Impact: Institute Annual Report 2022

Justin Drwencke Director of Marketing & Communications/Editor/ Designer: Nick Pfost

Board Treasurer: Khamille De Lara

Cover: iStock

Photographers: David Heasley, Maddie Schroeder, Gaelen Morse

INTRODUCTION

Each day in 2022 seemed to dawn a new bill—a new legislative attack—targeting queer and trans people. According to the Movement Advancement Project’s February 2023 report “Under Fire: The War on LGBTQ People in America”, 315 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures in 2022– 29 were signed into law. These bills are designed to criminalize queer and trans people’s existence and erase us from schools and public life. Unfortunately, this is just a continuation of the same tactics we’ve been responding to for several years. In this context, it was bone-chilling, but hardly surprising, to read an announcement from the CDC: more than 1 in 5 (22%) queer and trans youth attempted suicide in the past year.

The critical work of the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity emphasizes building community and building strong movements. This is how we fight back. We know that building community improves mental health outcomes for queer and trans youth. We know that building a strong movement of queer and trans change makers is how we win.

In this annual report, we highlight some of our achievements from 2022:

• We held the 30th annual Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference (MBLGTACC) in Columbus, Ohio. The theme for this gathering was “Limitless: Queer Activism of the Future.”

• We produced two seasons of our podcast, Take the Late Bite, with episodes covering topics including mental and physical wellbeing, joy as the antidote to despair, electoral politics, student debt, reproductive justice, and more.

• We held the 6th annual Trans(Gender) Justice Teach-In, in partnership with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Sexuality and Gender Equity Initiatives. The theme for the 2022 teach-in was Trans Fat: Lessons from Large Trans Folks.

• We continued the Queer Policy Series partnership with the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with a conversation titled Racial Foundations of Public Policy: LGBT Rights.

In 2022, we welcomed three new members to our board of directors: Jamal King, Alan Toussaint, and Gigi Wickline. These new members have brought wisdom, perspective, and guidance drawing on their expertise and involvement in higher education, advocacy, and social justice.

On August 10, 2022, our board of directors adopted an updated strategic plan defining three main goals for 2023-2025:

1. Establish the Institute as a trusted resource for information about the experiences of Midwest queer and trans youth

2. Improve material conditions for queer and trans youth across the Midwest

3. Fairly compensate staff and contributors for their labor

These goals will guide our work and priorities for the coming years as we seek to build community among queer and trans youth (and those who support them), expand knowledge of sexuality and gender, and create lasting change across the Midwest through advocacy and expansive programming.

Financially, we ended 2022 with $58,763 in net assets. Revenues totaled $126,298 and expenses totaled $125,327. Administrative and fundraising expenses represented 3% of our total expenses, meaning 97 cents from every dollar received is allocated to programs supporting the queer and trans community.

WE BUILD COMMUNITY AMONG QUEER AND TRANS YOUTH (AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEM), EXPAND KNOWLEDGE OF SEXUALITY AND GENDER, AND CREATE LASTING CHANGE ACROSS THE MIDWEST THROUGH ADVOCACY AND EXPANSIVE PROGRAMMING.

MISSION VISION

WE ENVISION A LIBERATED FUTURE WHERE GENERATIONS OF QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE LIVE IN ABUNDANCE AND THEIR JOY, KNOWLEDGE, AND EXPERIENCE GUIDE OUR SHARED EXISTENCE.

VALUES

OUR CORE VALUES ARE STATEMENTS OF WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE PRIORITIZE THE WORK THAT WE DO. THEY SHAPE HOW WE OPERATE AS A TEAM AND ORGANIZATION. THEY GROUND US, IN EVERYTHING WE DO, IN OUR VISION, MISSION, AND PURPOSE.

ACCESSIBILITY

We provide opportunities that are considerate of varying intellectual, physical, and financial capacities.

ACCOUNTABILITY EDUCATION

We vow transparency in our processes, take ownership of our limitations and commit to continuous self-work. Through this modeling, we expect and challenge our colleagues and partners to do the same.

We prioritize culturally relevant learning experiences and education that is not confined to academic institutions.

We act to improve conditions for queer and trans people across the Midwest, informed by and prioritizing the most marginalized within our community. We collaborate with and support others engaged in anti-oppression work.

We view community as an ongoing act of love, establishing intentional, mutually beneficial relationships that strengthen our collective capacities.

ADVOCACY COMMUNITY LIBERATION

We work to dismantle systemic barriers, combat deeply ingrained beliefs and practices that harm our communities, and conduct our work with urgency toward an inevitable revolution.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

TAKE THE LAST BITE

In 2022, we wrapped up season one and also completed seasons two and three for a total of 19 episodes across the year. We delved into many incredible conversations and found ways to showcase other programs and initiatives of the Institute through the podcast. For example, in season three we discussed the MBLGTACC 2022 planning process with student planners and debriefed the event among staff while still on-site in Columbus.

Across seasons two and three, our team recorded “small bites” about Trans Day of Visibility and year-end recaps, discussing things we did that we didn’t imagine we could. Our board president Stephanie Skora got on the mic to discuss one of her other hats– the Girl, I Guess progressive voter guide and R.B. offered a deepdive tracking the patterns that led up to the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs.

Some additional guests of note include:

• CUEE WRIGHT, a Black trans musician who discussed his move into music full-time

• COLTAN SCHOENIKE and ASHER WICKELL, family & marriage therapists practicing in rural Wisconsin and Kansas

• ERIN MAYE QUADE and ABENA ABRAHAM, reproductive justice advocates from Gender Justice and UnRestrict Minnesota

This platform has become a promising outlet for highlighting queer and trans justice work in the region and we continue to see incremental growth in our listenership. Throughout 2022, we accrued 758 downloads and listens—nearly double the listens and downloads compared to 2021. We aim to grow this listenership with new outreach and marketing tools as we prepare for season four.

Our podcast, policy talk, and teach-in bring Institute-supported opportunities to students, higher ed pros, and the public throughout the year.

QUEER POLICY TALK

The historical roots and impact of race, gender, and sexuality shape public policy as both a disciplinary field and as a course of action.

This year we renewed our collaboration with the University of Michigan’s topranked Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Together with the Ford School and its Center for Racial Justice, the Institute

TRANS(GENDER) JUSTICE TEACH-IN

The 6th annual Trans(Gender) Justice Teach-In was hosted virtually via livestream on December 6 2022. This free event was themed “Trans Fat: Large Lessons from Large Trans Folks” and featured panelists

Dr. JON PAUL HIGGINS, TK MORTON and SHANE SMOORE with R.B BROOKS as moderator.

Key talking points discussed by this panel include:

• how fatness interplays with gender

• experiences of fat trans and nonbinary people in health,

welcomed Dr. BIANCA D.M. WILSON and Dr. CELESTE WATKINS-HAYES in conversation around the racial foundations of LGBT rights.

The hour-long discussion covered major areas and themes of current research related to queer and trans people of color, poverty, system-involved youth, and more.

WATCH RECORDING sgdinstitute.org/programs/ queer-policy

pandemic, protest, and other circumstances of our current moment

• moving beyond self-love and into a liberated future

WATCH RECORDING sgdinstitute.org/programs/ transgender-justice

Wilson

Higgins

“[There’s a] sense that we’re supposed to be invisible, and we’re supposed to move within the shadows and not be seen as our full selves... That’s not reality. We’re going to exist whether you like it or not.”

T.K. Morton, overheard at the Trans(Gender) Justice Teach-in

Schoenike

Watkins-Hayes

Morton

Smoore

Quade

THIRTY YEARS OF MBLGTACC

30TH ANNUAL MIDWEST BISEXUAL LESBIAN GAY TRANSGENDER ASEXUAL COLLEGE CONFERENCE

For MBLGTACC 2022, the Institute collaborated with an incredible team of student leaders to plan and implement the 30th annual conference in Columbus, Ohio the weekend of Oct. 21-23. With the theme “Limitless: Queer Activism of the Future.”

As we entered into the second year of hosting the conference in the Fall, we were cautiously optimistic about starting to rebound from the initial onset of the pandemic and retained a virtual component to the conference experience to heighten availability of the content for those still avoiding travel and/or in-person spaces.

We introduced “workshop tracks” into the conference program this year, which curate workshop experiences with express attention

to rural communities, self- and communitycare, activism, media, campus organizing, and advisor sessions. Andy, director of technology, designed a workshop review tool to initiate a more efficient and centralized process for reviewing workshop submissions and an improved user experience for workshop presenters.

Keynotes this year were SCHUYLER BAILAR and IMANI BARBARIN and entertainment featured HAYDEN KRISTAL and a drag show.

Another new programming component was the introduction of a Maker Market featuring queer and trans artists and creators and “creation stations” such as bead crafts, tote bag decorating, and a community mural banner. We were also able to offer on-site drop-in counseling services to attendees.

PHOTOS

VIEW THE FULL ALBUM AT FACEBOOK.COM/MBLGTACC

We also facilitated a call for art submission process to solicit designs for the conference program cover and other print materials. We selected and compensated two LGBTQ+ artists and incorporated their artwork into the conference program as well as printed posters for attendees to snag as conference swag.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FY 2022 | January 1 - December 31, 2022

FINANCIAL POSITION CASH FLOWS

FIND PRIOR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS & TAX FILINGS ONLINE SGDINSTITUTE.ORG/ABOUT/TRANSPARENCY

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. NATURE OF ACTIVITIES

Established in 2016 in Michigan, the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity is a regional not-for-profit organizaiton working to connect, educate, and empower LGBTQ+ youth in the Midwest and beyond. The Institute organizes educational and community building programming for queer and trans college-aged youth to build community and build a stronger movement.

2. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Accounting

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally acceted in the United States of America (GAAP). The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and ssumptions that may affect amounts reported in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Classification of Net Assets

Net assets of the Institute are classified based on the presence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

Net assets without donor restrictions: Net assets that are not subject to donor-imposed restrictions or for which the donor-imposed restrictions have expired or been fulfilled. Net assets in this category may be expended for any purpose in performing the primary objectives of the Institute.

Net assets with donor restrictions: Net assets subject to stipulations imposed by donors and grantors. Some donor restrictions are temporary in nature; those restrictions will be met by actions of the Institute or by the passage of time.

Contributions

Contributions of cash and other asssets, including unconditional promises to give in the future, are reported as revenue when received, measured at fair value. Donor promises to give in the future are recoreded at the present value of estimated future cash flows.

Contributions without donor-imposed restrictions are reported as contributions without donor restrictions.

Contributions with donor-imposed restrictions and contributions with donor-imposed time or purpose restricitons that are met in the period in which the gift is received are reported as restricted support and net assets with donor restrictions. Contibutions with donor restrictions that are used according to donor restrictions in the same time period as contributed are recognized as restricted support and reclassified as net assets released from restrictions in the same period.

Functional Allocation of Expenses

Costs of providing program and support services have been reported on a functional basis in the statement of activities and change in net assets. Indirect costs have been allocated between the vairous programs and support services as determined by management.

Federal Income Taxes

The Institute is a not-for-profit corporation and is exempt from tax under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).”

3. DONOR-RESTRICTED NET ASSETS

Net assets with donor restrictions as of December 31, 2022 are available for the following purposes:

Subject to expenditure for a specified purpose

Restricted for MBLGTACC 30 (2022) $ -

Restricted for MBLGTACC 31 (2023) $ 42,438.00

TOTAL $ 42,438.00

4. RELEASE OF RESTRICTION

Net assets were released from restriction by incurring expenses, satisfying the restricted purposes, or by occurence of the passage of time or other events specified by donors as follows:

Purpose restrictions accomplished - release of contributions

Restricted for MBLGTACC 30 (2022) $ 16,031.18

TOTAL $ 16,031.18

OUR TEAM

VOLUNTEER STAFF

JUSTIN DRWENCKE they/them Executive Director

ROZE R.B. BROOKS they/them Director of Programs

ANDY NEWHOUSE they/them Director of Technology

NICK PFOST he/they Director of Marketing & Communications

MICHELLE WALTERS she/they Director of Operations

DANIELLE KROPVELD they/them Director of Community Engagement

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STEPHANIE SKORA she/her President

KHAMILLE DE LARA she/her Treasurer

MATTHEW ANDERSON, ESQ. he/him Secretary

JAMAL KING they/them Board Member

ALAN TOUSSAINT he/him Board Member

GIGI WICKLINE she/they Board Member

CONTACT

General inquiries: hello@sgdinstitute.org

Collaborations: justin@sgdinstitute.org

Sponsorships & giving: danielle@sgdinstitute.org

MBLGTACC: rb@sgdinstitute.org

Press or media: marketing@sgdinstitute.org

Website comments: webmaster@sgdinstitute.org

BUILD COMMUNITY. BUILD STRONG MOVEMENTS.

You can fuel powerful college experiences, catalyze game-changing advocacy, and transform the climate of our campuses. With your support, students and young leaders from the Midwest and beyond will have access to these valuable opportunities and resources regardless of their financial means.

Give today: sgdinstitute.org/giving