The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund (DVLF) is a community foundation whose mission is to support the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and straight-allied communities in Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. It is engaged in building a permanent endowment and philanthropic apparatus to serve the fundraising and grant making. DVLF was founded in 1993 and is based in Center City Philadelphia.[1]
DVLF was created in 1993, when community activists and donors decided that there was a need, given the growth of the LGBT movement, for a permanent reservoir of funds to support organizations in Greater Philadelphia. Many of these leaders had lived through the McCarthy Era, the Civil Rights Movement, and the beginning of the HIV/AIDS era, and desired the stability that could be provided by a permanent funding source. Legendary lesbian activist Barbara Gittings, whose activism began forty years earlier in the 1950s, served as a founding board member that also included Larry Biddle and Dennis Green.
In 2008, DVLF grants will total over $55,000, up from $18,800 in 2007.
The current president is D. Mark Mitchell and the current executive director is Samantha M. Giusti.[2]
It has a 12-member Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of about 25 members.
DVLF devotes significant resources to raising funds for programs and growing the endowment. It cultivates a broad donor base of individuals, couples, and businesses interested in supporting regional LGBT communities.[3][4]
DVLF is also a grantmaking organization.[5][6] In 2008, DVLF grants exceeded $50,000. Organizations that have received funding that year included:
(Asterisks indicate organizations for which DVLF provided the founding grant or grants.)
