Diversity Richmond

The mission of Diversity Richmond is to serve as a catalyst, voice, a place and resource that enriches and champions the LGBTQ+ community. We provide financial funding to LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly organizations as well as free meeting and event space. Formally the Richmond Gay Community Foundation, we re-branded two years ago, adopting our new name. Diversity Richmond serves as the community center for the Central Virginia LGBTQ community. We estimate that last year over 8,000 people used the facility for free. Board and committee meetings, theater auditions and rehearsals, community of faith services, fundraising events and twelve-step programs occur on a regular basis. Rarely does a night pass that our rooms are not filled to capacity. Since 1999, Diversity Richmond has contributed more than $955,000.00 to local non profits such as Side By Side (formerly ROSMY), to work with LGBTQ youth; Health Brigade (formerly Fan Free Clinic) to provide quality health care to the poor, under-insured and uninsured; Jewish Family Services to defray adoption expenses; Senior Connections to provide cultural diversity training to assisted living and retirement home staff and Equality Virginia, our statewide LGBTQ legislative operative. Every autumn we issue a request for proposals. Last session we received 33 proposals and distributed $30,000.00. No better example of how the community depends on Diversity Richmond than following the 2016 Orlando, FL massacre at the gay nightclub, Pulse. LGBTQ organizations from throughout the area contacted Diversity about conducting a vigil to memorialize the tragedy. Over 2,000 people attended the vigil that was held in our event hall. The governor, attorney general and numerous elected officials were among those present. Another recent accomplishment was supplying two buses to transport locals to and from the Equality March held in Washington, D.C. We located corporate sponsorship allowing us to offer seats at a minimal charge which also included breakfast. We have also intentionally expanded our services outside the LGBTQ community. For example, we offer free clothing to area public schools whose students are on public assistance. We also work with numerous social service agencies by providing free clothing to their clients and household goods.

The main revenue streams are Diversity Thrift and Diversity Bingo. We also conduct quarterly fundraising events and direct mail solicitations during the latter part of the year. Three years ago we initiated a monthly breakfast of local LGBTQ executive directors as a means of collaboration and support. We have extensive outreach to local social service agencies and an email newsletter that reaches about 4,000 households. We have active social media for the thrift store, the foundation and Iridian Gallery at Diversity Richmond. The gallery is the only such in the south, dedicated solely to supporting LGBT+ artists.

Diversity Thrift is one of the top rated thrift stores in the Richmond Metropolitan Area. it often wins local media "Best of Richmond" contests. The store is supported by a wide spectrum of donations which are tax deductible. We also pick-up and deliver larger items such as furniture and appliances, seven days a week. The store has a senior manager, two assistant managers and about 10 part-time employees. Our bingo games have been in operation for several years and are regulated by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Our large event hall is rented the majority of Saturday nights during the year. It is continually used for nonprofit meetings and fundraiser, either at no charge or a discounted rate. About 10 nonprofits use our facility as storage, saving them thousands of dollars each year in lieu of renting storage units as several were doing before we offered the space.

We are striving to increase the size of our grants that we share every autumn. That is a main objective. We are pursuing this by researching grants and looking for ways that we can better economize to grow funding. We have a large portion of our building that is underdeveloped and serves as storage. We want to look at ways that the space can be put to better use by the community and also serve as a revenue producer. Our roof is in dire need of replacement. We plan to launch a capital campaign in the next few months.