A 501c3 Nonprofit corporation

The Gilbert Baker Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation established in New York City in December 2019. Previously, the officers and board of the Foundation operated under the auspices of the Gilbert Baker Estate, administered by Gilbert’s sister, Ardonna Baker Cook.

In both iterations, we have always operated as a volunteer organization. No officers or members of the board receive compensation. However, we provide compensation for professional services, such as web design, web hosting, legal, accounting and insurance. In addition, in 2019 the Estate financed operations to promote and advertise Gilbert Baker’s memoir, Rainbow Warrior.

All of our income to date has been derived from licensing fees for the use of Gilbert’s name, signature and likeness for the exclusive purpose of telling the Gilbert Baker story, in keeping with our mission. All agreements entered into by the Estate, and now Foundation, are based upon previously existing agreements entered into by Gilbert Baker with ABSOLUT dating back to 2003. In addition, we have added stringent measures to insure fair labor practices.

In 2018, the Estate partnered with Pride Corp, the New York University Stern School of Business LGBTQ student organization, to create  a standard vetting process for the Estate/Foundation that exceeds the commonly used Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. It is our intent that we will never take funds from or work with any company or institution that “waves the rainbow flag with one hand and gives money to our detractors with the other.”

Benefactors

Whenever possible, we ask that our corporate partners make donations to LGBTQ nonprofits that Gilbert passionately supported. This has resulted in companies like Nike, Estee Lauder and Etsy donating over $260,000 to … 

• The GLBT Historical Society Museum & Archives
• Hetrick-Martin Institute
• The LGBT Community Center
• The Q Foundation

The Foundation is especially proud of our work with the NIKE BeTrue campaign that gave donations to arts organizations, LGBTQ youth services and AIDS services organizations. We thank the Estee Lauder lab Series for their generous contributions to, and association with, the Hetrick-Martin Institute. We would also like to thank ABSOLUT for their steadfast support of the Gilbert Baker legacy and for 40 years of unwavering support of the LGBTQ community

 Whatever funds the foundation receives that exceeds our annual budget are donated to Gilbert’s favored nonprofits as well. Past donations have gone to:  

• The Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBTQ youth
• The Rainbow World Fund
• Hetrick-Martin Institute (where Gilbert taught art classes to homeless LGBTQ youth)
• The GLBT Historical Society Museum & Archives
• The LGBT Community Center
• The Generations Project

Reporting

From its inception, the Estate and Foundation have created annual budgets and quarterly cost reports. These are submitted to our board of directors for approval.

We have not formally solicited donations for the Foundation directly. However, if any institution or individual wishes to support our mission with a financial contribution, we welcome contact.  Please use form below.