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Charitable donations allow the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center to take an important step toward long-term sustainability.
Antu Nguyen, executive director of the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center, said the initial donation was given to the Community Foundation of Central Blue Ridge as seed funding. A “catalyst” gift is a commitment to donate $50,000 to energize a community and support an organization’s work over the long term. Not just the important issues of the present, but the future as well.
“This gift will impact future generations of members of the LGBTQ community. Anyone who is looking for a new home, and anyone who is desperately looking for a safe place, will be grateful for the existence of this fund and for this center. “It may be reassuring to know that there are people out there who are there to help us live and thrive,” Nguyen said.
Long-term sustainability is always a challenge for new nonprofits.
“We are celebrating our sixth anniversary as an organization this year,” Nguyen said. “The existence of this fund means that we may have long-term and ongoing support. Our hope has always been to be fully ingrained in the fabric of this community. Now we is one step closer.”
The Shenandoah LGBTQ Center is designed as a support network where LGBTQ people of all ages can grow as equal, healthy and supported members of a community and is committed to addressing the unique challenges facing our local community.
“Because we use an equity lens, many of our programs are actually designed to directly support the most vulnerable. Our Hope House program Our community health worker program supports individuals and families with transitions and transitions, and we have found that we are building the broader community. A lot of our work is community building, and that involves community stakeholders and different people,” Nguyen said.
David Greiner and James Gray are two such community members. They hope their seed gift will be a spark to help others donate to the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center’s sustainability efforts.
“Launching this fund is a small step,” Greiner said. “Hopefully, others will learn about this fund and additional funds will be put into both this fund and an ongoing operating fund that will really help this organization grow.”
Greiner and Gray stumbled upon Stanton during the COVID-19 pandemic. Greiner said he was impressed enough by the people, history and architecture to move to Staunton. They were pleasantly surprised to learn of the existence of the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center.
“I was really surprised how few people knew about this center and weren’t involved, even if they were from the LGBTQ community,” Greiner said. “And I thought, ‘This center has an opportunity to bring the larger community together.'”
Greiner has served on numerous boards in the nonprofit sector and wanted to focus his support for the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center on long-term sustainability. Greiner has begun discussing plans with the Community Foundation of Central Blue Ridge.
“We have experience with local community foundations and realized that having an endowment in a community foundation provides additional visibility and credibility,” Greiner said. “This shows the community, ‘This is an established organization.’ It’s sustainable. We’re almost there.’ Hopefully, that brings more funding to the organization.”
Dan Layman, CEO of the Community Foundation, believes gifts like Greiner and Gray’s help new nonprofits plant deeper roots in the community.
“I see the Catalyst Fund as a ‘seed’ planted by caring community members,” Layman said. “The hope is that these seeds will grow and provide nourishment to our community, but for them to reach their full potential, we need donations from many people. Our community is already the beneficiary of many catalyst funds that contribute to our quality of life, and we hope this fund will be no different.”
Another big inspiration for Greiner and Gray to provide seed funding was reading a book about former Stantonian William Haines.
Haynes, who was born in Staunton, is a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is known as Hollywood’s first openly gay star in the 1930s.
Haynes ultimately chose to quit acting rather than hide his lifestyle.
“We borrowed a book from a friend and learned the amazing story of Billy Haynes,” Greiner said. “It’s amazing that he was born here and had to leave here to become who he really is. We thought, ‘Today, people don’t have to leave. Through the center, they can connect and find ways to live the life they truly want to live.”
