Calamus gives one of the largest grants in its history to to organization for aging LGBT people; Atlantic awards SAGE its first-ever grant to an LGBT organization
Officials with Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Elders this week announced that the organization has received about $1.5 million in new funding from two sources: the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Calamus Foundation.
Both grants represent multi-year commitments by Atlantic and Calamus, and a major investment in the vision of SAGE’s new Strategic Plan, the SAGE officials said.
The Calamus Foundation awarded SAGE $1 million in a matching grant over four years, which is one of the largest awards that the foundation has ever given.
The Atlantic Philanthropies has awarded just less than $500,000 over two years, representing that foundation’s first-ever award to an LGBT organization.
"We are honored by this generous recognition by both the Calamus Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies," said Michael Adams, executive director of SAGE.
"In challenging economic times, it’s important to be strategic in maintaining funding that sustains our work long-term. These multi-year grants are designed to help SAGE build for a long, successful future of serving and advocating for LGBT older adults across the country," Adams said. "Both awards have a strong component of funding SAGE’s capacity building, infrastructure, and implementation of our forward-looking new Strategic Plan. We are thrilled that Calamus and Atlantic are partnering with SAGE to support generations of LGBT seniors to come."
SAGE must match the Calamus funds with new contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations, leveraging the Calamus support to attract new funding from other sources, Adams said. He said the funds will be used to "create a new generation of services for LGBT older adults in New York City; advocate on a national level for policy changes and funding to support LGBT senior programs; and provide technical assistance for the replication of SAGE’s service programs for LGBT seniors around the country.
Louis Bradbury, president of The Calamus Foundation’s board of directors, said his agency was "impressed by the substance of SAGE’s vision and strategic plan and wanted to partner at a significant level to support this vanguard work."
"SAGE fills a unique role in both aging services and LGBT advocacy, and this investment in SAGE’s future will impact generations to come," Bradbury said.
The Atlantic Philanthropies grant is an anchor investment designed to strengthen SAGE’s work by funding efforts to operationalize the agency’s strategic plan and supporting a capacity building project to enhance SAGE’s board of directors, Adams said. He added that the grant will also be used to support SAGE’s efforts to build a national LGBT aging network and to develop partnerships between SAGE and key agencies in the field of aging.
Stacey Easterling, program executive at The Atlantic Philanthropies, said, "SAGE’s pioneering work in the field is key to insuring that LGBT Americans can obtain a reasonable quality of life in their later years. The Atlantic Philanthropies is proud to award this anchor investment in building an organization that so many rely on both to address daily basic needs and to advocate for systematic change at the local and national levels."