Image via Cream City Foundation
Cream City Foundation
At age 39, Milwaukee’s Cream City Foundation is the nation’s second-oldest philanthropic organization serving the LGBTQ+ community. The foundation held a “State of the Foundation” community gathering on September 7, hosted by Skylight Music Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center’s second-floor cabaret. Proof of vaccination was required, allowing attendees to happily socialize with food and drink.
The event’s MC, Karen Valentine, deepened the audience’s bond through laughter. Some of her jokes touched on recent hardships for the foundation, many born of the pandemic, others by the departures of former leaders, one of whom was criminally charged in a matter completely unrelated to the organization but that somehow cast a pall. She got us past that.
She then introduced DJ Quam of GE Healthcare, a board member who at the start of this year accepted the role of board president. He and the 10 other board members cancelled a planned “State of the Foundation” presentation last March and instead held weekly virtual meetings to consider every facet of the operation, determine its direction and make plans. With no staff to help them, communication with the public was minimal. Many in the community were left wondering.
Worth Waiting For
“This is the first in-person event we’ve hosted since 2019,” Quam began, as he took the stage to share plans and answer questions. “But good things are worth waiting for, right? As you can imagine,” he continued, “the pandemic struck us hard in every way possible. I would characterize the LGBTQ+ community as one that values togetherness, and covid made that really difficult.”
But while it hurt fund-raising, it also showed the board that much could be accomplished virtually. So, they made the decision to close the physical offices on Milwaukee Street and to operate bare bones but with heavy board involvement.
“It puts us in a position to turn more of every dollar into charitable giving,” Quam explained, adding that a fulltime staff person has been hired to answer phone calls and emails. He emphasized that the foundation is on strong financial footing; audits have been done; the books are clean; and above all, the work of the Cream City Foundation is unchanged. This is not a new start, it’s a next chapter.
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Grants Continue
The board remains committed to maintaining the college scholarship program that helps students who’ve demonstrated a commitment to working on behalf of LGBTQ+ equality. Board members have pledged nearly $6500 in scholarship funds for 2022. A community advisory board will help select recipients, as it has since the program began in 2016.
The granting program will also continue. The foundation was created in 1982 in response to the AIDS epidemic. It now oversees some $300,000.00 in donor-advised and other funds. Crucial support in AIDS prevention and life-sustaining medical treatment for victims will continue via grants through Vivant Health, formerly known as the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin.
The mission remains rooted in three “pillars”—health, equity, prosperity—identified in a 2017 Marquette University study of the LGBTQ+ community’s needs. Every individual matters. Quam will work to maintain the corporate contacts. “I am very open to new ways of working,” he said, “but at this point there’s nothing I’ve learned to suggest that the Cream City Foundation is irrelevant.”
Asked what he wants from the community, he answered: “I want to be able to continue to build relationships, to build honest trust. That’s the most important thing for us as a community. The fundraising and financial contributions will come next. It’s most important that I can walk into a room and know that I have people who want to see the Foundation succeed.”
