SAGE Announces $1.5 million in new funding

BTL staff

NEW YORK, NY –
On Thursday, SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders) announced significant new support from the Atlantic Philanthropies and The Calamus Foundation. Both grants represent multi-year commitments by Atlantic and Calamus and a major investment in the vision of SAGE’s new strategic plan. The Calamus Foundation has awarded SAGE $1 million in a matching grant over four years, which is one of the largest awards that the Foundation has ever given. The Atlantic Philanthropies has awarded just under $500,000 over two years.
“We are honored by this generous recognition by both The Calamus Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies,” said Michael Adams, executive director of SAGE. “In challenging economic times, it’s important to be strategic in maintaining funding that sustains our work longterm. These multi-year grants are designed to help SAGE build for a long, successful future of serving and advocating for LGBT older adults across the country. Both awards have a strong component of funding SAGE’s capacity building, infrastructure and implementation of our forward-looking new strategic plan. We are thrilled that Calamus and Atlantic are partnering with SAGE to support generations of LGBT seniors to come.”
SAGE must match The Calamus Foundation funds with new contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations – leveraging the foundation’s support to attract new funding from other sources. SAGE will now work to create a new generation of services for LGBT older adults in New York City, advocate on a national level for policy changes and funding to support LGBT senior programs, and provide technical assistance for the replication of SAGE’s service programs for LGBT seniors around the country.
“We are thrilled to award SAGE one of the largest grants in the history of The Calamus Foundation,” said Louis Bradbury, the president of The Calamus Foundation’s board of directors. “SAGE fills a unique role in both aging services and LGBT advocacy and this investment in SAGE’s future will impact generations to come.”
The Atlantic Philanthropies grant of just under $500,000 is an anchor investment and designed to strengthen SAGE’s work by funding efforts to operationalize the agency’s strategic plan, as well as supporting a capacity building project to enhance SAGE’s board of directors. Funds from the Atlantic Philanthropies will also be used to support SAGE’s efforts to build a national LGBT aging network and to develop partnerships between SAGE and key agencies in the field of aging.
“LGBT people are an important part of this country’s older adult population and Atlantic Philanthropies is pleased to have the opportunity to support SAGE’s innovative efforts to address their needs,” said Stacey Easterling, programme executive at The Atlantic Philanthropies. “SAGE’s pioneering work in the field is key to insuring that LGBT Americans can obtain a reasonable quality of life in their later years.”