Executive Commentary for Diversity in Philanthropy Website
Tim Sweeney, Executive Director, The Gill Foundation
The movement for marriage equality is a marathon not a sprint. Couples, families and organizations have been working for over a decade to establish the right to marry. As it has for many years, the Gill Foundation will continue to have marriage equality funding as a major focus of our grant making.
We encourage other private, community and corporate funders to support the work of the two key collaborative organizations that have been driving the marriage equality movement for many years. Since its inception in 2004, the Civil Marriage Collaborative (CMC) (www.proteusfund.org/cmc) has funded the marriage equality movement with over $7.7 million. In the last two years, the work of four CMC grantees has resulted in historic victories for their respective states: Love Makes a Family Foundation (www.lmfct.org) in Connecticut, MassEquality Education Fund (www.massequality.org) in Massachusetts, Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force (www.vtfreetomarry.org) in Vermont, and One Iowa Education Fund (www.oneiowa.org).
The CMC represents a unique collaborative among LGBT and other progressive funders to support a broad and diverse grassroots constituency to achieve full marriage equality for same-sex couples in the United States. With eleven funders contributing to its pooled fund, the collaborative focuses on programs that advance the public debate on marriage equality, including efforts to engage and educate new constituents, community leaders and new allies, especially among groups currently underrepresented in the movement such as members of faith communities and people of color. CMC’s tiered grant making strategy directs the preponderance of the collaborative resources to states that are best situated to achieve marriage equality in 2009. The balance of the support goes to states where the right to marry for same-sex couples could be won in two to six years. The CMC has a strategy to win marriage equality and its steady, careful leadership has provided critical resources at key moments to legal, organizing and education groups that have propelled the progress that is inspiring the nation.
Another key driver of the marriage movement is Freedom to Marry (FTM) (www.freedomtomarry.org). Since its founding in 2003, Freedom to Marry has pursued its mission by adding value in four key areas. First, FTM convenes diverse stakeholders, including national advocacy groups, state and local organizations and funders to ensure maximum support, coordinated action plans and the deployment of best practice tactics. Freedom to Marry also offers direct advice and counsel to each state’s leadership as they tackle the day-to-day challenges presented by the naysayers on the right and the complacent or conflicted in the middle. In addition, FTM provides direct financial support to innovative programming with gay and non-gay groups working to advance marriage equality, often seeding activities and strategies for others to fund more fully as they develop. Finally, FTM program staff develops messaging and educational materials while providing key voices for the debate nationally and locally.
Two examples of FTM’s leadership with important organizational partners include the Let California Ring campaign (www.letcaliforniaring.org) of the Equality California Institute and the NAACP Marriage Justice Project. Both efforts reflect how FTM has pushed the envelope in reaching the broad cross-section of Californians and Americans to rethink their positions on marriage equality.
In addition to the Civil Marriage Collaborative and Freedom to Marry, funders should support the impact litigation groups that have led the offensive and defensive legal battles for marriage equality: Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (www.glad.org), Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (www.lambdalegal.org), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (www.nclrights.org) and the American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org). These organizations in particular have involved the greatest number of progressive allies in their amici briefs. The allies span the spectrum of racial justice, civil rights and women’s rights organizations that support the underlying principle of equal protection for all Americans.
Finally, funders should support the organizations working with specific constituencies such as National Black Justice Coalition (www.nbjcoalition.org) and Asian Pacific Islanders for Equality (www.apiequality.org).
Tim Sweeney is President and CEO of the Gill Foundation. Mr. Sweeney has previously served as Program Director of the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund’s equality and justice and nonprofit leadership and governance programs as well as head of gay and lesbian programs. Mr. Sweeney also previously served as Executive Director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and as Deputy Director then Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.