Our Story:
The Visibility Impact Fund was founded as a giving circle in the summer of 2020, becoming the first EVER grassroots grant-maker to provide dedicated funds to bi+ communities. For decades, leaders in bi+ communities have advocated for more funding, highlighting how grant-makers ignoring our unique challenges is a root cause for why health and economic disparities are so much worse for bi+ people than lesbian, gay, and straight peers. Even with all this effort, bi+ people still only receive a small fraction of a percent of LGBTQ+ grants. All the while, bi+ leaders and advocates work tirelessly without financial support to provide community, support groups, training, education, and research that nobody else will. Bi+ communities make up over half of the LGBTQ+ community, and yet do not receive support from LGBTQ+ philanthropy.
Join our Giving Circle on Grapevine and help to make the invisible majority visible!
Starting this fund as a giving circle allows all of us to have a say in where we want our money to go. It is a major step towards shifting funding models to support and address the unique needs of bi+ communities. We will work together to direct our money to fund bi+ specific nonprofit organizations, training & education, and programs & projects that have an impact on the lives of bi+ people. We will also be the first voice representing bi+ communities at the national LGBTQ+ Funders Table where we hope to be a catalyst to other grant-makers to dedicate funds to address our community needs.
Leadership Team
Neil Aasve is the Founder of the Visibility Impact Fund. He has been a bi+ activist since 2008. He was a board member of the Bisexual Organizing Project in the Twin Cities, PAVES Nonprofit in Denver, and worked as the Safe Schools Manager for One Colorado. He founded the Visibility Fund in 2020 to address the significant gap in bi+ specific funding. In addition to his bi+ activism, Neil has a teaching degree in social studies and social sciences and he has worked as a fierce advocate for policies strengthening public education systems for over 15 years. Currently, he works as a Development Specialist for a Twin Cities based community college, Normandale Community College. He also offers consulting services to nonprofits through his own business, True Summit Consulting.
Hunniya Ahmad is a Sociology and Statistics major at Wake Forest University, Class of 2027, with a strong commitment to community-centered leadership and equity work. She serves as President of Circle K International, where she leads campus-wide service initiatives, volunteers with her local Democratic Party as the 3rd Vice Chair, and has worked closely with the Wake Forest LGBTQ+ Center to support inclusive programming and student belonging. She is passionate about uplifting the Bi+ community and working with The Visibility Impact Fund.
William Burleson’s history with bi activism began in the early 90s when he first attended the BECAUSE conference in Minneapolis. Since then, he has helped plan BECAUSE, was a founder the Bisexual Organizing Project, helped bring the international bi conference to the Twin Cities, and produced the Bi Cities TV show, among other projects. His book, Bi America: Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community, was published in 2005. He is currently the founding publisher of Flexible Press, LLC, and an author with one novel and an upcoming short story collection under his belt. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his spouse and two dogs a stone’s throw from the Mississippi.
Ellyn Ruthstrom is the Executive Director of SpeakOUT Boston, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ speakers bureau that has been raising awareness about the community since 1972. Her early professional career was focused within nonprofit publications, including Woman of Power and Teen Voices magazines. Ellyn has been a bi+ activist for over 30 years and was the President of the Bisexual Resource Center for 10 years and an active member of the Boston Bisexual Women’s Network. Ellyn co-organized the first Bisexual Issues Roundtable with the Obama Administration in 2013. Having had a long history with bi+ organizations, she knows how essential it is to provide funding for the organizations and programs that seek to support the bi+ community.
We are recruiting Leadership Team and Grant-making Committee members. Apply Today!