Stonewall LIbrary & Archives Inc
HISTORY=PRIDE
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Members of the LGBTQ community have for centuries been marginalized. Though the collection, preservation, and exhibition of items in our archives and library, we seek to ensure that LGBTQ history is never forgotten and is available for discovery and research.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Stonewall National Museum & Archives
Stonewall National Museum & Archives (SNMA) is a safe, welcoming place that inspires and promotes understanding through collecting, preserving and sharing the proud culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer people of all stories, and their significant role in American society.
Founded in 1973, just four years after the Stonewall riots in New York that gave rise to the current LGBTQ equality movement, SNMA is one of the leading gay archives in America collecting, preserving and presenting gay culture for future generations, highlighting our significant role in American society and history. Hundreds of individuals have contributed their books, papers and collections to SNMA. Now in its 47th year of operation, SNMA offers research materials, collections, exhibitions, and educational and social programming. . You can see a learn more about our programs by visiting Stonewall-Museum.org.
The Stonewall Library remains the largest LGBTQ collection in the world, visited by thousands each year with over 28,000 LGBTQ books of fiction, non-fiction, biography, and art.
In our Archive, we have more than 2,700 linear feet of documents, totaling more than 6 million individual pages. There are more than 3,000 periodical titles and national LGBTQ+ publications and regional serials from more than 75 cities nationwide. Additionally, SNMA has more than 2,000 objects of critical importance to gay history—mostly from the last 50 years. Items from SNMA regularly form an integral part of exhibitions nationwide. While our collections are significant, we work to assure the histories of all within the LGBTQ community, cross all races and ethnicities.
SNMA also operates one of the most important national education programs in support of LGBTQ children, convening an annual symposium and training program for school district administrators, mental health counselors, and teachers ensuring the emotional success of LGBTQ students in the public-school system. It is the only program of its kind in the United States. Through our exhibitions program, talks and lectures, and collaborative partnerships we attract thousands each year, enriching the lives of countless others.
SNMA exhibitions and programs are thoughtfully designed to be diverse in nature to explore identities from an intersectional framework. As a cultural institution fully committed to documenting cultural and social history, we are dedicated to creating opportunities for enhancing voices which are often silenced. By presenting LGBTQ history and culture we lay the foundation for building strong and lasting communities based on mutual care, respect, and understanding. From Denver to Boston, Austin to Portland, San Francisco to Chicago, Stonewall’s programs reach a vast national audience, affirming current generations and educating others.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
1. Continue strengthening programmatic, operational, leadership, and advisory functions.
2. Increase revenue and build cash reserves.
3. Increase inclusion, equity, and diversity and belonging regarding people, holdings, and programs.
4. Increase outreach to local and national audiences.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. As SNMA matures as an organization, it seeks to professionalize it policies to practices regarding the operation of a library, archive, and museum. For too many years, SNMA has relied upon the input of well-meaning volunteers but to be viable we need to meet industry standards in our areas of practice.
2. To remain financially sound, continue to operate without a deficit, and build on cash reserves.
3. SNMA’s roots has been primarily in the gay white, male population. There has never been any intentionality in diversity. We seek to diversify our people, holdings, and programs. Specific recommendations on this topic have come from our Task Force on Anti-Racism.
4. Given the vastness of SNMA’s holdings, we seek to make them available to a larger local and national
1. Continue strengthening programmatic, operational, leadership, and advisory functions.
a. Programmatic
i. Increase programming budget.
ii. Build more archival infrastructure and finding aids.
iii. Begin archival digitization.
iv. Activate collections committee – set priorities for new acquisitions (BIPOC, politics, youth, etc.
v. Maintain professional affiliations and continue MAP type assessment.
vi. Create collaborative program plan (i.e., local outreach initiatives, youth, BIPOC, artists, organizations, remote educational opportunities, teacher training programs in other cities, graduate student fellowships, etc.)
vii. Create and implement program assessment tools.
b. Operational
i. Build and strengthen internal infrastructure and programs.
ii. Increase and supervise additional staff.
iii. Improve/expand space – dependent on availability and funding.
c. Leadership – Board of Directors
i. Quarterly training on roles, responsibilities, fundraising, etc.
ii. Increase size of board by 5 new members.
iii. Increase size of Finance Committee to 4 members.
iv. Increase size of Development Committee to 10 members
v. Increase size of Audit Committee to 3 members.
vi. Recruit and train future board leadership.
d. Advisory – National Advisory Council
i. Rewrite/refocus mission, purpose, and role.
ii. Create guidelines and regular meeting schedule.
2. Increase revenue and build cash reserves.
a. Increase fundraising budget.
b. Increase annual revenue by 6%.
c. Continue to operate without deficits.
d. Devise and implement plan for investing EIDL.
e. Develop cash reserve equal to 25% of annual expenses within three years.
f. Explore and reach out to new institutional funders.
g. Increase membership base annually 30/20/10% over next three years.
h. Increase corporate sponsorship annually 30/20/10% over next three years. .
i. Increase outreach for testamentary giving.
j. Build young donor base.
k. Increase donor base by 25%
l. Identify and secure 5 new high net worth donors per year.
3. Increase inclusion, equity, and diversity and belonging regarding people, holdings, and programs.
a. Adopt a new policy of inclusion, equality, diversity, and belonging.
b. Create a budget allocation.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Stonewall National Museum & Archives is a safe, welcoming place that inspires and promotes understanding through collecting, preserving, and sharing the proud culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people of all stories, and their significant role in American society.
SNMA is one of the leading gay archives in America. In our Archive, we have more than 2,700 linear feet of documents, totaling more than 6 million individual pages. There are more than 500 periodical titles and national LGBTQ publications as well as regional serials from more than 75 cities nationwide. Additionally, SNMA has more than 2,000 objects of critical importance to gay history—mostly from the last 50 years.
The Stonewall Archives serves as a critical source of information, aiding historians, scholars, and students in their research and study of LGBTQ history and culture. Since its inception, hundreds have benefited from the papers, serials, objects, and ephemera housed in this important collection. Items from SNMA regularly form an integral part of Stonewall’s exhibitions as well as other exhibitions nationally.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
Who are the people you serve with your mission?
The audience for SNMA’s exhibitions and programming includes all sections of the community without consideration to race, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Stonewall’s audience is strong both locally and nationally. Patrons from Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties represent 56% of our audience with another 44% residing out-of-state or out of the country.
-
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees,
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
-
With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Stonewall LIbrary & Archives Inc
Board of directorsas of 10/17/2022
Ms. Jacki Bennett
Stonewall National Museum & Archives
Term: 2021 - 2024
Alan Beck
Fun Maps / Multimedia Platforms (retired)
Maria Lescano
Attorney - Lescano Law PA
Alan Uphold
Comm. Consultant & Public Speaking Coach
Gary Carlin
Professor - Lynn University
Frankie Mendez
Lynn University, College of Comm. & Design
Donald Oravec
Writer’s Trust of Canada (retired)
James Doan
Professor - Nova Southeastern University
Diana Bruce
Collaborate with Diana Bruce
Ronald Herron
Southern Connecticut State University (Emeritus)
Julio Capo, Jr.
Associate Professor of History - Florida International University
Jacki Bennett
American Society on Aging (ASA)
Ruperto Arvelo
Arvelo Architecture
Karen Kelley
Century 21
Ernest Harrison
Pasadena Conservatory of Music
Ida Hood
Health Education
Hugh Ryan
Independent Scholar
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/16/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.