We are excited to announce our 7th 2022 Fall Grant Recipient!

Thanks to our generous Legacy Giving Circle donor community, Trevor Project is receiving a $11,204.50 grant towards their TrevorSpace networking community!

Initiative Description: TrevorSpace, the world’s largest safe space social networking community for LGBTQ young people under the age of 25. We conducted a survey among over 2,000 TrevorSpace users about the introduction of new content, and TrevorSpace users shared the following interests (ranked by mass interest):

• Learning about mental health
• Education about LGBTQ history
• Learning about different LGBTQ identities
• Interactive content (we will create content such as videos centered around LGBTQ youth)

Using this feedback we will develop educational content around mental health and LGBTQ history, in addition to developing interactive content such as videos which will help learn about different LGBTQ identities among other topics. We would like to request $50,000 towards this initiative, but are very open to hearing from you about what is possible.

Over the last 24 years, Trevor has become a trusted resource offering targeted services for the unique mental health needs of LGBTQ young people. While Trevor is the largest crisis services provider for LGBTQ youth, today we are serving only a small percentage of the 1.8 million+ LGBTQ young people who seriously consider suicide every year in the U.S. In order to scale our services for every LGBTQ young person that needs support, Trevor is investing in our programming and innovative technologies to train exponentially more volunteers to reach an even greater number of youth in crisis. Trevor also invests in suicide prevention programs to help create a world where LGBTQ young people never enter a crisis in the first place because they feel supported as their authentic selves by their friends, families, and communities. Our suicide prevention programs include:

• Crisis services – The Trevor Project is the largest organization providing 24/7 free, confidential crisis intervention services to LGBTQ young people via phone, text, and chat.
• Peer support – TrevorSpace is the world’s largest safe space social networking community for LGBTQ young people.
• Research – The Trevor Project’s research program works to advance scientific inquiry, leverage internal and external data, and inform public knowledge in ways that bring new insights and clinical implications to the fields of suicidology and LGBTQ youth mental health.
• Public Education – Our education program develops research backed trainings and content on LGBTQ youth mental health and allyship, and increases awareness of these topics in public discourse through PR, marketing, and strategic partnerships.
• Advocacy – Through legislation, litigation and public education, The Trevor Project is the leading advocate for LGBTQ youth mental health in preventative efforts that address the discrimination, stigma and other factors that place LGBTQ young people at significantly higher risk of suicide.

Trevor has grown from a 24/7 phone Lifeline, to a preeminent resource for LGBTQ young people in crisis, as well as LGBTQ young people who are looking for resources or an affirming community. We’ve significantly grown in team size, number of volunteers, revenue, and number of youth served. With significant investments in innovative technology to scale our services and an operating model rooted in best-in-class practices, we are on track to reach more LGBTQ young people who need us and to provide a consistently high quality of care.

Initiative Impact: With The Legacy Collective’s support we will achieve the following goals in each of the following programmatic areas:

(1)Crisis Services: We will expand our crisis services to serve every LGBTQ young person that needs support by serving at least 350,000 LGBTQ young people in crisis up from 263,000 served during FY22 (a 33% increase). We will also increase our volunteer capacity from the current 3,000 who connected with LGBTQ youth in FY22.

(2)TrevorSpace: We will continue to increase the number of LGBTQ youth using TrevorSpace, while introducing significant changes to content moderation, user experience, and safety.

(3)Research: The Trevor Project’s research program works to advance scientific inquiry, leverage internal and external data, and inform public knowledge in ways that bring new insights and clinical implications to the fields of suicidology and LGBTQ youth mental health. We will launch our first international survey on LGBTQ youth mental health, conduct our fifth annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health in the U.S., and continue to publish new and groundbreaking findings on LGBTQ youth mental health through our monthly research briefs and quarterly reports.

(4) Advocacy: Through legislation, litigation, and public education, Trevor is the leading advocate for LGBTQ youth mental health in preventative efforts that address the discrimination, stigma, and other factors that place LGBTQ young people at significantly higher risk of suicide. We will protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy by introducing legislation to ban this harmful practice, launch a national campaign to educate the public on the dangers of anti-trans bills, and continue to work on advocating for inclusion of better Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity data.

(5) Public Education: Our education program develops research backed training and content on LGBTQ youth mental health and allyship, and increases awareness of these topics in public discourse through PR, marketing, and strategic partnerships. We will continue to provide trainings and digital resources for adults to support LGBTQ youth. We plan to hold over 50 trainings with a variety of adult audiences in FY23. We will target outreach to LGBTQ youth of color and other communities with intersecting identities to ensure they know Trevor is there for them.

Initiative Sustainability: Trevor aims to be there for every LGBTQ young person in crisis whenever they need us. However, we recognize that it is equally important to create an ecosystem of support for LGBTQ youth that prevents them from entering a crisis situation in the first place. Through our efforts in areas such as advocacy, public education, and digital community building, we strive to create sustained positive change within and around LGBTQ young people.

Our work has successfully led to the federal government recognizing the public health crisis faced by LGBTQ young people, and congress recently committed over $ 7 Million to provide specialized services to LGBTQ youth on the 988-National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Hope seekers dialing 988 now have the ability to press 3 to be connected to a specialized LGBTQ counselor at Trevor. This achievement is evidence of sustained support at the national level for our work.

Finally, our growing base of counselors means that our work is sustainable at the community level. Over 2,000 volunteers have committed their time to go through our training and take weekly shifts on our lifeline and digital crisis services. We are confident that this support from across the nation will continue to grow and ensure LGBTQ youth have access to affirming, supportive counselors whenever they need it.