March 28, 2023

Our 2022 Year in Review

What motivates you to keep fighting for gender justice? For us, it is the promise that future queer, trans, intersex and sex-working communities will thrive in joy, autonomy, abundance and safety—a promise we believe in because despite the increasing attacks from the far-right, we are lucky to witness the growth, creativity, and strengthening of our gender justice movements every single day.

​Today, we are reflecting on the accomplishments of our grantee partners in 2022 and the milestones we have collectively reached at Third Wave along the way. We are excited to share with you our 2022 Year in Review: Building our Futures by Resourcing the Present.

Last year, Third Wave made a total of 111 grants, moving a record-breaking nearly $3 million to 97 gender justice organizations, with 99% of all funding going to BIPOC-led organizations. Despite an increase in anti-LGBTQ legislative bills across the country, our grantees continue to lead the way towards an alternative future with actions, initiatives, and programs that are revolutionizing the ways we can all show up more intentionally for and within our communities.

Our 2022 grantees demanded justice for criminalized survivors and survivors of gender violence, purchased property to offer housing and services to trans people, convened abolitionist social service providers and social workers, created space for queer and disabled sex worker community in Puerto Rico—and those are just a few examples. We encourage you to learn more about the work of the 97 groups, organizations, coalitions, and collectives who are utilizing the power of radical imagination, deep solidarity, and disciplined organizing to save lives and ensure the sustainability of our queer, trans, intersex, and sex working communities in the future.

We are also proud to have pivoted 85% of our total funding to be multi-year, heeding calls from the field for long-term sustainability, not just rapid response dollars. In a time where LGBTQ philanthropic dollars have decreased since its record high in 2018, it’s more important than ever that we each understand that the responsibility for sustaining our communities lies on each of us. Together we can ensure that our communities are not only existing, but thriving in the future.

Header Image Description: Dark blue galaxy pattern with stars, and a blue semi-transparent overlay above it. White, large text says, "Building our Futures by Resourcing the Present," and in smaller text below it says, "Third Wave Fund Year in Review 2022." Below the text is a string of multi-color, iridescent flowers.