Philanthropy Friday: Human Rights Campaign
Every Friday we spotlight a local LGBT nonprofit in Philadelphia. This week, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which “envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.”
Philadelphia Region Gala Dinner Co-Chairs Katherine Sprissler-Klein and Marvin Rocha.
Who are you? Katherine Sprissler-Klein, member of the HRC Board of Governors and co-chair of the 2015 HRC Greater Philadelphia Gala Dinner and Marvin Rocha, co-chair of the 2015 HRC Greater Philadelphia Dinner. For the last 18 years, HRC has hosted its annual gala to engage corporate partners and local individuals in the fight for LGBT equality. We volunteer our free time, along with our amazing committee to host our annual dinner.
When was your organization founded? HRC was born the “Human Rights Campaign Fund” in 1980 and it was primarily a fund to support pro-fairness congressional candidates. In Philadelphia, we hosted our first dinner in 1996 and have been engaging community members ever since.
What’s HRC’s shining moment, to date? It’s hard to pick one from the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to the presidential signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to elevating the national conversation around marriage equality in the lead up to the Supreme Court decisions against Proposition 8 in Hollingsworth v. Perry.
If a check for $1 million found its way to our doorstep … we’d fund as much pro-LGBT advocacy work in Pennsylvania as possible in this upcoming election. According to the HRC State Equality index , neighboring states New Jersey and Delaware are much further ahead of us!
Special events coming up? Yes! Please join us for the 19th Annual Greater Philadelphia Human Rights Campaign Gala dinner. It’s coming up on March 21st at the Sheraton Philadelphia.
Are you a local LGBT-serving nonprofit that would like to be spotlighted in Philanthropy Friday? Email Samantha Giusti at sgiusti@dvlf.org.
