The election of Donald Trump poses unprecedented challenges for all those funding LGBTQ rights and other social justice issues. The new administration is wasting no time taking action on promises made during a divisive campaign that threaten the safety and livelihoods of many in our communities. As we brace for upcoming action on immigration, healthcare, civil rights issues, and more, it is more critical than ever that grantmakers committed to civil rights and social justice join together in conversation and collaboration.

Northern California Grantmakers, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Bay Area Justice Funders, and California Criminal Justice Funders invite funders to participate in a briefing on the state of LGBTQ funding. Speakers will share updates from the movement, explore national funding trends, and dive into local funding landscapes while considering how funders can respond to attacks on LGBTQ rights. The briefing will touch on issues most pressing in the face of this new administration, including criminalization, immigration, and religious exemptions.

Speakers

Roger Doughty is President of the Horizons Foundation. He has been an activist and leader in the LGBT movement for more than 25 years, and has led Horizons Foundation since 2002. Prior to joining the foundation, he served as the Executive Director of Horizons Community Services in Chicago, the Midwest’s largest LGBT social service and advocacy organization.

During his tenure, Roger led that organization’s expansion into the Chicago LGBT Community Center, known as the Center on Halsted. Before moving to Chicago, he was the Director of Programs for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, where he oversaw the Center’s 40-plus programs and services. Roger’s San Francisco background includes his tenure in the law firm of Heller Ehrman, where he specialized in refugee, immigration, and asylum cases involving people fleeing from gender and sexual orientation-related discrimination.

Roger also has served as president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance in Washington, D.C., and was Associate Director of the Coro Foundation. He serves on the boards of Northern California Grantmakers and the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). Roger holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College, a master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Surina Khan is CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California. For more than two decades, Surina has been a leader in the philanthropic and non-profit social justice sector starting with local community-based publishing in New England and then shifting to national and global work on an array of social justice issues including women’s rights, LGBT rights, human rights and more.

Before being appointed CEO in 2014, Surina served as a Director in the Democracy Rights and Justice Program at the Ford Foundation where she shaped more than $30 million in annual grantmaking around the world to expand rights for women, LGBT people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and in the area of strengthening democratic participation and governance.
Before joining Ford in 2011, Surina spent six years at the Women’s Foundation of California, serving as Vice President of Programs and providing strategic direction for grant making, strengthening the organizational effectiveness of social justice organizations and overseeing the Women’s Policy Institute, a policy advocacy training program for community-based leaders.

She previously served as executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, where she worked to advance the human rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Earlier in her career, Surina was a research analyst for Political Research Associates, conducting groundbreaking research on the Right’s attacks on women and LGBT people.

She currently serves on the Boards of Alliance for Justice, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and OutRight Action International (formerly the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission). Surina is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Campaign for College Opportunity, the Ambassador Council for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and a member of the Public Policy Committee for Southern California Grantmakers. She previously served on the boards of directors with numerous organizations including Funders for Population, Reproductive Health and Rights and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Her writing and research have been published widely in print and online publications.

Kristina Wertz joined Funders for LGBTQ Issues as Director of Engagement in 2013. Kristina oversees the organization’s programmatic efforts to increase the scale and impact of funding for LGBTQ communities through convenings and collective action. Kristina has a deep commitment to social justice with over a decade of experience advocating for LGBTQ communities as an attorney and policy advocate. Her track record includes litigating a number of groundbreaking transgender rights cases and expanding legislative protections for transgender and gender nonconforming people. Most recently, as Director of Policy and Programs and Legal Director at the Transgender Law Center, Kristina lead multidisciplinary litigation, advocacy, and movement building programs.

In 2011, Kristina was named on the National LGBT Bar Association’s inaugural list of “Top Lawyers Under 40.” She is a graduate of NYU and Brooklyn Law School. A proud San Francisco native, Kristina is adjusting to country life in upstate New York with her partner and daughter.

Ginna Brelsford is co-executive director of the GSA Network. Originally from Juneau, Alaska, Ginna is a highly qualified administrator with progressive leadership experience, who managed GSA Network’s finance and operations as Finance and Administrative Director before becoming Co-Executive Director. Ginna joined GSA Network’s staff in 2011 where she has served as a member of the Executive and Management Teams. A graduate of Smith College, Ginna has over 10 years of nonprofit financial and operations experience having previously been employed at MassEquality, Nonprofit Finance Fund, and Environmental Justice Coalition for Water. In her tenure at GSA Network, Ginna has overseen organizational human resources and operational needs in a rapid expansion of staff and infrastructure, including expansion to another state. Ginna became Co-Executive Director in 2015 and is also an Arcus Foundation Leadership Fellow. When not at GSA Network, Ginna enjoys traveling around California’s wine country with her wife, Jill.

Target Audience

Open to NCG members and members of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Bay Area Justice Funders and CA Criminal Justice Funders. If you are a NCG member, please log in to register. If you are not a NCG member, please email [email protected] to register