Just Fund Education Project dba JustFundKY

It's hard to believe, but discrimination is still an ongoing problem here in the 21st century.  While the Supreme Court has recently recognized marriage as a basic human right that should be available to all persons regardless of their gender, there is still a strong movement to deny LGBT people the right to shop and do business with stores and service providers that are open to the public. There is still a movement to deny LGBTQ persons the right to adopt or be foster parents.  There are still businesses that covertly have policies of not hiring LGBTQ people. There are still landlords who try not to rent apartments or business space to LGBTQ people. The battle has not yet been won.  Our goal is to secure equal rights for all persons, so that no one experiences any humiliation or embarrassment simply by doing everyday activities.

We have two main strategies.  One, to give monetary support to small groups working in their Kentucky Communities to educate and advocate for equality, fairness, and non-discrimination.  Second, we highlight the good deeds and philanthropy that LGBT persons have done for the community.  In 2016, for example, in addition to our annual grants, our annual event was a "fun roast" of Debra Hensley, a former LFUCG council member, small business owner, and community activist who has pioneered projects that benefit all of the Bluegrass, such as Lexington Community Radio. In 2017 we held a series of meet & greet events to introduce LGBTQ advocates to one another and to education about legacy giving as a strategy to build the endowment so that we can increase the number of grants given annually.  In the Spring of 2018 we held a grand unveiling of two historical markers in Lexington celebrating places where significant events in the development of local LGBTQ culture and early legal efforts to secure civil rights took place.  Our grants and outreach efforts are designed to educate the public about fairness issues and reduce the amount of discrimination against LGBTQ persons in Kentucky.

Our endowment fund allows us to give the grants and to hold our annual awareness and education events; that is our main resource.  Our hard working board members and volunteers are our next biggest resource - a mix of LGBT persons and non-LGBT persons who care about the issue of discrimination in all forms.  Social media is a growing source of educational and advocacy opportunities both for spreading the word and for hearing about new issues that may affect our struggle against discrimination.

Our focus for 2018 will be to increase our endowment fund.  In 2017 we launched a Legacy Campaign to encourage aging Boomers to consider supporting LGBTQ education as part of their end-of-life planning.  With the current endowment balance, our fund generates just enough yearly income to cover a small number of annual Cliff Todd Grants.  However, with both costs of programming and community need increasing, we would like to increase our grant-making and to make sure that any stock market volatility will not have a large negative impact on our ability to give grants and fund education efforts around the state.  To do this, we need to increase the base principal amount of our endowment to a level that will be safe from sudden market swings, future inflation, unexpected emergencies and, of course, long-term ordinary growth.  So this year we look to the future with hope that it will be steady and secure.