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The Little Charity That Could
Among the nation's charitable foundations, Astraea is one of the smallest and dykiest. It may also be the most visionary.
by Tara Lohan
If you ask Graciela Sanchez about the Astraea Foundation, she won't mince words. "No one else is funding lesbians of color," says Sanchez, who directs Esperanza, a cultural and political center in San Antonio. "And no one in Texas is funding lesbians of anything."
Sanchez's center will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary this year and has received funding from Astraea since 1998. She describes Esperanza as "working to connect race, class, and gender issues in promoting cultural heritage for Latino women and men in San Antonio," mainly through arts festivals and political activism. Sanchez gives Astraea credit for recognizing that funding arts and culture is a way of working toward social justice.
"Astraea has respected the way our community is organizing," says Sanchez, who cofounded the center, which remains largely run by Latinas and lesbians. "Our community has been culturally robbed. It is no wonder that people feel bad about themselves; our language and culture have been stolen."
More Bang For Fewer Bucks
In 1977, a group of philanthropists, nonprofit workers, and activists from different racial and economic backgrounds came together in response to a lack of funding for lesbian programs. They formed the Astraea Foundation with a commitment to lesbian empowerment across ethnic and class barriers. As one of the oldest three women's funds, Astraea's work has continued to have a unique place in the foundation world and the lesbian community.
In the beginning, the foundation was based solely in the Northeast and held cultural events and fundraisers. For the first ten years it was entirely run by volunteers. But Astraea grew, and in the 1980s, as Executive Director Katherine Acey describes it, the foundation became more "out." Organizers changed its name to the Astraea National Lesbian Action Foundation, and its focus became nationwide.
Astraea has sought to encourage cultural endeavors through grants made within their U.S. Grants Program, which funds lesbian and social change organizations, as well as cultural and film and video projects. The Lesbian Writers Fund also supports the work of emerging fiction writers and poets. Acey said they are also one of the few foundations that will give money for film and video projects. "We don't want to limit the way in which someone wants to try and change the world," she added.
In addition to cultural and media projects, Astraea is also dedicated to women's health, youth programs, education, and community organizing. The foundation also broke new ground and became the first U.S. foundation to set up a fund solely dedicated to expanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights projects in developing countries. The International Fund for Sexual Minorities was established through a donor-advised grant for organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific Islands, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Republic, the Middle East, and Africa who are fighting oppression based on sexual orientation.
Over the years the foundation's annual grants budget has grown from $6,000 to over $1 million; but its mission has remained intact. Astraea's focus on lesbian issues is as important as ever. In the world of American philanthropy, only a fraction of a percent of money--less than 0.3 percent, in fact--reaches the gay community. Even fewer of those dollars go to lesbians. But Astraea has reacted to this shortage not just by focusing on lesbian issues. Believing that lesbians face challenges that are defined by more than sexual orientation, Astraea specifically supports programs that fight oppression based on race, religion, age, gender, class, and physical or mental ability, both in the United States and abroad.
"We try to get everyone at the table and we start with ourselves," said Acey, who describes Astraea as comprised of "multiracial, multicultural, all-ages feminists with a commitment to lesbian visibility and social and economic justice."
A David Among Goliaths
Because of its size and its mission, Astraea holds a unique place among other LGBT nonprofits and foundations. The largest, the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC, is one of the most well known. The HRC works on national political issues and focuses its efforts on workplace discrimination, HIV/AIDS, lesbian health, and family issues. Their work is directed mainly at lobbying Congress, public education, and campaign support for congressional hopefuls. In 2000, the HRC reported giving $1.1 million from their political action committee to federal candidates. In the same year they reported an income of $16.6 million and are run by a staff of about 100 people.
With only a staff of eleven people and a budget of $1 million, Astraea is much smaller in comparison. And although Astraea is also committed to effecting social change, they focus their resources on grassroots groups and individuals, not politicians. Astraea's "bottom-up" approach directs money toward communities--often communities that are marginalized in more than one way--with the aim of planting seeds for cultural renewal, economic empowerment, and social justice.
The Gill Foundation, based in Denver, Colorado, is another important player in LGBT money giving. Founded in 1994, their mission--"to secure equal opportunity for people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity"--is closer to Astraea's. Similarly, they give grants to nonprofit organizations and work with groups to develop skills and leadership techniques. The Gill Foundation, however, houses about forty staff members and has an endowment of $260 million. The money comes from the organization's founder, Tim Gill, who was also the founder of the Quark software company. With an annual grants budget last year of $6 million, the foundation has focused its work mainly in national and non-urban groups.
The Gill Foundation has given over $21 million since 1994, and one of the groups they have funded has been Astraea. Marielle Oetjen, the LGBT grant-making program officer for the Gill Foundation, says that they have given Astraea over $300,000 since they began funding the foundation in 1996. Gill money has gone to general support and programs, and most recently to Astraea's international fund. Oetjen said they have been impressed with the work Astraea has done. "They offer a great niche for lesbian and bisexual women. They are able to give to smaller groups and community organizations that do direct services and advocacy," says Oetjen.
She also points out that Astraea helps many groups and individuals who don't get local support, either because they are lesbian or too radical. Astraea is also able to reach groups that the Gill Foundation can't, such as smaller organizations without 501c3 status. The Gill Foundation does not fund metropolitan areas, adds Oetjen, but by working in partnership with Astraea it is able to try and reach those communities indirectly.
Funding Movements, Bottom-Up
Lisa Moore has seen both sides of Astraea's commitment to lesbian arts. Moore runs her own publishing company, Red Bone Press, which publishes books "by and for black lesbians and also uniting the mainstream and gay communities." In 1999 she was one of two judges for the Lesbian Writers Fund and helped narrow the 150 fiction submissions down to three winners. "The caliber and diversity of the works made it really difficult," she recalls.
Since then, Moore was awarded a $3,000 grant from Astraea for a film project documenting black lesbian elders. Her film project is a new initiative that is a continuation of work she began in graduate school. "Without the grant from Astraea I would not be able to get these women's stories out," says Moore. In the film, "people are able to see a glimpse of history and civil rights from a different perspective--a history many have not associated with black lesbians," she said.
Astraea's funding to artists is important, said Moore, because it is difficult for writers to get paid for their work. "Most writers are working in isolation--writing isn't a luxury and it shouldn't be."
Jill Togawa, who heads Purple Moon Dance Project, an arts organization that is working for visibility for lesbians and women of color through the medium of dance, also knows the importance of Astraea's commitment to cultural programs. Purple Moon received its first grant from Astraea in 1993. It's been awarded five grants since then, the largest in 2001 when it celebrated its tenth anniversary.
Togawa has seen little change in the availability of funding for organizations like hers over the last ten years. Thus, she stresses the importance of Astraea's position. "We don't get any funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and we have been unable to get funding from the Women's Foundation," she said. "Astraea is unique in its funding priority to lesbians and women of color."
Astraea has provided several million dollars to countless individuals and organizations. But Katherine Acey claims that the ripples of its contributions spread through the collaborations that have resulted from over two decades of work. "We see a larger picture," says Acey, "and are able to develop relationships between people and organizations, and also between issues. We are not just 'money in and money out.' We walk our talk and are able to cut across the lines of the women's, queer, and social justice movements."
Changing the Face of Philanthropy
The foundation hasn't restricted its work to groups and individuals in need; it has also put time and money into educating potential donors. Astraea believes in the "democratization of philanthropy," a model developing within the progressive funding community. Since 1995, Acey and associates have been sponsoring "community funding panels," groups of activists, artists, and other women who represent the communities seeking funding from Astraea. The panels help Astraea understand the priorities and decision-making styles of their grantees; it also ensures that communities have a hand in defining--and solving--their own issues.
"We work to educate lesbians about philanthropy," says Acey. "We are a multiclass foundation and believe that everyone can be a philanthropist." As a result, even with assistance from the Gill Foundation, the bulk of Astraea's budget comes from individual donors. "An important part of Astraea's work is teaching lesbians to support each other, in whatever way they can," Acey adds, specifying that in her definition, philanthropy often comes in the form of volunteering or sweat equity. "Lesbians are learning that it is possible to give generously and to take care of one's own community." Astraea has also worked with other foundations, continually advocating for more support for LGBT groups which, Acey says, "funders haven't included."
In the future, Acey says, the foundation will continue with "more of the same." New projects include launching a lesbian leadership initiative and developing the International Fund for Sexual Minorities, one of its programs where the need, says Acey, greatly outweighs the resources. The terrorist attacks in September and the war in Afghanistan, says program director Christine Lipat, have "illuminated the interconnections we are working on. The international work is related to the work in the U.S. We are seeing the interconnections with race, prison, immigrants, and immigration."
At the end of each fiscal year, the money Astraea has awarded can be neatly tallied. But the empowerment that has resulted through the work of thousands of partner organizations across the globe cannot be measured. Lisa Moore describes Astraea as a foundation that has "helped put a new face on history."
"We want to be not just visible, but really seen," said Acey. "And when we are seen, we want to be heard. And when we are heard, we want to be understood. And when we are understood, we want to be embraced."
Tara Lohan is a freelance writer based in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
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