$2 million endowment to enhance lives of LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky
Kentucky LGBTQ+ nonprofits deserve more funding from Kentucky foundations. Because of increasing hostility towards our community in the Bluegrass and across the United States, our nonprofit ecosystem is growing and expanding resources while we race for an almost fabled pot of gold nestled at the end of an even more elusive rainbow. However, one Louisville-based foundation is stepping up with the help of a new endowment.
The Community Foundation of Louisville recently announced a $2 million endowment (only the earnings from the initial investment can be disbursed annually), the Charles & Jack Fund for LBGTQ+ Advancement, created by the late Charles Gruenberger and Jack Kersey — two longtime trailblazers in advocating for queer rights and HIV/AIDS education in Louisville. The fund seeks to meet the unique needs of queer youth and advance the work of organizations who are on the ground supporting this population.
Before their passing, the couple established a field of interest fund with the the Community Foundation. A Field of Interest fund addresses a particular area of interest or concern, and enables a donor to support evolving needs and opportunities for a variety of nonprofits focused on their broad area of interest.
The couple entrusted the Community Foundation staff to determine the most impactful use of the proceeds from their initial gift. Through their initial endowment of two million dollars with the Foundation, this fund will continue to generate perpetual and permanent support for Louisville’s LGBTQ+ community. The Foundation enlisted the help of local people intimately involved in the LGBTQ+ community to determine an impactful use of available funds. Through the hard work and dedication of the Charles & Jack Fund Advisory Committee, in our first year we will offer grants of up to $20,000 to six area nonprofits working to uplift and support Louisville’s LGBTQ+ youth.” — Community Foundation of Louisville
Organizations like Sweet Evening Breeze, a nonprofit eradicating homelessness for queer youth, can benefit greatly from this funding, says executive director Glenn Martin.
“It’s rare to see grant funds exclusively geared towards the queer youth community, which is an identified group that so needs continued support services and attention,” Martin said. “For our youth, this means more stability in housing, food, more gender affirming therapy, case management, and access to community services.”
Local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations serving LGBTQ+ youth (aged 24 and under) are invited to apply online for grant funding of up to $20,000 from now until July 10, 2024, at midnight (ET). The Foundation will also host a virtual information session for nonprofits on June 13 at 3:30 p.m. (ET) to learn more about the grant application for the Charles & Jack Fund for LGBTQ+ Advancement.
Advisory Board
Joel Buno – Crane House
Glenn Martin – Sweet Evening Breeze
Chris Hartman – Fairness Campaign
Jonathan Lowe – Jefferson County Public Schools
T B. Gonzales – MSW, PMP
Elana Rosenberg – Louisville Youth Group
Ariel Brooks – Mandala Louisville
Lisa Gunterman – University of Louisville
Mike Slaton – Louisville Pride Foundation (now Louisville Orchestra)
Kaila Story – University of Louisville
Keturah Herron – State Representative
Sam Marcosson – University of Louisville
Robert Barry Fleming – Actors Theater
Spencer Jenkins – Queer Kentucky
The Business of LGBTQ+ Nonprofit Funding
In 2023, the South reported the hightest rates of considered suicide, attempted suicide, and experienced symptoms of Depression among LGBTQ young people across the nation (Trevor Project), yet the grant dollar per queer adult (GDQ) stands at a still shockingly low $8.77. By state, some funding is even lower – leaving less resources to be shared with queer people in need. Kentucky’s GDQ is $.72, while the rate of Kentuckian LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing poverty was 28% in 2016 according to the William Institute. With less than $10 to be shared per queer adult in the South, and less than $1 in Kentucky, the gap in funding can’t provide long term solutions.
USA Giving reported the majority of charitable dollars in 2022 were donated to religious organizations (27%), human services (14%), education (13%), grant making foundations (11%), and health (10%). It’s unclear how much of this funding is shared with LGBTQ+ individuals, and due to antigay and anti-transgender beliefs, some religious and human service organizations withhold necessary care and resources to those that identify as anything outside heteronormativity. Large conservative funders can also sway organizations to leave out queer communities by pressuring to mirror their beliefs.
About Charles and Jack
Charles Gruenberger and Jack Kersey met sometime around 1950 in Washington D.C, where Charles was teaching dentistry at Georgetown University, and Jack was a dancer with the Washington Ballet. They would move to Louisville in 51’ and return to D.C. a year later when Charles was drafted into the Korean War, serving at the Pentagon. In 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, making homosexuality a disqualification for federal employment. In the wake of the order, they left the Capitol for Louisville again, this time for good. Upon settling in Old Louisville, Gruenberger and Kersey described the city’s gay scene as “conservative” and “very, very discreet.” Fortunately, they committed themselves to bringing safety, visibility, and resources to Louisville’s queer citizens when few existed.
In 1970, the Louisville Gay Liberation Front, which held university classes at UofL on gay life, was started in a building Kersey owned. Kersey famously became the first Louisville man to come out as gay on television when he was featured in a WLKY segment in 1978. In the 80s, after an unsuccessful attempt to add a gay crisis hotline through Louisville’s social service agencies, Jack and Charles helped form the CommTen Center. Beyond providing the crisis line the city refused to offer, the CommTen Center provided diverse educational and cultural programs for LGBTQ people and hosted the earliest local meetings with elected and campaigning officials.
When the AIDS crisis reached Louisville, Jack and Charles took in a young person dying of AIDS whose parents wanted nothing to do with them. Then they took in another. Finally, in 1986, they purchased Glade House at 1022 S. 6th St. as a residential community and hospice for HIV/AIDS sufferers. Glade House was so successful that a neighboring building was purchased, and professional staff were brought on board. In 2001, Glade House was acquired by House of Ruth and still provides shelter for homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS to this day.
In 1994, Charles established a Trust with the Community Foundation of Louisville with the condition that, upon his and Jack’s deaths, a Field of Interest Fund be opened to continue the incredible work they dedicated their lives to in support of marginalized communities.
Since their passing, Charles and Jack’s legacy of resiliency lives on in the Charles & Jack Fund for LBGTQ+ Advancement.
