New York City’s Audre Lorde Project receives support through Astraea’s Teresa Rose and Maria J. Rintrona Fund

There are numerous advantages to establishing a donor-advised fund as a part of Astraea:

• Your fund becomes part of a publicly supported, visible, lesbian organization, while you can be as visible or anonymous as you choose.
• You may get a larger tax deduction for current and future gifts.
• Since the fund doesn’t pay excise tax, there frequently is more available for charity.
• Your fund can be set up in a day, rather than requiring months.
• Your fund is managed by an expertly advised organization with an experienced, full-time staff.
• Your administrative expenses are minimized while your dollars to the community are maximized.

The minimum required to establish and name a fund at Astraea is $10,000.

There are a number of giving options and opportunities for establishing funds. Each one is slightly different and provides the donor with varying levels of involvement in the grantmaking process. It is also possible to structure your gift to include more than one kind of fund.

For donors who want specific charities or individuals to benefit from their fund, or want assistance managing the check-writing and correspondence involved with grantmaking, Astraea can professionalize your charitable giving without the responsibilities and costs entailed in running a private foundation. With a donor-advised fund you can refer requests for support to us, suggest we make payments to any charity you choose, or you can tell us your interests or area of focus and we can bring proposals to you. If you wish, you can have your gifts remain anonymous. We take care of all the clerical tasks.

While your recommendations cannot be binding (our board has final say under Internal Revenue Service rules), we take the donor’s suggestions very seriously, and as long as they are consistent with Astraea’s mission, they will be approved.

Types of Funds

Unrestricted Funds

An unrestricted fund allows for the greatest flexibility in the funding of issues and ensures that your gift will always be used where it is most needed. Guided by Astraea’s Board of Directors, a national Community Funding Panel (CFP) of lesbian activists and artists, with the assistance of our professional grantmaking staff, carries out a rigorous process of defining issues, setting priorities, reviewing proposals and making decisions. By creating an unrestricted fund, you can be assured that your gift will always be used to meet vital needs, support innovative programs and improve the quality of life for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The donor receives a comprehensive report of the grants made out of the fund and can recommend grants for consideration by the CFP.

Field-of-Interest Funds

A field-of-interest fund allows the donor to target their giving to a particular area or issue. For instance, you might create a fund to support lesbian and gay youth, or health, or anti-violence projects. Once you establish the guidelines, we go to work, researching and preparing a grant spending plan for that field of interest. Our staff and review proposals against your fund’s field of interest and any other funding criteria that have been established. After we make the grants, we keep in touch with the grantees to assess your funding’s effectiveness. As with unrestricted funds, the donor receives a comprehensive report of the grants made out of the fund and can recommend grants for consideration.

The advantage of field-of-interest funds, like unrestricted funds, is that they keep up with the times. The arts will always have to be supported by private philanthropy, and we will always have youth to be concerned about. But many of the issues confronting today’s youth weren’t around 30 years ago, and neither were many of the most exciting arts groups working today. Rather than locking your charitable contributions into a few specific charities that may be good today (and gone tomorrow), a field-of-interest fund has a timeless flexibility to be in the right place at the right time.

The Endowment Fund

Support Our Endowment As a global foundation with a U.S. and International Grants Program, Astraea plays a unique role in the ongoing struggle for LGBTI rights, economic justice, racial equality and the eradication of the many “isms” that diminish people and our world. Astraea has a well-established track record as an innovative philanthropic entity that partners with individuals and other foundations who believe, as we do, that meaningful change can occur when collective resources are acutely focused.

In 1999, we launched Astraea’s Endowment Campaign with the goal of ensuring a permanent financial reservoir of support for the Foundation. Although our Campaign was successfully completed, we will continue to build the Fund in the coming years to ensure that Astraea and our community have the resources needed to bring about lasting social change.

To contribute to the Endowment, please contact our development team at development@astraeafoundation.org or at 212-529-6144 (ext. 846).