The Grand Rapids Pride Center started this year with six months of savings. By Sept. 29 it had two.
That’s when executive director Jazz McKinney posted on Facebook that the center was on track to close by Thanksgiving, the Michigan Advance reported Oct. 26. It’s Michigan’s oldest LGBTQ+ community center. It’s been open 38 years.
The center’s Givebutter campaign showed $63,403 from 511 supporters on Oct. 28. Its goal is $75,000. That is emergency breathing room: monthly operating expenses run about $70,000, McKinney told the Advance. The fundraiser has extended the center’s runway through Christmas, while longer-term funding remains uncertain.
“It was a bridge to help bridge the gap so that I can continue to work on the bigger things,” said McKinney, who uses they/them pronouns and has run the center since 2020.
Executive director Jazz McKinney’s Sept. 29 fundraising appeal, posted by @grandrapidspridecenter.
A Flood Closed the Grand Rapids Pride Center for Three Months
In March, storms flooded West Michigan and put parts of the 3,500-square-foot center underwater, WOOD TV reported. Insurance didn’t cover it. The community raised about $28,000, and the center reopened June 1.
Those three months were also when the center would usually be chasing grants and sponsors for its biggest fundraiser of the year. Instead, staff were working on reopening, the Advance reported.
Why a Center Without Federal Funding Lost a Partner
The center does not receive federal funding, McKinney said. They described an indirect squeeze instead: partners and sponsors changing their funding rules.
McKinney told the Advance that a longtime partner denied a grant unless the center accepted conditions tied to the Trump administration’s policies. The newspaper identified that partner as Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also provides staff health insurance. The partnership ended after 10 years.
The center has six staff and serves LGBTQ+ people in 10 counties, with dozens of groups each week. “We start serving kids as young as eight years old and we have a group that’s dedicated to elders,” McKinney said.
The Grand Rapids Trans Foundation, a separate group housed in the center, asked for operating money in August too. The two groups told the Advance they don’t want to compete for the same donors.
LGBTQ+ Community Centers Across the U.S. Are Losing Funding
Denise Spivak, executive director of the national LGBTQ+ center network CenterLink, told the Advance that centers across the country face shrinking support. She credited local donors with helping organizations stay open.
McKinney: “I think our community will band together and figure it out.”
The center’s fundraiser is on Givebutter. The center’s site is grpride.org.
