Horizons Foundation

Grantmaking: Horizons Foundation provided direct financial support to nonprofit organizations through 1,561 grants to 792 organizations totaling $8,494,628 in 2025. Grants addressed multiple issues and populations related to the LGBTQ community, including health, HIV/AIDS, youth, arts, elders, communities of color, transgender rights, community building, and civil and human rights in the San Francisco Bay Area, other parts of the United States, and the world. In keeping with Horizons' values, grants supported both smaller, more grassroots organizations that few foundations will fund as well as more established LGBTQ institutions. Millions of additional grant dollars were generated from donor-advised, field-of-interest, and scholarship funds, as well as a groundbreaking multi-year initiative to support nonprofits focused on transgender people of color. Grants ranged from $100 to $200,000 and provided LGBTQ and allied nonprofits with both operating support and project support. In addition, Horizons supported a continuing opportunity for executive directors of LGBTQ organizations to receive on-going support in their challenging roles.

Securing the LGBTQ Future: There is an immense opportunity to bring additional financial resources to the LGBTQ community through legacy giving (giving from donors' estates). Horizons has long been a regional and national leader in efforts to realize this opportunity. In the Bay Area, the foundation continually promoted legacy giving as a way for donors - larger or smaller - to have profound impact through a legacy gift. We also continued to build the LGBTQ Community Endowment Fund to provide permanent resources for promoting rights and well-being of LGBTQ people. The Endowment is being built almost entirely through estate gifts, and more than 380 people have informed Horizons that the foundation is included in their estates. On a national level, Horizons continued to lead development of the groundbreaking National LGBTQ Legacy Giving Initiative. This visionary and unprecedented initiative is helping other LGBTQ communities across the country also realize the opportunity in legacy giving.

Promoting Philanthropy: A lack of financial resources has long limited the capacity of nonprofit organizations to meet the varied and serious needs of the LGBTQ community, both in the Bay Area and beyond. Horizons is committed to bridging this gap not only through grantmaking but also by increasing community giving. This work included: (A) Horizons promoted giving by LGBTQ people for LGBTQ causes by offering expert seminars to educate donors and the LGBTQ community about current issues, giving strategies, and funding opportunities; (B) Horizons worked with individual donors to define their philanthropic goals and develop giving strategies for both life-time and legacy gifts; (C) The foundation also built philanthropy by convening and working with scores of financial and legal advisors serving the LGBTQ community in the San Francisco Bay Area; and (D) The Foundation led innovative research and testing efforts to strengthen the fundraising capabilities of LGBTQ nonprofits in the Bay Area and across the country.