by Jessica Carreras
Katie Brisson has headed up the HOPE fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan for a decade, providing funding to LGBT initiatives in the area. The 38-year-old Ferndale resident is a straight ally to the LGBT community, and recently won a Spirit of Detroit Award at the Pride Banquet.
1) You've spent 10 years working with The HOPE Fund to provide funding for LGBT projects. Why?
When I arrived at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan in June of 1999, I had the good fortune of following in the footsteps of people like Lynette Campbell, George Fadiga, Jan Stevenson and others who helped to successfully launch the HOPE Fund in 1994. What an opportunity to carry on this effort!
The HOPE Fund has had significant milestones of success. Success breeds passion to keep growing stronger. Since inception, we have awarded more than $1.1 million to 89 projects that benefit the local LGBT community. We have raised nearly $2 million in permanent endowment for the community, and secured millions more in planned gifts, ensuring that this important work will continue forever.
When all is said and done, however, it is the grants that speak to the true benefit of The HOPE Fund – from health programs to youth programs to legal services for LGBT seniors, the breadth of the grants has been very exciting.
2) Recently, you received the Spirit of Detroit Award at the Pride Banquet. What did winning that award mean to you?
The staff of the Community Foundation works hard to be a true partner in important community efforts. I cannot think of a higher honor then being chosen for an award by the organizations that the Foundation works to serve.
3) You spearheaded the Racial Equity Initiative at CFSEM. Why was this issue important to you?
I'll be honest. Did I ever imagine as a straight, white woman that I'd be working someday to raise funds for the LGBT people of color community? Of course not. But I'm here. And I have the opportunity. We all have opportunities. We all have a role to play. The key is taking the opportunity and running with it. Luckily, I have both an employer and a husband who fully support me in those efforts.
But it's not about me. The HOPE Fund has had a longtime interest in building the capacity of LGBT organizations of color, yet has encountered many barriers in being able to offer support. Many of these organizations have significant capacity issues and have, unfortunately, been declined for grants from The HOPE Fund because of these struggles in past years. Currently, the Racial Equity Initiative is allowing us to address these issues by assisting in the capacity building work of these important agencies.
As I have been meeting one-on-one with dozens of leaders from our local LGBT organizations of color, I see the tremendous potential for the entire LGBT community. I have met some amazing, talented volunteer leaders – lawyers, social workers, development professionals and others. It is exciting to think about what could happen if these highly qualified people were better supported in order to redirect their skills and energies to the local nonprofit sector. The Racial Equity grants are a step in making this a reality.
4) You work for an organization that isn't LGBT specific. How are they supportive of the community?
This question hits on what I think is the most powerful strength of The HOPE Fund. By being one of hundreds of charitable funds housed at the Community Foundation, LGBT issues are regularly discussed by our staff and our 56-member Board of Trustees. It allows us to address LGBT issues within the context of the larger community. As a result, the Community Foundation has granted substantial amounts of money to the LGBT community from a variety of the funds it manages, not just HOPE.
Conversely, many LGBT agencies and donors now have awareness of all of the services of the Community Foundation. For example, Affirmations, the Triangle Foundation and the Ruth Ellis Center are all building endowment funds of their own at the Community Foundation. And, many individual LGBT donors have established their own donor-advised funds at the foundation, from which they recommend grants to both LGBT agencies as well as mainstream organizations of interest.
5) What LGBT issue is most important to see progress on, in your opinion?
Because of our mission, I am tuned into the need to continue to build the capacity of our LGBT non-profit leaders in terms of strengthening boards, building financial strength and collaborating or merging where necessary to build the influence of the LGBT community as a whole. A bad economy is a great time to put egos aside and get creative!
To learn more about The HOPE Fund, visit http://www.cfsem.org.
