COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Round: Emergency Assistance Grants for Individuals and Families

Updates to the COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Process

Update March 27: 

We are closing the Emergency Assistance Grant Round. We will be awarding the first 100 grants we received, and we now have a waiting list of 100 that we are fundraising to make grants to. We know this is a challenging, stressful time, and we are sending our support. If we are able to raise the funds to reopen this grant round, we will. The Community Response Grants application remains open with no waiting list.

Update March 26: 

This grant process opened on March 25, and within 14 hours we received 103 applications for Emergency Assistance Grants from 10 Southern states. We are processing those applications now, which will expend the $10,000 we had dedicated for these grants, and we’ve created a fast-growing waiting list. The Community Response Grants application remains open with no waiting list.

How It Works

LGBTQ Southerners are now able to apply for immediate financial support of $100. Applicants can use the funding for basic needs like groceries, rent/mortgage payments, prescriptions or medical bills, prevention supplies, and more.

We’ve made the funding application short and simple. Please note that the Campaign for Southern Equality team is working remotely and will be working to process grants as quickly as possible, on a rolling basis.

Criteria to Receive Funding

The following are required in order to receive funding:

• You must be based in the South and a member of the LGBTQ community.
• This emergency funding is designed to route funds quickly to people already experiencing the health and financial impacts of the pandemic and its secondary consequences, with a focus on people and communities who are at particularly high risk.

Priorities

These priorities also guide our funding decisions:

• Individuals that are disproportionately vulnerable to the health risks of COVID-19, including senior citizens, people with immune conditions, and people with chronic disease.
• Applicants who are first responders, health care providers, and employees in the industries that have already been impacted by the economic downturn resulting from COVID-19.
• People of color, trans and nonbinary people, people with low incomes, and people living in rural areas.

Ready to Apply?

UPDATE MARCH 27: We are closing the Emergency Assistance Grant Round. We will be awarding the first 100 grants we received, and we now have a waiting list of 100 that we are fundraising to make grants to. We know this is a challenging, stressful time, and we are sending our support. If we are able to raise the funds to reopen this grant round, we will. The Community Response Grants application remains open with no waiting list.

Special Thanks

The Campaign for Southern Equality will distribute a total of $25,000 through Emergency Assistance funds, Community Response Grants, and Frontline Grants to Direct Service Providers. Big thanks to Gender Benders, a longtime partner of CSE, for donating $5,000 for Emergency Assistance Grants; and, for their support of the Southern Equality Fund, to foundations including Arcus Foundation, Freeman Foundation, Laughing Gull Foundation, Mandel-Rodis Fund, the Out in the South Initiative of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Donate to Support the COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Round

Want to donate to Campaign for Southern Equality’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Round? A generous donor to the Campaign for Southern Equality has pledged to double every dollar we raise for the next round of grants, up to $15,000. Your $5 will automatically become a $10 gift thanks to the match pledge. Click here and your gift will go directly to a grant supporting LGBTQ Southerners impacted by  the COVID-19 pandemic.

Make a Donation

Return to Southern Equality Fund program page to see all components of SEF, including grassroots training webinars, spotlights on grantees, and more.