Gill Foundation | 2020 Annual Report

Setting the Stage

As 2020 began, we never could have imagined the unprecedented challenges our world would be facing just a few months into the year as a global pandemic unfolded. For LGBTQ people, those challenges were compounded by a lack of protections from discrimination.

At the outset of 2020, LGBTQ people in 30 states could still be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, or denied service and access to public spaces. In 29 states, LGBTQ youth could still be subjected to conversion therapy, a harmful and discredited practice that tries to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. And the federal government continued its discriminatory ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.

We began 2020 with an unwavering commitment to moving the needle on equal treatment for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. That commitment became all the more important as 2020 transpired.

Refocus & Resilience

As Virginia made history, the COVID-19 pandemic had hit our shores. Though global in impact, it brought us all closer to home.

The public health crisis and ensuing economic turmoil necessitated an immediate pivot of funding priorities to ensure the financial stability of key LGBTQ organizations and the basic needs of our fellow Coloradans.

Financial Resiliency

In partnership with the Movement Advancement Project, we surveyed our grantees on a quarterly basis to understand the evolving impact and implications of the pandemic on organizations’ financial health and to provide tools and resources to bolster their resiliency.

Frontline Spotlights

GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality sourced and featured stories of LGBTQ health professionals on the frontlines of the pandemic, spotlighting their heroic sacrifices for their communities despite the threat of losing their jobs just because of who they are or whom they love.

'Providing Care Today; Face Dismissal Tomorrow': LGBTQ Health Workers on the Front Lines as Supreme Court Weighs Job ProtectionsMay 18, 2020

Addressing the Needs of Coloradans

In Colorado, we granted $1.2 million to COVID response and recovery efforts, with a particular focus on addressing food insecurity. Through challenge grants to Food Bank of the Rockies and Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, we helped provide nearly seven million meals to food-insecure Coloradans. And we were proud to contribute to and participate in Governor Polis’s Colorado COVID Relief Fund, which directed millions of dollars to Colorado organizations serving the communities hardest hit by the pandemic.

In addition, the Homegrown Talent Initiative, facilitated by Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative, became a key strategy for rural communities to support economic recovery from the pandemic. In seven small towns across the state, local schools and businesses joined together to offer career-focused learning experiences for K-12 students based in their own communities.

Pride & Protest

In the midst of COVID-19, our country faced a reckoning that returned Pride to its roots to demand justice for all Black lives.

In response to the racial unrest following George Floyd’s murder in late May, we funded efforts to build stronger alliances and support common cause between the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.

Checks & Balances

In June, a pivotal 6-3 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, ushered in a watershed moment for LGBTQ equality. In one day an estimated 3.6 million LGBTQ Americans in 27 states gained workplace protections, according to the Williams Institute.

And in November, Americans decided to make a change in the federal government, electing the most pro-LGBTQ administration in American history.

Married on Sunday, Hired on Monday

Despite the turbulence of the year, an important anniversary gave us reason to celebrate. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. Grantee Family Equality commemorated the 5-year anniversary by sharing the stories of two Texas families in their video series, Out in Texas.

Earlier in the month, the U.S. Supreme Court fittingly handed down another landmark ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, finding that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends employment protections to LGBTQ employees, making it unconstitutional to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In the wake of the decision, state equality groups worked with the administrations of Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania to apply the Bostock ruling to state nondiscrimination laws to extend protections to their LGBTQ residents. At the same time, GLBTQ Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) launched an effort to extend the Bostock ruling to other areas of law, including housing, health care, credit, and more.

Administrative Preparations

In preparation for the inauguration of the most pro-LGBTQ administration in U.S. history, grantees educated incoming officials on several important policies to protect LGBTQ Americans. On his first day in office, President Biden issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock vs. Clayton County across all areas of federal government. The Biden administration also swiftly repealed the ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, directed housing shelters to serve LGBTQ people in need, and created the White House Council on LGBTQ+ Americans.

1) Grants & Programs	78%	$12,280,676
2) Management & General	9%	$1,446,553
3) Grants Administration	13%	$2,010,157
Total		$15,737,386

Grants & Programs	$12,280,676
Management & General	$1,446,553
Grants Administration	$2,010,157
Total Operating and Grant Making Expenses	$15,737,386

Cash	$2,672,462
Property and Equipment	$2,350,523
Investments	$212,017,141
Other Assets	$531,759
Total Assets	$217,571,885

Liabilities	$2,222,454
Net Assets	$215,349,431
Total Liabilities and Net Assets	$217,571,885

2020Annual Report

Setting the Stage

Virginia is for Lovers

Refocus & Resilience

Financial Resiliency

Frontline Spotlights

Addressing the Needs of Coloradans

Pride & Protest

Healing Divisions

Stonewall Day

Checks & Balances

Married on Sunday, Hired on Monday

Administrative Preparations

2020 Financials

How We Spend Our Money

2020 Summary of Financial Information

2020 Grants