The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach was one of the many resource booths at the Trans Day of Visibility Resource
Fair, held at Bixby Park on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Photo by Christina Merino, SCNG)

The LGBTQ Center Long Beach has been awarded a $2.3 million grant to support its services, programs, and advocacy for the city’s LGBTQ community, the nonprofit announced recently.

The center is just one of 340 other organizations across the country to receive grant funding from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott.

Scott became a billionaire after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019. She has donated more than $17 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofit organizations through Yield Giving since then.

Yield Giving — which manages Scott’s philanthropic efforts and manages a public database detailing all of her donations — recently launched an “open call” for donations wherein nonprofits with annual budgets between $1 and $5 million could apply for funding.

The awardees were selected through a multilayer process, where applicants scored fellow applicants, according to the Center’s  Tuesday, March 19 announcement. The top organizations were reviewed by a panel of outside experts.

“This generous gift, which is the single largest gift in our organization’s history, will enable us to continue our mission of advancing equity for LGBTQ people,” the Center’s interim executive director Ellie Perez said. “We are proud to be a part of this community, and we thank MacKenzie Scott, Yield Giving, and Lever for Change for their continued support of transformative organizations like ours.”

The LGBTQ Center Long Beach, according to its announcement, provides services to more than 10,000 people every year.

The Center offers myriad services and programs, ranging from mental and physical health support to sponsoring social and cultural activities including the annual Long Beach QFilm Festival.

The nonprofit’s main mission is to advance equality, health, wellness, and safety for Long Beach’s LGBTQ community.

“With this funding,” Perez said, “we can expand our reach and impact, and provide even more vital health, wellness, and social support services to the LGBTQ community in the greater Long Beach area.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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