Lambda Legal, a leading nonprofit legal aid group championing LGBTQ+ rights, has announced a groundbreaking fundraising achievement, securing an impressive $285 million.
This surpasses their initial goal by $105 million and comes at a crucial time as attacks on the rights of gay, intersex, and transgender people have intensified.
Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal, shared the news on Thursday, emphasizing the significance of this outpouring of support. “I think this is a statement by the LGBTQ+ community that we will not go back,” Jennings stated in an interview.
Lambda Legal has a rich history of legal victories, including landmark court cases that ended bans on gay marriage in 2015 and abolished laws criminalizing sex between gay adults in 2003. The organization quietly launched this ambitious fundraising campaign in 2022 in response to a surge of discriminatory bills in state legislatures.
These legislative efforts have sought to restrict discussions of sexuality and gender in schools, remove LGBTQ+-themed books from libraries, ban public drag shows, prohibit students from using their preferred pronouns, and limit access to gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Trump Administration’s Focus on Transgender Rights
This year, the Trump administration has specifically targeted transgender people. Actions have included orders for transgender individuals to leave the military, attempts to remove fair housing protections, and an executive order recognizing only two sexes, thereby denying the existence of trans, nonbinary, and intersex people. The administration has also tried to cut federal funding for gender-affirming medical care for trans children.
In response, Lambda Legal has filed multiple lawsuits against the administration, challenging its ban on transgender military service and its attempts to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth.
A Significant Shift in Giving
While Lambda Legal is a substantial nonprofit, with annual expenditures exceeding $20 million since 2021 and assets over $54 million in 2023, this recent campaign represents a major increase in its resources.
Jennings noted that since its founding in 1973, Lambda Legal had only received three individual gifts exceeding $1 million. In stark contrast, this campaign saw 14 individuals, two foundations, and one law firm contribute at least $1 million each, with several donors giving tens of millions.
“It was really individuals in the community who stepped up and made this campaign happen,” Jennings explained, highlighting that corporate support was not the primary driver.
Notable donors include billionaire author MacKenzie Scott, who previously contributed to the nonprofit in 2020 and 2021. The largest single gift, $25 million, came from the Kathryn G. Graham Trust. Graham was an early board member for Lambda Legal.
Of the $285 million raised, $80 million will be spent over the next five years, with the remaining $205 million pledged by donors through their estates, often referred to as planned gifts.
This influx of funds will enable Lambda Legal to hire more attorneys, establish a new mechanism for coordinating pro bono representation from major law firms, and conduct public trainings on LGBTQ+ rights.
“We’re not going to win every battle,” Jennings acknowledged, “but we’re going to fight every fight and we will keep fighting and we will be able to keep fighting because of this campaign until we eventually win.”
Despite this significant fundraising success, Lambda Legal’s resources still fall short of the funding received by conservative nonprofits that also use litigation to achieve public policy goals. For example, Alliance Defending Freedom reported raising over $100 million in both 2022 and 2023, according to their tax filings. This group has, among other actions, represented female athletes challenging the participation of transgender women and girls in sports and has contested laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.
A Familiar Threat, A Different Moment
The level of acceptance and visibility for gay, trans, intersex, and genderqueer people has undergone a dramatic transformation within the living memory of many Americans.
In 1961, Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality. The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1972. Yet, the fight for equal treatment and protection against discrimination continued for decades.
Two pivotal Supreme Court decisions in the past 25 years underscore the rapid shift in public attitudes toward LGBTQ+ rights. The 2003 ruling struck down sodomy laws that criminalized sex between gay adults, and the 2015 decision eliminated bans on gay marriage.
Marc Stein, a historian and professor at San Francisco State University, credits these and other victories to the LGBTQ+ movement’s mobilization, strategic court-based approaches, and direct protests.
He also pointed out a significant evolution in the movement’s fundraising base over the decades. In the 1950s and 60s, the movement was largely supported by its members through magazine subscriptions and membership fees, with some wealthy patrons also offering assistance. By the 1980s, the movement began actively seeking contributions from wealthy donors for LGBTQ+ causes.
“I think there was a real change in that period from funding that kept the movement close to the community,” Stein observed. “And then developments that led some, especially national organizations, to move away from the model of grassroots fundraising to a model of corporate and business fundraising.”
Currently, many Pride events across the country, including those in San Francisco and New York City, are reporting budget shortfalls due to the withdrawal of corporate sponsors. Some experts attribute this corporate retreat from brand activism, which peaked between 2016 and 2022, to a shifting cultural landscape and a growing number of consumers who prefer companies not to take stances on social issues.
Jennings of Lambda Legal highlighted the recent decline in corporate support for LGBTQ+ groups and attributed his organization’s fundraising success to its individual donors, many of whom he believes were motivated to prevent a rollback of the rights gained in their lifetimes.
“We’re seeing a lot of cowardice on the part of corporate America right now. A lot of people, who two years ago couldn’t wait to slap a rainbow on their logo, are no longer writing checks,” Jennings said. “I think Lambda turned to the community and the community responded. And sadly, corporate America, which a lot of groups have relied on, has given up the fight in some cases.”
