Ten Questions for Saida Agostini-Bostic, President of Funders for LGBTQ Issues

Saida Agostini-Bostic. Photo: Jillian Burruby

Since 2021, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, a philanthropic support organization that organizes funders and supports power-building for queer communities, has been helmed by Saida Agostini-Bostic.

Funders for LGBTQ Issues is a network of over 100 foundations, corporations and funding institutions that together award about $200 million annually toward LGBTQ issues. It educates funders through research, such as reports tracking foundation funding to LGBTQ communities, cultural competence training and grantmaker convenings. It also houses philanthropic initiatives for transgender justice.

Saida Agostini-Bostic, who goes by she/her pronouns, identifies as a queer Afro-Guyanese cultural organizer, and is also a poet. Prior to joining Funders for LGBTQ Issues, she was a vice president at YWCA USA and a chief operating officer for FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. She holds a bachelor of arts in urban studies and poetry from the University of Pittsburgh and a master of social work from the University of Pennsylvania.

IP spoke with Saida about her background, work and hopes for philanthropy. Here are some excerpts from the conversation, edited for length and clarity.

What are some joys and challenges you’d like to highlight about the work at Funders for LGBTQ Issues?

Funders for LGBTQ issues has been around for 42 years. In the late 1970s, when this was founded, you could not openly be queer and advocating for funding. Even the foundations that could fund had to fund in ways that were undercover and secret. We have this powerful legacy of organizing and a really clear vision that has held our work. Today, over $250 million within the philanthropic sector is going to LGBTQ communities.

In terms of the challenges, the reality is, we're seeing trans and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) communities very specifically, and LGBTQ folks broadly, being attacked with a very coordinated strategy. That is not happening just stateside, but also globally, including attacks on bodily autonomy. Right now, I think it's over 500 bills that have attacked the rights of LGBTQ folks, but specifically TGNC communities, everything from being outed in schools to being told “don't say gay.” It's scary. It's hard work. I think often what's getting lost in this is that regardless of where you stand, or what your issue is, if you do not have a queer and trans praxis in your funding strategy, your grantmaking strategy will fail. The reality is, we're seeing queer and trans folks being used to really attack democracy, so I think those are important things to flag.

Our team is majority people of color. Almost all of our team is queer. Almost half of our team is TGNC along with our board, so these issues are impacting us real-time. I think that also sharpens our care for the work and our strategy. That's why our timing of the release of our new strategic plan has felt so necessary and also a moment for us to really galvanize our membership base.

The Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ Three-Year Strategy mentions an intention to combat disinformation about the LGBTQ movement. Can you share more?

We have a podcast, “Justice Ain’t Cheap.” It’s an opportunity to hear from philanthropic organizers as well as movement leaders talking in real time about what's happening today. One of our episodes featured Imara Jones from TransLash, and one of the things she said that really stuck out to me is the fact that over at the Heritage Foundation and other far-right conservative institutions, they’ve channeled over a billion dollars just within the United States alone to fund attacks around bodily autonomy, racial equity and what have you. 

A large part of the strategy to attack queer and trans folks is about disinformation and perpetuating dangerous tropes. For us, it's really about being able to assert the truth, and also to clear up misconceptions about what's happening within the movement, because I think there's also this belief that since same-sex marriage was was passed, we’re good and done now. The reality is that it in no way covers or fully protects LGBTQ folks. I think a lot of our work is helping to uplift all of the beautiful possibility movement models and work that's happening within queer and trans movements while at the same time acknowledging the deep need for resources.

What’s something on the horizon at Funders for LGBTQ Issues?

We just announced Funding Forward 2025, which will be at the end of March in Houston next year. We also are looking toward our funder briefings and just announced Funders United for Democracy and Trans Justice, a new network bringing together LGBTQ funders and democracy funders to actively invest and support trans and gender nonconforming movement-building as part of protecting our democracy. [Agostini-Bostic also mentioned Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ latest resource tracking report covering giving for LGBTQ groups in 2022.]

What would you like to share with grantseekers looking to secure funding for their LGBTQ movement work?

Trust your vision. The right philanthropic partners will want to invest in your voice and your leadership. I think it's really important to stay true to the vision of the work that you're holding. It's hard, because we have such limited resources, so it can be easy to be like, “I'll shift this just to get the money in.” While I don't dishonor that as a strategy, I think it's really important to find the folks and foundations that understand and believe in the work that you're doing as it is.

What are some of the philanthropic practices that support LGBTQ movements?

I think what's really important is support and investment in infrastructure. Obviously, we need continued general operating, multi-year funding. But in addition to that, we're in a place where a lot of movement organizations and leaders desperately need more support around infrastructure. I'm talking about all the things that kind of feel non-sexy, like financial processes, human resources and administration.

The other part is, how are we supporting inter-movement collaboration? We're at a point, particularly with the release of Project 2025, where the far right has released a very clear strategy from day one about the repeal and revocation of so many rights of Black and brown folks, immigrants, and queer and trans people. Movement leaders and organizers are doing some really beautiful, powerful work, but if folks are deeply focused on responding, there isn't as much room for proactive organizing across and within movements because there isn't the money and capacity to support that kind of work. 

I think the biggest thing funders can be doing right now is ask themselves, “How am I supporting movement organizations to invest in their own infrastructure and wellbeing, and how am I supporting generative spaces where movement organizations can come together, build relationships and also really think about proactive strategy?”

How do you engage in self-care in the nonprofit space?

I think the work that we do is important, but also, for us at Funders for LGBTQ issues, I think something that we're keenly aware of is that we do this work in service to movements. We do this through organizing philanthropy, but we are accountable to movements. In a time when we're seeing so many attacks on so many different fronts, it can feel hard to stop working. And the truth is, when I've been thinking about creating space for wellness and care, I have to shift from the mode of “I have to grind until I drop,” because people literally are dropping. All of the possibility models that I've seen are people that are like, “No, actually, we can only take as good care of each other as we take care of ourselves.” So for me, especially since entering my 40s, that's having time to write poetry, being a part of a healing justice collective, sleeping, and spending time with my family, friends and wife.

You explore mythology in your writing. What are the myths you see in philanthropy?

Sometimes, there's a prevailing belief that we can't change the way that philanthropy operates. What I keep coming back to is that philanthropy was constructed a century ago through the creation of tax law. I'm reading a book called “The Whiteness of Wealth” and it really goes through painstakingly how racism and misogyny shaped the taxation system, and in doing so, created philanthropy. Philanthropy is a construction. Because it’s a system that was created by people, we as people can change it. I think that requires courage to be able to be wrong and sit with making mistakes. I think oftentimes, there is an aversion to failing. If we're preaching abundance and saying we have everything we need to win, which I believe we do, that means we have everything we need to fail, be open and vulnerable with each other to talk about those failures and what we learned from it, and shift our strategy.

Are there any poems that inspire your leadership?

There's “Eagle Song” by Joy Harjo, and I know those lines by heart: “We see you, see ourselves and know that we must take the utmost care and kindness in all things.” That goes to the heart of what I think our work at Funders for LGBTQ Issues is about. It's nothing radical; we think everybody should be treated with the utmost care and kindness. I think sometimes we have a tendency to believe that kindness or care is weak. And actually, it takes the most courage, strength, and rigor to be at the heart of everything we're doing.

Another is from Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, & Hook.” The last line is, “We knew we were beautiful and dangerous.” I think that's about an exaltation of power — of knowing the deep power that we have within ourselves and how absolutely lovely it is to walk in the fullness of that.

What brings you joy?

TV! “Hacks” with Jean Smart is on HBO Max and features a lot of queer characters. I’m also revisiting “Girlfriends” on Netflix.

Being with my people. When I say my people, I’m a daughter of Guyanese immigrants with over 200 family members that immigrated specifically to the DMV area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia). My granny, who I'm super tight with, is 98 years old and I got to celebrate my 42nd Mother's Day with her. Also, the joy of my wife. We recently celebrated three years of being married.

What is your biggest hope for philanthropy moving forward?

My biggest hope in philanthropy is that not only do we feel that we have everything we need to win and to build the worlds that we need, but that we keep pushing and trying the notion of what it means to transform that into a reality.

Michelle Dominguez (they/them/elle) is a Queer and Nonbinary professional born to Colombian immigrants on Tongva Land, known post-colonization as Los Angeles. After a decade-long career in higher education student affairs, they switched to the nonprofit and philanthropy sector in 2021. You can find them on LinkedIn.