Just Fund Education Project dba JustFundKY

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.

In an ideal world, there would never be a story about discrimination in the news or on social media, because it would never happen.  We don't live in that world just yet, but as those who use hate and fear-mongering to attempt to circumvent equality and fairness continue to act with discrimination, the victim's stories are now publicly told and shared widely via social media and news outlets. We hear stories of injustices, bullying, even suicides.   Hopefully, we will begin to see less of these stories as discrimination becomes a thing of the past, and instead see many more positive stories of cooperation and outreach, successful LGBTQ parents, students, business persons, and community activists doing wonderful things not just for the LFGBTQ community, but for everyone in Kentucky.  When no more lawsuits are filed, when no complaints with the human rights commission are filed, when no one fears to go to school, apply for a job, buy or rent a home, or shop for special occasions, then the ideal future will have arrived.

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.