Don’t Give Up This Pride Month: Give OUT For LGBTQ+ Organizations!

Pride Month is the perfect time to celebrate and support all your favorite queer-owned businesses, restaurants, organizations and more — but not just with words. Put your money where your mouth is this Pride Month and show the love to queer organizations by making a donation during National Give OUT Day!

National Give OUT is the United States’ only official national giving event completely devoted to uplifting LGBTQ+ organizations. This year, Give OUT Day will be hosted on June 5. Early Giving begins on Thursday, May 22, and the giving period closes on June 30, so organizations can continue to fundraise throughout the entirety of Pride Month.

Jenna Ray, a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and a proud member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, has been serving as the interim executive director of GiveMN since January, and she’s excited for a successful Give OUT event this year.

“As LGBTQ+ organizations continue to face increasing challenges, Give OUT Day has been instrumental in generating critical funds, increasing visibility and fostering meaningful community engagement and support for hundreds of causes nationwide,” Ray says.

Since its creation in Minnesota in 2013, “[Give Out Day has] helped to raise more than $10 million for hundreds of LGBTQ+ organizations nationwide,” according to Ray. This year, the organization is hoping for a massive success, especially amid funding cutbacks at the federal level.

Of course, giving to queer foundations and organizations is always important, but now more than ever, individual support of queer orgs is imperative.

“With corporations stepping back their support for LGBTQ+ causes, it’s crucial individuals step up, and Give OUT is a great time to give back,” Ray says. “You can make your gift anytime on giveoutday.org.”

Ray continues, “As LGBTQ+ organizations continue to face increasing challenges, Give OUT Day has been instrumental in generating critical funds, increasing visibility and fostering meaningful community engagement and support for hundreds of causes nationwide … Give OUT Day plays a crucial role in ensuring LGBTQ+-centering nonprofits have the resources to advocate for and protect their communities amid rising anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, federal funding disruptions and DEI rollbacks.”

In other words, now is the time for our community to band together and show how strong we are as a group. LGBTQ+ community members and allies have a duty to support one another through these incredibly challenging times, and a great way to start is by donating to queer organizations on National Give OUT Day!

Here’s how National Give OUT Day breaks down: queer organizations register their cause on giveoutday.org/search, which creates a super easy-to-use database of LGBTQ+ orgs to donate to. Individuals who wish to donate to one of the causes can scroll through the organizations to find their favorites, learn about new causes and select the best ones to donate to!

And to help spread the word of your donation (and hopefully get more people to donate!)

“Once you’ve made your gift, you can spread the word on social media using #GiveOUTDay2025,” Ray says.

And the best part about it is … it’s not hard to do! Give OUT Day has a continuously-growing list of tons of different queer causes you can check out on their website, giveoutday.org/search, so there’s a little something for everyone to be proud to donate to. With more than a thousand fundraisers, organizations, events and teams, you’re sure to find a worthy cause (or several!) to support this Give OUT Day.

And if you’re looking to donate locally, that’s no problem either. Even though Give OUT Day is a national program, it was created right here in Minnesota, and there are plenty of local causes to check out.

“Last I checked, there were 40 — and counting — Minnesota-based organizations planning to take part in Give OUT Day, working on everything from youth development to arts and culture, advocacy, health, reproductive justice and more,” Ray says.

This Pride Month, we’re taking to the streets in celebration, shopping queer-owned, and of course, donating to LGBTQ+ organizations. In other words, this Pride, it’s giving giving!

You can learn more about National Give OUT Day on their website, giveoutday.org, and follow @giveoutdayus on Instagram for all the latest updates!