Dear Friend,  

Every June, we look forward to marching in the Pride parade alongside hundreds of our clients⁠—some of whom are participating in an LGBTQ march for the very first time surrounded by their Immigration Equality family. Even though the pandemic means we're moving Pride to digital channels, we promise we'll still try to bring you all of the parade's glitter, feathers, and joyful cheering! 

To celebrate, we’ll kick off Pride festivities with the launch of our Proud and Free campaign, an initiative to raise $25,000 in honor of our 25th anniversary. After a quarter of a century doing this work, we’re as dedicated as ever to our fight for LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants. Will you help us meet our goal by creating a peer fundraising campaign for Immigration Equality?

You can use your fundraising page to share what being proud and free means to you—a funny anecdote about a past Pride, a personal coming out story, or the reasons why you fight for LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants.

Here’s how to get started: 

• Step One: Visit the Proud and Free website
• Step Two: Click "Fundraise with Us"
• Step three: Create your account
• Step Four: Determine your goal, upload a picture, and tell your story! 
• Step Five: Share with your network through email and social media

Most individuals raise between $250 and $1,000. Generally, people who are contacted about a peer campaign feel comfortable giving $25 to $100.  

Outside of the Proud and Free campaign, we have some other surprises coming up for you... 

• In June, we’ll reveal a fresh new look to Immigration Equality’s website, digital channels, and swag! Our team has worked long and hard to overhaul our branding, and we can’t wait to share it with you. 

• We’ll also host digital events for our community, including a Drag Brunch celebration with Marti Cummings on Sunday, June 7th at 12 PM EST, and a Proud And Free benefit performance the last week of June. More details to come on both.

We will really miss celebrating our freedom and our pride with you in person, but we hope you can join us at a safe distance. If you have any questions or want to schedule a time to set up your page with someone on our team, please feel free to email us at [email protected].  

Thank you, as always, for being a part of our community.  

Warmly, 

Jillian DeSimone 
Annual Fund Manager