TLC Herstory:
The Texas Lesbian Conference started in 1988 as a way for lesbians to network, learn and share. The yearly conference began with a small group of women in Dallas, Texas, and its leadership grew a small core of dedicated volunteers throughout the major cities of Texas. Over the years the conference featured speakers and workshops on coming out, dating, network building, maintaining relationships, health issues, political activism, spirituality, legal issues, and financial matters.
The yearly conference was the only statewide conference for lesbians of its kind at the time. The conference location rotated between Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The conferences were held until its final year in 2004. Volunteer leadership managed these community-building activities for a remarkable sixteen years.
Advancing Texas Lesbians:
In 2009, leaders of TLC came to Inspired Legacies, to ask how to leverage their money and commitment to the LGBTQ community. As Inspired Legacies is a nonprofit philanthropic advisory firm here in Texas and nationally, we listened to their desire for a source that would outlive their efforts and inspire more legacy gifts.
"We'd like to leave a legacy in honor of all who had given to The Texas Lesbian Conferences over many years, and to encourage more lesbians, queers, and our allies to give and strengthen our community during their lifetimes and beyond."
With $17,000 remaining from Texas Lesbian Conference, we have joined forces and are launching a grant-making fund that we hope will grow with community gifts from you and others, to hundreds of grants over time. As the organization of TLC and its events are no longer active, it will take the generous caring community who attended these conferences (or would today) and our families' and allies to build this new source so that more than $1,500-$3,000 per year can be given away.
Astraea Foundation for Justice gives nationally and internationally and has given to several great groups in Texas over some thirty years. Our founders felt that we should locally do more as well as to support Astraea's groundbreaking work.
Purpose
This new fund has been given a purpose statement:
The TLC Fund of Inspired Legacies shall give grants to Texas nonprofits, serving lesbians and/or LGBTQ youth serving agencies. And it shall help to catalyze more living legacies for and by lesbians, our families, and our allies.
With just $17,000 in the fund, we invite more gifts so that more money over time can be given back to grow these important communities' needs.
Grantmaking
While the TLC Fund grows, a founding grant of $1,500 was made for the February 14, 2010 launch of the Fund, to a bold new project that promises to connect the whole LGBTQ community:
Texas nonprofit KidThrive serves Texas and the whole country. (www.KidThrive.org)
Using the power of social media to empower youth, it will include expertise from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston's LGBTQ youth serving agencies. Soon LGBTQ youth will have their own important resource. With youth suicide rates for 9 to 14 year olds escalating at an alarming rate due to anti-gay bullying, we want to be part of the solution to reduce isolation and provide community for our next generation.
With more donations, we will make more grants later in 2010 and beyond.
Our next grants will be to PFLAG/HATCH Youth Scholarship Fund.
And then the Old Lesbian Oral History Project will be supported for their interviews of lesbians over 70 and the distribution of their new book throughout Texas and the country.
*** See note below on contacting us. We will not be accepting unsolicited proposals until the Fund is built to over 1 million dollars. (Then at 5% or so, about $50,000 per year may be available on an annual basis.) The sooner we get there, the sooner we will have permanent funding and will be able to do grant-making at that level. We welcome your ideas on our forms below, but please do not expect a response due to our tiny staff. Know we will have received your input, which will be invaluable as we plan.
What you CAN do to help:
The Texas Lesbian Conference has transformed their dollars to make change happen.
We invite you to become a founding donor to the TLC Fund. All donors who give any amount in 2010 will be forever on our donor list. You can sign and date our pledge form if you do not have cash now. Even if you prefer to be anonymous, you can use either initials or a name that you will know was your statement of care. Or make the gift in someone's name or memory.
Will you make a donation, this Valentine's Day, or for any holiday, birthday or any special occasion, to honor another beloved living lesbian or as a memorial gift for a lesbian or nonprofit you'd like us to know about? Celebrate your love and even your ex-loves with a memorial gift this Valentines Day! It's all on the donation page. If we have their name and email will let them know by 2/14 that a donation was made in their honor by you (or anonymously) so that they are founding funders with you. Honor a famous person or a lesbian or LGBTQ youth you admire. Just include their name and it will be listed with yours. We will NOT list amounts or reveal them. For example:
"From an anonymous lesbian artist in Austin, in honor of Sarah Peterson."
Let us know if you will be including the TLC Fund in your will or as a beneficiary of your IRA or retirement funds in your bequest. We welcome annual gifts and event income as well. Let's help lesbians and our community ROCK in Texas. Check the box on the pledge form if you need us to send you language for your will or IRA designation form listing.
Let's leverage our leadership and our communities' generosity and collective wisdom. Your gift will launch hope for Texas lesbians and LGBTQ youth.
Just click here and download a pledge form or make a tax deductible donation by hitting our DONATE NOW button. Be sure to say it's for the TLC Fund.
Please join us in making a better Texas for all,
Thank you.
Tracy Gary for Inspired Legacies and the TLC Fund
info@inspiredlegacies.org
www.inspiredlegacies.org/TLC
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*** Note again: While we will not be accepting unsolicited proposals until the TLC Fund is substantially funded (likely $1 million or more) we welcome hearing about and we will list projects that are sent to us, through filling in our resource form below for Texas based lesbian and projects serving Texas LGBTQ youth. We will not be able to answer every inquiry, but we will have frequently asked questions on the site, and updates sent to all donors at least twice annually. Just fill in this form with your suggestions of Texas based nonprofits filling our criteria. |
Please pass this link and site on to those whom you know will be interested!
http://www.inspiredlegacies.org/TLC