FORT MYERS, FL–LGBT Community Fund of Southwest Florida has been established at the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. The fund is a giving circle that engages like-minded individuals and organizations to increase philanthropic support in Southwest Florida for the unique challenges and opportunities facing our LGBT community.

“This new fund seeks to help existing community organizations and institutions better serve our local LGBT youth, families and elders through focused and researched grants,” said Shawn M. Williams, chairman of the fund’s steering committee. “Understandably, we are better together than individually to build synergy within our community. The goal is to build capacity, knowledge and understanding, so we may respond capably and equally to the needs of all constituents.”
This first multi-donor fund in the Southwest Florida region will allow donors to support the LGBT community by making a gift in honor or a memorial gift in memory of someone special, become an LGBT Community Fund Participant or create a legacy fund as part of one’s estate plan to benefit the LGBT Fund in perpetuity.
There is no minimum donation, but donors with contributions of $250 or more are considered Fund Participants and will have voting privileges on grants selection. Grantmaking from the LGBT Community Fund is research-based. Through research, the Fund’s steering committee will annually identify the greatest needs in the Southwest Florida region for the Fund’s granting focus.
For more information on how to become a participant of the LGBT Community Fund, visit LGBTSWFL.com.

Photo Credit: scripps-cms.endplay.com