Pro Bono Grantwriting with Parivar Bay Area

Founded in 2018, Parivar is the only trans-led, trans-centering South Asian LGBT organization in the United States. Parivar aims to uplift South Asian trans and gender non-conforming individuals while welcoming all queer, gay, lesbian, and intersex people and allies to join in collective liberation.

Like many other organizations, Parivar was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Parivar’s president and co-founder Anjali Rimi says, “During this crisis we had lots of community members coming to us for support, and we initially didn’t know how we could provide it.”

Out of this need came the Bay Area LGBTQ+ COVID Relief Coalition, an effort to support LGBTQ+ people in the Bay Area with concrete emergency support, including essentials, rent assistance, and food resources. Parivar came together with more than 21 other LGBTQ+ organizations (including TurnOut) to gather and distribute critical resources.

But the organization needed funding for these efforts, and as many nonprofit leaders know, grant writing can be a resource-heavy undertaking. That’s where TurnOut volunteer Aliza Paz came in.

“TurnOut connected us with Aliza and other pro bono grant writers, who did a fantastic job. With grant writing, you have to feel it from the heart, and Aliza could see that we were making a true difference.”

With Aliza’s help, Parivar successfully submitted 11 grants, received funding from 8, and along with other members of the LGBTQ+ COVID Relief Coalition, distributed more than $300,000 in rent relief, emergency cash support and other resources. “We couldn’t be more proud of making this happen,” says Rimi. “56% of the needs we met were those of trans Latinx folks in the East Bay.”

Parivar has taken their efforts global, currently raising funds for COVID relief efforts in India and emergency support for trans femmes affected by flooding in Guyana.

Parivar and Aliza built an ongoing relationship, expanding the organization’s capacity for seeking funding and telling the story of their impact. Rimi points out that while the skills are out there, it can be hard to connect volunteers with the organizations who need them. “TurnOut was integral in doing this work. Not only did they connect us with Aliza, they also created a registry for folks to get support from the coalition. Even with our global efforts, they’ve helped us to generate the visibility we need.”