments, though, is also resounding gratitude for the many years of collaboration and leadership.

Indeed, the fund has reason to be proud of the accomplishments its largesse supported. When it first committed to investing in LGBT programming in 2000, the foundation noted, no U.S. state allowed same-sex couples to marry, openly gay people could not serve in the military and a majority of Americans opposed marriage equality and believed gay and lesbian relations were wrong. “It is astonishing how things have changed for the better,” wrote Cathy Cha, Haas, Jr. Fund president and CEO, and Robert Joseph, vice president of programs, in an announcement on the fund’s website. “Now, LGBT equality has strong nationwide support.”

Peer foundations also expressed appreciation for the progress the fund helped make possible. “The Haas, Jr. Fund’s commitment to LGBTQ causes over the past 20 years has been instrumental to the rapid progress of the community’s civil and human rights—from marriage equality to the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the advancement of nondiscrimination protections,” said Brad Clark, CEO of the Denver-based Gill Foundation, a fellow major funder in the field. “The fight for LGBTQ rights has made enormous advances because of Haas’s leadership and funding.”

Big blow to LGBTQ+ causes

Haas is dealing with the transition about as thoughtfully and intentionally as a major funder can, say fellow philanthropists in the field and grantee recipients, while still acknowledging that it’s “bittersweet” to see them exit. “Losing Haas as a funder is a big blow, given how much work remains,” said Wolfson, “even as there is tremendous appreciation for the foundation’s long, generous and sustained investment in the cause.”

Roger Doughty, president of Horizons Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has received financial support from Haas and also makes grants to LGBTQ+ groups, called the news “disappointing.” He, too, was quick to follow that sentiment with praise for their past efforts.

“The Haas, Jr. Fund has made a remarkable and lasting difference in its two decades of funding the LGBTQ+ movement,” said Doughty. “They’ve been consistently smart, strategic, willing to take risks and genuinely connected with the queer nonprofits they supported. If more foundations did even a fraction of what Haas, Jr. has done, it would bring dramatic additional resources to our community in the Bay Area and the movement across the country.”

For its part, the fund says it is committed to providing the same level of support in 2022 as it did in 2021, with all grants given as unrestricted general operating support. In 2021, the fund awarded $5.12 million to approximately 35 grantees. The average grant size (excluding one grant over $1 million) was $112,000, according to Haas, Jr. Fund Director of Communications Maliha Sadiq.

“In the months ahead, we will be talking with grantees about the kinds of capacity-building support that can help them most in their continuing work,” said Sadiq. “Based on those conversations, we will make our final grants in 2023 for organizational and movement-wide capacity-building.”

Past grantees include nonprofit legal organizations, civil rights groups and faith-based charities, including the ACLU, Equality California Institute, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, GLAD GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, National Center for Lesbian Rights and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation.

How are nonprofits taking the news? There’s a similar mix of gratitude and concern. One grantee, the Palm Center, which was instrumental in opposing the gay military ban, tweeted: “Saluting @HaasJrFund for changing history, and making the country a better place for all Americans.” National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon dubbed the fund “trailblazers.” She also said: “Any reduction in funding for nonprofit organizations is always felt deeply within the community, and there is an immediate need to replace that funding.” That’s especially important, Rupert-Gordon noted, with recent, intensified attacks on the community, particularly among vulnerable transgender youth.

There is dismay in some LGBTQ+ circles. “It is a significant chunk of change that will be missing from the budgets of cash-strapped queer nonprofits. This is a bad call that must be rescinded,” noted an editorial in the Bay Area Reporter, a San Francisco LGBTQ+ publication, which called the decision “short-sighted and potentially devastating for nonprofits, which have had their fundraising ability drastically curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic that is entering its third year…. We call on the Haas, Jr. Fund to reconsider its drastic decision and reverse it so LGBTQ nonprofits can have a fighting chance in these very tenuous times.”

LGBTQ+ funding: the big picture 

Just how tenuous a time is it in LGBTQ+ philanthropy? Charitable giving for LGBTQ+ issues hit a record high of $209.2 million in the 2018 calendar year, according to the 2020 Tracking Report by Funders for LGBTQ+ Issues, the most recent available. The report found the overall field of LGBTQ+ philanthropy widening, identifying a record number of 450 grantmakers. For comparison’s sake, Funders for LGBTQ+ Issues reported in 2002 that foundation giving totaled $29.6 million—that’s a nearly seven-fold increase. Twenty-five years ago, noted Rupert-Gordon, it was nearly impossible to find foundations to support LGBTQ+ nonprofits’ work at all.

That’s an encouraging trend in the right direction, but only part of the story, as the 2020 tracking report makes clear. “While this report reveals many new record highs, it also reminds us that for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations, only 28 cents specifically supports LGBTQ+ issues.” Support for trans communities was markedly lower, accounting for only 4 cents of every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations.

The exit of any key funder is a loss, since funding for areas such as LGBTQ+ legal equality, healthcare, elders and queer youth remains terribly underfunded, said Doughty, who pointed out that is especially true for LGBTQ+ organizations in communities of color and the transgender community. Added Clark: “The movement is vastly under-resourced, especially compared to the forces we’re up against.”

In an email to IP, Andrew Wallace, vice president of research and communications for Funders for LGBTQ Issues wrote: “We sincerely hope this pivot does not signal to other funders that work in this area is done, because the opposite is true.” 

The LGBTQ+ funding landscape remains relatively small, driven by a committed group of leading funders. In its most recent report, Funders for LGBTQ Issues noted that the top 10 U.S. funders in the field accounted for 46% of funding for all LGBTQ+ concerns. “The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund consistently ranked as a leading donor,” noted Wallace. “Their departure will leave a void that will not be easily filled.”

Meanwhile, much remains to be done. “In the face of brazen and hateful legislative attacks against the lives and wellbeing of trans people in states across the country and the frustrating barriers to federal nondiscrimination protections,” said Wallace, ”more funders are recognizing how much work there is still to do to achieve justice for LGBTQ+ people, particularly Black, brown, queer and trans people.”

Next steps

Of course, foundations wrap up funding in program areas all the time, and for a host of reasons—a change in leadership and/or priorities, a sense of mission accomplished/program success, a desire to shift investment efforts upstream. These inevitable changes are always challenging for the nonprofits served by these charitable entities.

For the Haas fund, the transition began back in 2020 after a strategy review process made it clear that people in California communities continue to be excluded from political, economic and social opportunities that should be afforded to everyone, explained Sadiq. A shift began within the organization, with a move to prioritize problems closer to home. The fund is committing to addressing Golden State concerns, including advancing more humane approaches to immigration and expanding opportunities for immigrant youth and families, building a fairer and more representative democracy, and making higher education more affordable for low-income Californians.

The organization bristles at any suggestion that it is abandoning the LGBTQ+ community. “Our love and deep roots in the LGBT movement will forever continue,” said Sadiq. “We will continue our work with them through our other program areas, especially around engaging LGBT leaders in our democracy and immigrant rights programs, and supporting LGBT immigrants who are fleeing their homes due to threats to their very existence.” 

Everybody in the field seems to agree on this: Haas’s departure is not an indication that LGBTQ+ nonprofits no longer need support in the battle for equality. “We did not make this decision because we felt the work has been done. We have deep respect for the dedication of our longtime partners in the movement as they continue to work for dignity, equity and opportunity for LGBT people nationwide,” said Sadiq. “We encourage other funders to step up to confront the injustices that continue to deprive LGBT people of full equality and equal participation in society.”

LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender Americans, are ongoing targets in the nation’s culture wars, with many anti-LGBTQ+ bills being introduced and passed in state legislatures. In many states, LGBTQ+ people still lack basic statutory nondiscrimination protections in housing, employment, public accommodations and other areas.

Doughty and others note that there remains an erroneous and unfortunate public perception in some quarters that with the landmark marriage equality victory, there isn’t much left to do in the civil rights arena and that LGBT people have the resources to take care of whatever work remains. But the reality is that there’s still a long way to go before equal rights for all LGBTQ+ people is achieved, and there is limited funding to get there.

Stand by to see which funders take the leap to bridge the gap left by the Haas fund departure. But stepping up is the catchphrase of choice here. “Haas set an excellent example for other funders, and it’s crucial that others step up to help continue the work of ending anti-gay and anti-trans exclusion and discrimination,” said Wolfson. 

Added Gill Foundation’s Clark: “It’s incumbent on all of us to make sure that we step up and bring others into the fold to ensure the work continues apace.” Clark sees room for optimism: “We’ve always been an underdog with less funding and less political power. If we are relentless in our approach to iteration, pragmatism and connection across divides, we will win the day.”