Northern California Grantmakers

Yesterday the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposition 8,  a voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional.

Keep reading to learn how NCG members responded to the news.

Horizons Foundation: A Day To Remember

Horizons Foundation Executive Director Roger Doughty took to their organization’s blog to reflect on the ruling:

“This is huge. It makes it highly likely – pending possible appeal of the decision by Prop 8′s backers – that same-sex marriage will again be a reality up and down this enormous state. It promises to open the doors to marriage equality to millions. (And the fact that the Ninth Circuit panel issued a relatively narrow decision, limited to California, makes it less probable that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear an appeal.)…

All of us at Horizons Foundation salute the litigators, congratulate the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and praise, with all our hearts and souls, the brilliance and dedication of our community’s advocates – the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, Equality California, Freedom to Marry, GLAD, the American Civil Liberties Union, and many more – which have truly lead this epic and historic struggle.”

Read the full blog post.

The San Francisco Foundation: Another Step Toward Marriage Equality

The San Francisco Foundation used the front page of its website to focus on the news of the ruling:

“Social justice is a core value that weaves through all of the work we do at The San Francisco Foundation, and supporting marriage equality aligns with our mission. ‘On behalf of our board and staff, we applaud the Court’s decision to defend the rights of same-sex couples and their families with this important ruling,’ says James Head, vice president of programs at the Foundation.”

Read the full San Francisco Foundation announcement online.

Haas Jr. Continues Its Support of Marriage Equality

As  Gay and Lesbian Rights is one of their program initiatives, yesterday the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund used their Twitter feed to show their support for the federal appeals court ruling.

The foundation also has an online slideshow in support of marriage equality.

View the Haas Jr. Fund slideshow on marriage equality online.

With the entire Bay Area a buzz with Pride celebrations this weekend, we thought we’d take a moment to highlight our members who support the LGBT community year round through their grantmaking and initiatives.

Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund: Supporting LGBT Inclusion In Churches Nationwide

In early 2010 NCG member Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund was the lead funder of the collaborative research and planning effort that preceded the launch of Believe Out Loud, a collection of clergy and lay leaders, LGBT activists and concerned individuals working together to use advertising, community organizing and other strategies to build a self-sustaining movement for LGBT inclusion in churches around the country.

The Fund’s goal, together with its partners in this work, is to counter the religious right’s message of intolerance toward gays and lesbians. Through its support for Believe Out Loud, the Fund seeks to support more people of faith, and more churches, to “break the silence” and show their support for equality for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Horizons Foundation: Improving the Quality of Life for LGBT Elders

Last year when NCG launched its Snapshots of Philanthropy, we were pleased to work with Horizons Foundation to develop their snapshot showcasing how their foundation partnered with fellow NCG member the California Wellness Foundation to create a program called LGBT WISE: Working to Improve Services to Elders.

WISE is designed to build regional capacity for providing services such as food delivery, access to health care and emotional and social support to promote healthy aging among LGBT elders in Bay Area counties.

The elder participants have reported that the program alleviates feelings of loneliness and isolation, better enables them to be independent, keeps them connected to the LGBT community and has positive impacts on their health and well-being.

Tides:  State Equality Fund

NCG member the Tides Foundation partners with the Gill Foundation, NCG member Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and anonymous donors to administer the State Equality Fund, a fund which primarily focused on supporting one-to-five-year statewide policy-changes in the areas of nondiscrimination, relationship recognition, parenting rights, and safe schools.

Since it was established in 2007, the State Equality Fund has granted almost $8 million to advance LGBT equality on the state level. Toward this goal, grant recipients have included organizations seeking to promote and support news media outlets that serve the Black, Asian, and Hispanic markets in efforts to raise the visibility of LBGT people in communities dominated by immigrants and people of color, to promote safe schools through the adoption of LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policies, and for the state to recognize same-sex marriages as legal, granting the same rights to all spouses under the law.

Snapshots of Philanthropy is a special year-long series that aims to better demonstrate the scope and impact of our members’ work. These short “snapshot” stories showcase the positive impact organized philanthropy has in northern California, and will be used to educate external audiences about why our members fund who they fund, and what changes are happening as a result of these investments. Learn more about the series and read other stories online.

Latest Snapshot: Rosenberg Foundation

Everyday, thousands of formerly incarcerate individuals return to communities throughout California. Unfortunately, two-thirds of them end up back behind bars within three years. The state’s 70 percent recidivism rate —one of the highest in the country— jeopardizes public safety and denies formerly incarcerated people a second chance.

Breaking this cycle of incarceration is a key component of the Rosenberg Foundation’s Justice and Public Safety program. The Foundation, a private foundation with a 75 year history of supporting social and economic justice in California, launched the initiative in 2007 to help reform the state’s criminal justice system. A core part of the project’s vision is to partner with an inspiring group of advocates and organizations to help close the revolving doors of California prisons.

The Foundation found inspiration in research that points to one major solution to putting formerly incarcerated individuals on a path to leading productive lives—access to jobs. With this focus, the organizations supported by the Justice and Public Safety initiative are using a variety of tools—like direct service, research, impact litigation and policy advocacy—to advance employment as a powerful preventive strategy to reduce the recidivism rate, and as a result increasing public safety in communities most impacted by crime.

Read the whole story [downloads as PDF]

Read Snapshot 1: S.H. Cowell Foundation online.

Read Snapshot 2: Horizons Foundation online.

Read Snapshot 3: The James Irvine Foundation online.

Read Snapshot 4: The Christensen Fund online.

Read Snapshot 5: Sierra Health Foundation online.

Read Snapshot 6: Akonadi Foundation online.

Read Snapshot 7: The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund online.

Read Snapshot 8: Women’s Foundation of California online.

Read Snapshot 9: Levi Strauss Foundation online.

Learn more about NCG’s Snapshots of Philanthropy series online.