Philanthropic support for LGBTQ+ organizations totaled $557.84 million in 2019, accounting for just 0.13 percent of total U.S. charitable giving, according to a report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI.

The LGBTQ+ Index and research report (41 pages, PDF), supported in part by Google.org, found that from 2015 and 2018, LGBTQ+ organizations received between 0.1 percent and 0.12 percent of total giving. At the same time, the rate of cumulative growth in philanthropic support for LGBTQ+ organizations from 2015 to 2019 was nearly double that of non-LGBTQ+ organizations (46.3 percent vs. 24.9 percent), with particularly strong year-over-year growth rates in 2017 (11.7 percent) and 2018 (12.2 percent), which corresponds with documented growth in giving to LGBTQ+ causes following the 2016 presidential election. The report also highlights the diverse and widespread nature of LGBTQ+ organizations, which appear in every nonprofit subsector (e.g., health, human services, and arts), and notes that at least four LGBTQ+ organizations exist in every state.

“We are pleased to launch the inaugural LGBTQ+ Index as part of our school's commitment to better understanding charitable giving to under-served communities,” said Lilly Family School of Philanthropy associate dean for research and international programs Una Osili. “The [i]ndex provides groundbreaking insights that enable people and organizations in the LGBTQ+ community to see themselves in charitable giving data. This new research shows that LGBTQ+ organizations are operating with relatively low levels of philanthropic support and other financial resources while still achieving powerful results for the diverse communities they serve.” 

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