| Formation | 1981 |
|---|---|
| Type | Chamber of Commerce |
| Legal status | Non-Profit, 501(c)(6) Scholarship Program, 501(c)(3) |
| Purpose | The Four Pillars of GSBA: Business Development, Community, Advocacy, Philanthropy |
| Location | |
Region served | Puget Sound, Washington |
Membership | 1,400 (approx) |
President & CEO | Ilona Lohrey |
Key people | Carrie Carson Board Chair |
Main organ | Board of Directors [1] |
Staff | 12 |
Volunteers | 100-200 annually |
| Website | thegsba |
The Greater Seattle Business Association(GSBA) is an LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce based in Seattle, Washington. The majority of the organization's membership are small businesses located throughout the Puget Sound area. The association's stated mission is "to combine business development, leadership and social action to expand economic opportunities for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community and those who support equality for all." [2]
GSBA was stablished in 1981. It represents over 1,300 small business, corporate, and nonprofit members.
In 1992, GSBA formed the Western Business Alliance in partnership with the Greater San Diego Business Association and the Camelback Business Association of Phoenix. In 1997, the WBA brought together 21 LGBT-and-allied organizations—from Vancouver, British Columbia, in the north, to Tijuana, Mexico, in the south. With the establishment of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in 2004 (of which GSBA was a founding member), GSBA's current executive director, Louise Chernin, was appointed National Chair on the Council on Chambers and Business Organizations (CCBO), a position she held for four years. The following year, the WBA voted in favor of folding into the NGLCC's CCBO structure as the Pacific Regional Council. [3]
GSBA was the presenting sponsor of the first Gay Wedding Show in 2004. Held at Seattle's Swedish Cultural Center, the event hosted 50 vendors and was the first of its kind in Seattle. [4]
In November 2008, GSBA was awarded "Chamber of the Year" by the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) in Washington, D.C., recognizing its leadership among more than 45 other regional LGBT and allied chambers. [5] In 2009, GSBA was the host affiliate chamber for NGLCC's Sixth Annual Out for Business Conference, held in Seattle. That year, GSBA received the "Community Outreach Award" for its scholarship program. [6]
In 2006, when efforts were undertaken to repeal Washington's non-discrimination law through public referendum, GSBA stood alongside other organizations in support of Washington Won't Discriminate, a group opposing the referendum. [7] In 2009, enough signatures were obtained by put Referendum 71 on that year's general election ballot. This referendum would have overturned the state's third and final expansion of domestic partnership law passed by the legislature earlier that year. GSBA was among 282 coalition partners of Washington Families Standing Together, the organization that led the campaign to approve Referendum 71. [8]
Every September, the organization holds a debate-like program, the GSBA Candidate Forum. [9] The event is billed as "the region's only LGBT candidate forum". The forum has featured candidates from local races such as city and county councils as well as larger offices including Washington Governor and U.S. House of Representatives. [10]
In 2009, then mayoral candidate Mike McGinn was criticized for his "rude" treatment of GSBA staff members while attending that year's event. [11] Subsequently, he won the 2009 election.
In 1990, two teachers saw a need for LGBT and allied students who needed financial assistance with higher education expenses. At the time it was the nation's first LGBT and allied scholarship fund. Six years into the program, the organization had granted five scholarships totaling $10,000. [12] In 1998, Richard C. Rolfs (a Wenatchee-native and longtime gay rights activist) bequeathed $200,000 to the GSBA Scholarship Fund, establishing an endowment in his name. By 2001, the program was granting more than $50,000 each year in undergraduate scholarships. [13]
The GSBA Scholarship Fund awards scholarships to LGBTQ and allied students who exhibit leadership potential, demonstrate strong academic abilities, and are actively involved in school and community organizations. Founded in 1991, the GSBA Scholarship Fund has awarded over 650 scholarships totaling over $3 million. [14]
In May 2010, at the Annual Scholarship Awards Dinner, GSBA gave out its one millionth dollar ($1,000,000) in cumulative scholarship grants. The following November the primary fundraising event for the program, The Taste of GSBA, grossed $345,000 from the dinner auction. [15] [16]
GSBA hosts an annual celebration of excellence, leadership, and philanthropy within the GSBA business and nonprofit communities. [17]
The association participates each year in Seattle's LGBT pride festivities. In 2006 graphic designer Andrea Rouleau designed a birthday cake float to celebrate GSBA's 25th anniversary. [18]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, GSBA worked with large employers and private donors in the Seattle area to provide financial assistance to local small businesses that were struggling due to the pandemic. This assistance is credited with saving local businesses and preventing them from closing. [19]
The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is a U.S. not-for-profit advocacy group that aims to expand the economic opportunities and advancement of the LGBT business community. Its headquarters are in NW in Washington, D.C. NGLCC is the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses known as LGBT Business Enterprises (LGBTBEs), and advocates for LGBT business inclusion in corporate and government supplier diversity programs. In October 2017, the organization changed its name from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to National LGBT Chamber of Commerce to better reflect the entire LGBT business community it serves.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ public officials in the United States. Victory Fund is the largest LGBTQ+ political action committee in the United States and one of the nation's largest non-connected PACs.
LGBT+ Labour is the socialist society officially representing the LGBTQ wing of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The purpose of the organisation is to campaign within the Labour Party, and the wider Labour movement to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people, and to encourage members of the LGBT community to support the Labour Party.
Reel Affirmations (RA) is a non-profit, all-volunteer LGBT film festival in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1991 and held every year in mid-October, as of 2011 Reel Affirmations was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the United States. Baltimore's Gay Life newspaper called it "one of the top three films festivals for the entire LGBT community." A 2007 guidebook claims it was one of the largest LGBT film festivals in the world. A listing of LGBT film festivals claims it is the largest all-volunteer film festival in the world.
The Pride Foundation is an LGBTQ philanthropic foundation in the Pacific Northwest. It was founded in 1985, and has issued over $8 million in grants and over $1.65 million to the more than 50 scholarships it manages. In 1993, when The Pride Foundation first began granting scholarships it partnered with the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) to collaborate on a joint application process.
The Gill Foundation is an American philanthropic foundation based in Denver, Colorado. It is one of the funders of efforts to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the United States. The foundation's mission is "to secure equal opportunities for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression."
The Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, a program of the Gill Foundation, provides financial support to nonprofit organizations in Colorado. Current grant making through the Gay & Lesbian Fund includes STEM education, promoting fair lending practices, access to safe capital, and financial literacy, support for Colorado public broadcasting stations, and statewide LGBT service and advocacy organizations. Based in Denver with the Gill Foundation, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado has awarded more than $52 million in grants since its inception.
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, formerly the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association and the National LGBT Bar Association, is a national association of lawyers, judges and other legal professionals, law students, activists, and affiliated lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender legal organizations. It was formally founded in 1989 and became an official affiliate of the American Bar Association in 1992. The association is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and its current executive director is D’Arcy Kemnitz.
The Houston GLBT Community Center was a community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies in the Houston metropolitan area and southeast Texas. Its last location was in the Dow School building in the Sixth Ward of Houston.
Jon Lloyd Stryker is an American architect, philanthropist, and billionaire heir to the Stryker Corporation medical technology company fortune.
Equality Illinois (EI) was founded in 1991 to work towards building a better Illinois by advancing equal treatment and social justice through education, advocacy, and protection of the rights of the LGBTQ community.
The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports action and activism on behalf of LGBTQ people and advances a progressive vision of liberation. The past executive director was Rea Carey from 2008-2021 and the current executive director is Kierra Johnson, who took over the position in 2021 to become the first Black woman to head the organization.
The David Bohnett Foundation is a private foundation that gives grants to organizations that focus on its core giving areas – primarily Los Angeles area programs and LGBT rights in the United States, as well as leadership initiatives and voter education, gun violence prevention, and animal language research. It was founded by David Bohnett in 1999. As of 2022, the foundation has donated $125 million to nonprofit organizations and initiatives.
Equality Arizona is a statewide political advocacy organization in Arizona that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights, including same-sex marriage.
Dr. Virginia Uribe was an American educator, counselor and LGBT youth education outreach advocate. She was best known for founding the Los Angeles Unified School District's Project 10 program, an educational support and drop-out prevention program for LGBT youth, and the nonprofit arm of the Project 10 program, Friends of Project 10 Inc.
Heather Purser is an LGBT advocate, diver, and member of the Suquamish tribe in Seattle, Washington. She is known for pioneering same-sex marriage rights for her tribe, making the Suquamish tribe the second Native American tribe to amend their laws to recognize same-sex marriage, the first being the Oregon Coquille tribe. Purser is openly lesbian and came out during her teens.
Jonathan D. Lovitz is an American policy advocate, former actor, and non-profit executive.
Lesbians Who Tech & Allies is a community founded by Leanne Pittsford in 2012 to create a place for queer women and their allies in the field of technology.
LGBT-, or queer-owned businesses are businesses owned and often operated by members of the LGBTQIA+ community. They may also be described as being owned by specific subgroups, such as gay-, lesbian-, or trans-owned businesses.
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