'State of the Queer Center' Report:

As we navigate an ever-changing political and funding landscape, we want to remind you that Stonewall is here for you. We are planning for the future with renewed commitment to our mission to celebrate and support the health, empowerment, and joy of the North State LGBTQ+ community. Knowing that community connection and support is vitally important as we all forge ahead together, we invite you to join us in this transformative work in 2026 and into the future, and to reflect with us on what we’ve accomplished over the last year.

Stonewall remained a place where community members could turn for support, resources, and connection, while continuing our advocacy and expanding our reach across the North State. Despite losing two of our largest funding sources, we remained open and committed to our growing community need. Over the past year, we responded to approximately 3,800 community contacts, sustained more than 28 programs and services, hosted nearly 300 social and support group gatherings, and planned 14 free community events.

Our impact extended beyond the walls of our Center. Our Month-long Chico Pride celebration brought together approximately 3,000 people and more than 100 local businesses and organizations, including 14 health-focused community partners. Our Trans Care Patient Summit, our largest training event of the year, brought together more than 58 health providers, educators and community members from across the region to strengthen access to affirming care, while requests for name and gender marker support more than doubled over the past year.

As our community needs continue to grow, Stonewall Chico is investing in what comes next.

In response to this shift we pursued statewide and health-care partnerships, and our Executive Director obtained new grant funding sources through innovative collaboration and advocacy. We are now in the process of securing new Medi-Cal billing pathways for some of our programs and all of these efforts together will diversify our funding, strengthen our long-term sustainability, and expand access to life-saving resources for LGBTQ+ people in our local and rural California region.

Through everything, Stonewall Chico continued to employ one full-time Executive Director and five part-time staff - the greatest number of paid positions in the organization’s history. This means that our programs are seeing more time and attention necessary to function well than they ever have.

Though we have found our way through enormous obstacles this year, we are still in need of a long-term plan for financial stability. Making such a plan is very difficult with such a small, part-time staff alongside a small, volunteer board.

We’re proud of and excited about the support, education, and connection Stonewall provides. Of course, we cannot do this without you, and ask for your help in supporting our critical work.

To those who have already donated or are signed up as monthly sustaining donors: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you are proud of what we've done this year with the resources you've provided.

As you decide where to donate money this year, please consider Stonewall Chico. LGBTQ+ organizations receive only 0.16% of charitable giving in the U.S. annually. We are the only public-facing organization in our area providing LGBTQ+ competent education, advocacy, mental health support, social connection, and community care. For many Queer and Trans people across the North State, this work is not optional. It is part of how people find safety, belonging, resources, and support.

Email us if you or someone you know may want to serve on our Board of Directors to get information on what it takes to apply for a position, answer questions about Board service, and sit in on one of our monthly board meetings to see what it's like.
For inquiries of all kinds, email SACBoard@StonewallChico.org

Stonewall Alliance of Chico is honored to be an organization our community trusts. We look forward to sharing our space, our time, and our energy with you in the coming year.

In sincere solidarity,
Stonewall Alliance of Chico’s Board of Directors