A Minute With Jose Lugaro, Development Director, The LGBT Community Center

FS: Can you share a recent fundraising success?

JL: Earlier this year, the center received a generous grant in the amount of $690,000 to continue and expand our transformational Foster Care Project (FCP) over the next three years. The FCP works to address the serious challenges that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth in New York City face in being placed with affirming foster care homes. While not a first-time grant, it had been several years since we received funding from this particular source. The lesson to be learned through this success is the importance of maintaining relationships and keeping funders informed as much as possible. Other organization initiatives had not been appealing, but this one clearly was. Continuous engagement was key.