| 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]
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates is a United States lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace equality non-profit organization headquartered in Oakland, California.
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, the Labour Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights, is a socialist society related to the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Originally called the Gay Labour Group, the purpose of this organisation is to campaign within the Labour Party and wider Labour movement to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and to encourage members of the LGBT community to support the Labour Party.
Inlaws & Outlaws is a documentary by filmmaker and oral historian Drew Emery that weaves together the true stories of couples and singles—both gay and straight—to create a collective narrative of stories of love, loss and belonging. The film was produced by Larry Schlessinger, Lisa Halpern, and Emery for the True Stories Project, Emery's production company.
The Pride Foundation is an LGBT 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 (LGBT) 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 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.
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 Michigan is an American civil rights, advocacy and anti-violence organization serving Michigan's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Equality Michigan serves Michigan's LGBT community through victims services, lobbying on behalf of the LGBT community, public education on LGBT issues, and organizing Michigan's largest LGBT events such as Motor City Pride. The organization is a founding member of the Equality Federation.
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 LGBT 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. As of 2022, the foundation has donated $125 million to nonprofit organizations and initiatives.
Malcolm L. Lazin is an American social activist, prosecutor, entrepreneur and educator. His endeavors include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights, federal and state law enforcement, developing Philadelphia's waterfront, lighting the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and incorporating Washington Square—the largest revolutionary war burial ground—into Independence National Historical Park.
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 advocate, former actor, and non-profit executive. He served as Senior Vice President of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce since 2015. He previously served as Communications Director and acting executive director of StartOut. Prior to advocacy, Lovitz was a performer in multiple national tours of Broadway shows, regional theaters, and television shows.
Miami has one of the largest and most prominent LGBTQ communities in the United States. Miami has had a gay nightlife scene as early as the 1930s. Miami has a current status as a gay mecca that attracts more than 1 million LGBT visitors a year. The Miami area as a whole has been gay-friendly for decades and is one of the few places where the LGBTQ community has its own chamber of commerce, the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (MDGLCC). As of 2005, Miami was home to an estimated 15,277 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The Miami metropolitan area had an estimated 183,346 self-identifying LGBT residents.
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