Awards

The IanThom Foundation has now got its own website at www.IanThom.org. The information on these pages is no longer being updated.

The IanThom Foundation makes grants to any worthy charity that improves the lives and condition of the LGBT community. Awards will be made to health organizations, services groups, youth groups, arts groups and other organizations that the Board of Trustees deem appropriate.

The following is a listing of just some of the groups to whom the Foundation has made grants: (the descriptions of their work and influence are entirely the opinion of myself and, if you have a problem with it, tough shit!):

AIDS Action Coalition
http://www.aidsactioncoalition.org

AIDS Network of the Tri-State Area
The Aids Network is a tiny, local AIDS service organization, based in Martinsburg, WV, that provides support, services, education, prevention and assistance to residents of the tristate area, With few resources, they do an amazing amount of good.
http://www.antsa.org

AIDSRIDE DC
AIDSRIDE is a fundraiser that brings in many folks who would not normally be involved in fundraising for AIDS groups as well as increases visibility at a local and national level.
http://www.aidsride.org

American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU fights to protect the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Possibly the most vilified and yet most important organization in America, especially under the current administration's dangerous little worldview.
http://www.aclu.org

Atlantic States Gay and Lesbian Rodeo Association
Thom was a founder of the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Rodeo and this was an organization close to his heart. When the Washington area Gay and Lesbian Rodeo was founded, he was one of the first supporters. Their rodeo is in the fall each year. Join us!
http://www.asgra.org

CASA
CASA of the Eastern Panhandle advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children within the court system to secure a safe and permanent home for each child.

CARTA
CARTA is a small organization in the Baltimore area providing assistance to youth, including LGBT youth. They are supported and recommended by our friends Jenni Lindsay and Nancy Bearss
http://www.cartainc.org

Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military
A wonderful policy studies group, based out of UCLA Berkeley, working to end the ban on gays in the military. Highly effective, they are routinely quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post and other reputable news sources. (see also SLDN)
http://www.queermilitary.ucsb.edu

Columbus AIDS Task Force
http://www.catf.net/

Contemporary American Theatre Festival
What is a theatre group doing among all these other organizations? If you have ever seen any of the plays chosen and produced by Ed Herendeen in West Virginia, you would understand. No subject is taboo and the influence of this festival is extraordinary. Art educates. Art challenges. Come stay with me and see these plays each July!
http://www.catf.org

Crystal Meth Working Group
http://www.letstalkaboutmeth.org/whoarewe.htm

Equality Maryland

Equality Virginia

Foundation for All DC Families

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Challenging the statements of assholes like Rick Santorum on a daily basis. Ensuring fair and balanced coverage of LGBT issues in the media.
http://www.glaad.org

Gay Men's Chorus of Washington
Thom was a wonderful singer and a longtime supporter of the Chorus. Not only are they superb but the education they provide is inestimable. A community organization that educates, entertains, provides a social outlet for gay men and generally improves the quality of life in the area. Go see their concerts, of which there are many each year!
http://www.gmcw.org

GenderPac
The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) works to end discrimination and violence caused by gender stereotypes by changing public attitudes, educating elected officials and expanding legal rights. GenderPAC also promotes understanding of the connection between discrimination based on gender stereotypes and sex, sexual orientation, age, race and class. Gender based discrimination is not just a LGBT issue. It is an insidious and pervasive attitude which bears examining.
http://www.gpac.org

GLSEN
GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The Gay and Lesbian Student Education Network in 10 short years has gone from being a small group of educators running leadership conferences to mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students, educators, policymakers and many more towards a mission of creating safe schools for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
http://www.glsen.org

GLHSC
I am a passionate philatelist. GLHSC is a small group which raises LGBT visibility in the philatelic community and provides research and information on LGBT stamp subjects
http://www.glhsc.org

Human Rights Campaign
The "mainstream" LGBT political organization. Huge, influential, centrist, well run and rarely controversial, they provide highly effective lobbying, communication and education. Their influence in corporate America is astounding and their work superb. Join us at their annual dinner in Washington each October!
http://www.hrc.org

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Almost every advance in civil rights for LGBT people has come through the courts (and most of those have been due to Carter or Clinton judges!). Lambda Legal is the ACLU of the LGBT community. They file suit and challenge outdated, outmoded and discriminatory laws affecting all aspects of our lives. Quiet compared to other national organizations, their effectiveness and influence is staggering. They argued the recent famous Lawrence v Texas case which is about to change our world - and about damn time!
http://www.lambdalegal.org

Lambda Literary Foundation
Encouraging, supporting and rewarding the work of LGBT writers and artists. Their Lammy awards each year celebrate the best in LGBT literature, The Lambda Book Report and the James White Review are "must-reads".
http://www.lambdalit.org

The Mautner Project
The Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer is the national support, prevention and education group. The issues are too many to list here but not only are lesbians affected by access issues with regard to diagnosis and treatment, they are disproportionately affected by breast cancer (and the number of our lesbian friends who have been diagnosed is frightening). This is a terrific organization headed by the dynamic "Try Saying No To Me!" Kathleen DeBold. Join us at their annual dinner in October each year!
http://www.mautnerproject.org

34 Million Friends
Dubya and his right wing hatemongers cut family planning support to the United Nations because they might use this money for contraception or, horror of horrors, have an abortion. (Of course as women are always subject to men in their twisted little worldview, female genital mutilation and other obscenities are perfectly ok so long as they keep popping out babies who grow up to praise Jesus for their horrific little lives!) This group is trying to raise money to replace the $34 million taken away by the US. Send them a dollar! Send them $10. Please! (I get so depressed over this shit sometimes!)
http://unfpa.org/support

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
The left wing branch of the national LGBT organizations. They can be guaranteed to piss off almost everybody, including me sometimes, but it is vitally important to remember that without the far left pushing and agitating it is far too easy to slide to the right. (Just think about the effect the far Christian right has on the American political agenda in spite of their small numbers!) Just because you might disagree with some of their positions, don't let that stop your support. Their effectiveness diminished somewhat after the amazing Urvashi Vaid left in the early '90's but they are back and better than ever under the terrific oversight of Matt Foreman. If you used to support them but stopped, please reconsider. If you have never supported them, think about it. Their influence is most strongly felt at the state and local level. (The IanThom foundation, by the way, will only ever support the Log Cabin Republicans over my dead body!)
http://www.ngltf.org

ONE Institute and Archives
When the Holocaust Museum in Washington was being built, friends of mine were contacted as the Smithsonian was having terrible trouble finding information on the gay and lesbian victims of the Holocaust. The sad truth is that so much of our history has been destroyed, hidden, concealed due to homophobia and ignorance or otherwise lost over the years and not much of an effort has been made to preserve this. The ONE Institute and Archives in Los Angeles is dedicated to collecting, preserving, documenting, studying and communicating our history, our challenges and our aspirations. Remember Bowers v Hardwick assumed that there was historical precendence for sodomy laws. One of the three most important amicus briefs filed in Lawrence v Texas was written by a group of history professors who had studied LGBT history and disproved this. The ONE Institute and Archives are an extraordinary resource and deserve your support (and any historical materials you may have!)
http://www.oneinstitute.org

Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
It is a sad but valid truth. As Val said many years ago, when I told her that I was going to testify before the Fairfax County Board to ask for funding for AIDS, "Honey, they aren't going to listen to some little white fag from the suberbs. They will, however, listen to a Mom!" Think about it. If you are straight, we need you!
http://www.pflag.org

Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center
PPGLCC is a small community center operating with a tiny budget in Colorado Springs, one of the toughest communities in America to be LGBT. In fact, last year, the center was destroyed by arson. Somehow, however, they manage to do an incredible amount of work and provide a vast array of services. In addition, each January, they present the Thomas "Major" Martin Award in memory of Thom and the work he did for LGBT rights in Colorado. I love this organization and invite you to join me in January for the next dinner.
http://www.ppglcc.org

Point Foundation
The Point Foundation provides scholarships and mentoring to LGBT students.
http://www.pointfoundation.org

Pride Foundation
The Pride Foundation is a foundation based and operating in the Pacific Northwest. The reason for our involvement is to donate the Tony DeBlase scholarship fund. Tony was a leader in the BDSM/Leather community and the Scholarship Fund was created to expand the support of the understanding of alternative sexuality and to ensure that public opinion, medical diagnosis and government legislation are formed in the presence of accurate information.
http://www.pridefoundation.org

Project Inform
Project Inform has been there since the beginning of AIDS providing treatment and diagnosis information. Without PI, many more of us would already be dead.
http://www.projinf.org

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Like CSSMM, SLDN lobbies support for ending the ban on gays in the military. Almost every other western democracy has ended the ban without any problem and yet America remains hostage to the ill-informed, bigoted and hateful agenda of the far right.
http://www.sldn.org

Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League
I remember coming out as a young man thinking that I was the only one, that there was something wrong with me. At that time there were no support organizations for LGBT youth and there was nowhere to turn for information, help or support. SMYAL is one of the oldest and most effective organization to provide these services. The advances made towards acheiving our rights require that the support networks be in place to help youth in their journey towards understanding their own sexuality.
http://www.smyal.org

Stonewall Democrats
http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/

Uncommon Legacy
Uncommon Legacy is, unfortunately, closed but they used to provide academic scholarships to lesbian students and grants to projects or organizations that address lesbian issues. They promoted lesbian philanthropy and built upon our existing coalitions.

United Way of Jefferson County
A tiny United Way in a rural West Virginia County. What on earth is the relevance here?? The answer is Mrs. Sue Pellish, executive director, who managed to get the Board, after great difficulty, to stop funding the Boy Scouts! There is no question that the Boy Scouts are not a great organization, but until they get rid of their outdated ban on gay men (which is entirely sponsored and supported by the Mormon and Catholic churches, their two largest funders), they need to be defunded. One day soon they will wake up.

V Day
If you have never read or seen the Vagina Monologues, you won't understand!
http://www.vday.org

Victory Fund
The Victory Fund works to get LGBT officials elected at the state and national level. Not only do they provide support, training and other services to candidates, they operate primarily as a PAC. You receive information on candidates to support around the country and send your checks to help get them elected. They were also strong supporters of Thom in his campaign to the West Virginia House of Delegates prior to his death. Their track record is terrific and the number of open LGBT elected officials has increased dramatically in the 12 years since their founding.
http://victoryfund.org

Walk for the Cure
A fundraiser for the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation. (See information under the Mautner Project above!)
http://www.nationalraceforthecure.com

WVFree
A totally fabulous organization operating out of Charleston, WV on a shoestring budget headed by the terrific Margaret Chapman. WVFree protects the right to choice, increases accessibility to affordable birth control and educates on reproductive choices as well as developing alliances with groups that address inequalities including racism, homophobia and heterosexism, classism, ageism, ableism and religious discrimination.
http://www.WVFree.org

A number of smaller donations have been made to the following groups due to specific projects or to applaud actions that they have taken; i.e. when the Kennedy Center invited the Chorus to perform, we sent a small donation along with a note thanking them for their inclusiveness. (Better the carrot than the stick!)

American Humanist Association
The Arts Center
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Friends of Music at Shepherd University
Kennedy Center
National Geographic
National Postal Museum
Shakespeare Theatre
Smithsonian Institution
Yankauer Fund

If you know of, or are with, an organization that might wish to be considered for a grant, please mail information, along with your request, to IanGibsonSmith@iangibsonsmith.com.