Sunday’s Child, a Pensacola-area nonprofit which promotes LGBT inclusion and equality, has announced the completion of a record year in fundraising.
In 2017, the organization raised $100,000 among 174 members that will be awarded to local Pensacola Bay Area non-profit organizations that place value on diversity, inclusion, and equality.
Members of Sunday’s Child attended the annual kick-off event at the Pensacola Museum of Art this week. (Drew Buchanan/The Pulse)
Launched in 2014, Sunday’s Child uses a model similar to Impact 100 — members pay $1,000 annually, with 100 percent of funds going toward grant awards, which are determined by the votes of members at an annual meeting. Since its founding, Sunday’s Child has raised more than $330,000.
“This strong growth indicates that our model is working and that our community is growing in its understanding of the value of diversity and the importance of inclusion,” said Drew Buchanan, president of Sunday’s Child.
Sunday’s Child is now accepting grant applications this spring, with four $25,000 grants to be awarded in June.
This week, Sunday’s Child also hosted a series of diversity workshops aimed to educate local employers, non-profits, and the community on understanding transgender dynamics in the workplace and community.
Sunday’s Child treasurer Cory Wilkinson announces that the philanthropic organization raised $100,000 during the annual kick-off event at the Pensacola Museum of Art this week. (Drew Buchanan/The Pulse)
Gina Duncan, director of transgender equality at the statewide LGBT advocacy organization Equality Florida, spoke to nearly 100 attendees in the first-ever workshop of its kind in Northwest Florida.
Gina Duncan of Equality Florida spoke to attendees at a workshop on Transgender Dynamics in the Workplace at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center in downtown Pensacola this week. (Drew Buchanan/The Pulse)
During the free workshop sessions held at the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Museum in downtown Pensacola, Duncan related her personal experience as a transgender woman to lessons and best practices for local employers in understanding gender identity and expression-related terms and identifying ways of making their workplace and community more inclusive.
“We’re trying to build and promote a community that values the contributions of all citizens,” said Drew Buchanan, president of Sunday’s Child. “We’re blessed to live in a country where we are born equal no matter what we look like or who we love. All great communities are built on the diversity that unites us.”