Grants and Funding

Recognized student organizations are invited to apply for funding from the Office of BGLTQ Student Life. These funds, up to $5000 in total and about $2500/semester, are awarded by the Queer Advisory Council. Individual awards do not exceed $250. See below for specific information about deadlines, criteria, eligibility, and the application process.

Questions can be directed to bgltq@fas.harvard.edu.

Queer Advisory Council Grant Information:

Deadlines

Fall 2018 Grant Deadlines

Friday, October 12, 9am: BGLTQ Programming Grant deadline
Week of October 29: Grant award notification (groups have one week to accept, or funds will be awarded to a group on the waitlist)

Eligibility

Events/Programs must adhere to the following to receive consideration:

Be specifically relevant to the BGLTQ community, e.g. for queer and trans folks and/or directly address topics or resources relevant to the queer and trans community
Make a meaningful contribution to student life at Harvard College
Be open and free to all Harvard College students wishing to attend. This can include events that are by donation and/or make explicitly clear that there is at least one day free of admission fees
Acknowledge the “Queer Advisory Council of the Office of BGLTQ Student Life” as a co-sponsor on all event publicity materials
Must be hosted by a Harvard College student organization in good standing with the Office of Student Life
Individual awards should not exceed $250
The grant amount requested should be reasonable
We do not fund requests for alcohol, costs associated with items sold as fundraisers, travel outside of the United States, travel costs for non-Harvard students, and any costs believed to be inconsistent with the mission and goals of the Office

Additional application considerations:

Addresses the intersections of gender, gender expression, and sexual identities with other identities
Demonstrate engagement with different communities and/or student organizations

Process

Applications for grant awards include two primary parts and both are required for grant consideration:

(1) Harvard University's Common Grant Application
(2) Supplemental application.
Also, (3) a completed W-9 form for your student group is highly encouraged to expedite grant disbursement, if your group is awarded funds. The W-9 will not be used for grant consideration and can be emailed to bgltq@fas.harvard.edu.

(1) The Common Grant Application process is a common, project-based, online application for many different sources of funding for student organizations at Harvard College. The common application includes questions regarding the nature of the project, its expenses, and revenue streams.

(2) The supplemental application, which is specific to the Office of BGLTQ Student Life, must be completed and emailed to bgltq@fas.harvard.edu following submission of the Common Grant Application. One grant application must be submitted per project.

Following acceptance of your grant award and conclusion of your event:

Student organizations awarded funds are required to submit a final report to the Office no later than 7 days following the conclusion of their program. Note that organizations that fail to submit the final report will not be eligible to apply to the next cycle of the BGTLQ Student Life’s grant. Organizations that applied for grant funding with the BGLTQ Office but did not receive a grant in the fall term will receive prioritized consideration for grant funding in the spring term.

Questions can be directed to bgltq@fas.harvard.edu.

Grants: The Open Gate Foundation

The Open Gate Foundation is a nonprofit organization formed in 1987 to provide funding for activities at Harvard University that benefit gay and lesbian students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Its goals are the following:

to encourage scholarship, research, and educational activities in the field of sexual orientation, including the funding of research projects and conferences
to support student, faculty, and employee groups that further a climate of open discussion on issues related to sexual orientation
to recognize distinguished contribution in the field of sexual orientation through awards, memorials, cultural events, and related activities

To learn more about the Open Gate Foundation's application process, click here.

Accessibility

Our new, fully accessible office space is located on the Lower Level of Grays Hall, through the rear entrance (facing Wigglesworth). If you have any concerns about accessibility, please reach out to us at BGLTQ@fas.harvard.edu.