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The Rising Tide:
Philanthropy & Volunteerism in the LGBT Community
(click for bio & past articles)
Note: LGBT Community leader Jeff
Lewy will be an on-going contributor to our new column on philanthropy
and volunteerism, The Tide Rises All Ships: Philanthropy and
Volunteerism, introduced by the column's founder Jody Cole. This
month Jeff contributes the first in his series authored especially for
Betty's List.
Giving to Secure our Rights
By Jeff Lewy
In my last article I noted that many minority communities, including
LGBTs, need philanthropy to support their efforts to achieve civil
rights and equality.
This kind of philanthropy seems different from giving for social
service causes like AIDS, or elder services, or youth programs.
Social service giving (usually) has tax advantages, and one of the
reasons people give is to get a tax deduction.
Civil rights giving, also called advocacy, may have tax advantages. But political giving is NOT tax-advantaged.
As a result, many people make a decision something like this: "I
want to help my community, but I don’t have a lot of money and I need
the tax benefit. So I’ll give just to social service groups."
However, since our civil rights are often controlled by individuals in
public office, we are not effective if we don’t participate in advocacy
and the election process. We see this in the recent wave of
"defense of marriage" legislation promoted and carried out by elected
officials.
As we all learned in civic classes, our government is a balance of
three branches – judicial, legislative, and executive. We have
made great progress in the last few years, with the support of the
courts – the judicial branch. However, if we depend only on the
judicial branch to defend and extend our rights, we lose the
opportunity to promote and achieve positive changes that might come
from the executive and legislative branches. And our conservative
opponents continue their efforts to mold the courts in their image.
Examples of legislative impact on our community come easily to mind
these days: It is the LGBT legislators in California who made the
arguments for domestic partnership legislation that protects us in many
ways, and those same legislators who persuaded their colleagues in the
California legislature to pass the marriage bill. But it is the
governor, the executive branch, who vetoed the bill.
And it is the legislatures and politicians in many states that have
passed or put on the ballot "defense of marriage" laws that are
intended to keep us unequal.
The lesson from these experiences of recent years is that we must
become politically active if we wish to achieve full equality in our
society. And it’s true that political giving doesn’t have tax
advantages – but it can generate the ultimate advantage of real
equality if we participate.
After all, there are three ways to destroy the fear and opposition of those who would keep us as second-class citizens.
One: Change the minds of voters through our individual actions and
stories, showing them that we are worthy of their respect and support.
Two: Change voters’ minds through public opinion and advocacy.
Three: Elect LGBT and ally politicians to legislate and administer the laws to give us full equality.
So, what should you do? What can you do?
Think about ways to give your money and your time.
YOUR MONEY:
- Support groups and individuals working for your future as full citizens.
- Give money to support politicians that support us and our rights, especially when they are being attacked by our foes.
- Identify the politicians who oppose our rights and act to hurt us – and give money to their opponents.
- Join and support the groups working to promote our equality.
YOUR TIME:
Your time can be as valuable as your money.
- Give your time as a volunteer, and participate in "messaging"
campaigns via letter, email and phone, to influence politicians.
- Participate as a voter, and evaluate carefully the promises given by candidates.
- Make your position known to legislators and politicians through email
lists and other "messaging" techniques. Write a letter to your
elected politicians explaining your point of view. Politicians
are very sensitive to their constituents – it’s the only way they can
get re-elected.
- And politicians that support us need and can use help "on the
ground." Join a local LGBT political group, and learn how to
knock on doors, put up signs, "walk a precinct," and help a politician
of your choice with the daily tasks of convincing voters to vote for
her or him.
You may ask, "But I’m only a small fry, and can’t really have any
effect on who gets elected senator, or governor, or president!"
But you can have a significant role in electing state and local
officials, such as city council members, county officials, state
legislators – and they can make significant changes on the local and
state levels. Also, many of them will "grow up" to be state-wide
or national figures, and become more influential as time goes on.
And think about giving outside your own area. Are there areas in
your state that hold back state-wide progress? Can you support
political action in the town where you grew up? Or where you have
family? Your dollars may have a lot more effect in a smaller
state or town than California or San Francisco.
So be smart about how you give, and give to change the political
climate. If we truly change that climate and achieve equality,
the need for social service giving that is now required to repair lives
damaged by homophobia and oppression will diminish, and we will live in
a fairer and happier time and place.
Bio & Past Articles
Past Articles
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Betty's List Philanthropy & Volunteerism
Columnist Jody Cole
Jody Cole is a donor and philanthropic activist who was born and raised in Birmingham, AL. She moved to the Bay Area in 1984 and lived in San Francisco for 18 years before moving to her ranch in Mendocino County. She has spent the past 15 years focusing on human rights and animal welfare. She also encourages women, especially lesbians, to become more philanthropic.
Jody has supported non-profit organizations, special projects and LGBT candidates for elected office. Her fundraising experience includes serving as Capital Campaign Co-chair for the San Francisco LGBT Community Center Project, helping raise $15 million dollars to build the Center; Annual Giving class agent for her alma mater, Converse College in Spartanburg, SC; and fundraising leader for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, The Human Rights Campaign, Community United Against Violence, Lesbian Health Research Center at UCSF, and Woman Vision's “All God's Children” project directed by Dee Mosbacher.
She has also raised funds for election campaigns of Assemblywoman Carole Migden; Assemblyman Mark Leno and Hon. Roberta Achtenberg.
Currently, she is the Chair of the Board of Directors for The Pride Alliance Network in Mendocino County. Additional board experience includes Recovering Information Services, Inc. (1994); Resourceful Women (1994-1997); Community United Against Violence (1994-1998), and Community Center Project of San Francisco (1998 – 2002).
Jody has received numerous awards for her community work.
Additionally, she has served in volunteer and advisory capacities with ICON Newsmagazine, Carole Migden, Horizons Foundation, the Lavender Think Tank for the Reelection of Mayor Willie Brown, Pets In Need, and the Marine Mammal Center. She was co-producer of the Hopland Women's Festival from 1994 - 2004, a well-known women's music, comedy and crafts festival in Hopland, California.
In her spare time, she travels to Africa and has begun leading private trips to Sub-Saharan countries for those interested in a safari experience of a lifetime. Her highest achievement to date is successfully summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (19340') in 1998! She can be contacted at Wild Affair Productions, Ukaih, CA, via e-mail: Wildfair@Aol.com
Contributing Author Bio
 Jeff Lewy has been active for more than three decades in the San Francisco Bay Area LGBT community as a donor, board member and activist for LGBT rights.
He is currently a member of the Board of Horizons Foundation, serving as co-chair for the organization's 25th Anniversary Gala. Horizons is the San Francisco Bay Area's LGBT community foundation. Jeff also serves on the Board of Continuum, a provider of health care for persons with HIV in the Tenderloin. He has previously served on the Boards of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.
Jeff is also actively involved with Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Frontline Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, Equality California and other nonprofits and civil rights organizations.
A thought from Jeff: "It is clear to me that the elders of our community are my parents, and the youth of our community are my children. I want to do all I can to see that they have the financial and social backing to be full, happy, productive members of society."
Jeff Lewy can be reached at airbair@aol.com.
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