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➡️ Trans Youth Emergency Project
➡️ General Grants
➡️ Special Grant Rounds
➡️ Previous SEF Work
Every day, we witness the resilience, creativity and resourcefulness of LGTBQ+ grassroots organizers who are working to create equality in their hometowns. We believe that the organizers on the frontlines of the Southern LGBTQ+ movement can transform our region—but they need the funding and support to do so.
Since 2015, the Southern Equality Fund (SEF) has provided funding and training to Southern LGBTQ+ folks doing heroic organizing in their home regions. Each year we distribute at least 10% of CSE’s organizational budget through SEF grants. We prioritize work addressing the intersections of race, class and gender in the lives of LGBTQ+ Southerners. We also prioritize groups and individual leaders whose access to funding and support is limited due to barriers such as not having 501c3 status, or being located in a rural area.
We do this work because we believe that creating legal and lived equality in the South requires sustained organizing in every community, not just large metro areas. We also believe that building grassroots leadership —a core goal of SEF—is essential to the longterm vision of building LGBTQ political power in the South.
Trans Youth Emergency Project
Since 2023, the leading edge of our Southern Equality Fund work has been the Trans Youth Emergency Project, a program launched in response to cruel laws banning best-practice gender-affirming care. Such laws have passed in 25 states across the country – and as a result, thousands of transgender youth and their families are being forced to travel extreme distances and take on significant expenses just to get the care they need. The Trans Youth Emergency Project is here to help families navigate this complex and exhausting maze, offering logistical and financial support. Our team provides 1-on-1 custom patient navigation services and supports families of transgender youth with emergency grants to help them travel out of state for care. The project is currently active in 25 states with gender-affirming care bans, and has given hundreds of thousands of dollars directly to families of transgender youth. In each state where the program is active, TYEP is led in partnership local organizations that serve LGBTQ+ and particularly transgender folks.
Southern Equality Fund: General Grants
The Campaign for Southern Equality has paused general grantmaking and is currently directing all general grant funds to the Trans Youth Emergency Project. SEF continues to fund special grants for LGBTQ+ Southerners working to benefit their communities through the arts, health and wellness, and research.
Grassroots Training Webinars
Southern Equality Fund grassroots training webinars that cover a wide range of topics. All SEF grassroots training webinars have been recorded and can be accessed here, along with any resources and presentation materials shared during the webinar.
Special Grant Rounds
These are grants offered to LGBTQ+ people in the South who are in need of financial support for living expenses or for their work in the community. There are currently no special grants accepting new applicants.
Previous SEF Work
Click below to see past projects, trainings, and special grant rounds funded by the Southern Equality Fund.
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