LGBTQ+ Justice Fund
The LGBTQ+ Fund was founded in 2016 by Bill Robitzek, then President of the Maine Justice Foundation. Bill was a successful trial lawyer for over 35 years before starting his current practice as a mediator, arbitrator and trial consultant. Bill started this important fund to provide funding for nonprofit organizations that address the civil legal aid needs of low-income LGBTQ+ Mainers. The movement for full equality for LGBTQ+ people has seen incredible progress in a short time. But there are still many threats to the laws that protect LGBTQ+ people.
The fund’s continued growth is supported through gifts from individuals, businesses and foundations and executed its first public request for proposals in 2023. The volunteer Advisory Committee outlines the programmatic scope of the Fund’s work, issues a request for proposals and reviews and recommends grants from the Fund.
Please email Linsey MacDougall, Director of Development & Operations with any questions about the LGBTQ+ Fund application process or to be added to the notification list for the next application period.
View our Maine Justice Foundation Grantees.
Poverty is an LGBTQ+ issue
Using federal poverty guidelines from 2007 to 2014, recent reports show that LGBTQ+ adults regardless of relationship status are more vulnerable to poverty than heterosexual adults, same-sex couples are more vulnerable to poverty than different-sex married couples, and transgender people are the most susceptible to poverty as they are four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/ year compared to the general population. As a result, the LGBTQ+ community is more likely to receive government assistance like cash assistance, Supplemental Social Security (SSI), and SNAP (also known as food stamps).
LGBTQ+ Fund Advisory Committee Members
Judith A. Fletcher Woodbury
Dana Eidsness
Jessica Feinberg
Joanne Lewis
Jessica Mizzi
“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.”
Martin Luther King, Jr