Getting back in the game

The Cream City Foundation was founded in 1982 by five likeminded people as “The Cream City Association Foundation” which set out to provide for the gay community by charitably supporting organizations that promote the well-being and security of the gay community. In the 39 years since its inception, we’ve seen numerous swings of the societal LGBTQ+ pendulum. We’ve also seen Cream City’s unwavering presence over those years.

The COVID pandemic has been incredibly challenging for all not-for-profit charitable organizations, and Cream City Foundation is no exception. The lack of safety to gather coupled with financial instability limits the key drivers used by such organizations to spread their message and thrive. However, the mission of our organization has never been clearer – to promote the health, equity, and prosperity of the LGBTQ+ community in Southeastern Wisconsin. Our Board of Directors is a vibrant collection of Milwaukee professionals and community members dedicated to being stewards of the Foundation’s history and ensuring the well-being of our LGBTQ+ community.  We’ve had a turbulent 2020 and 2021, but we’re still here, and as vibrant as ever.

As many of you know, Cream City’s State of the Foundation, originally scheduled for March 2021, was postponed by the Board of Directors. While we needed to cancel this event, we are excited to announce our upcoming State of the Foundation on September 7, 2021 at the Broadway Theatre Center. We have so much exciting news to share with you all.

While we hope to see all of you at our event, we wanted to briefly share with you some of our most exciting developments:

We have closed our physical offices in the Colby Abbot building to ensure a more stable and virtual footprint. If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, it is that the future of work is changing, people are resilient, and physical spaces are not strictly necessary. We are excited to embark upon a new virtual adventure, with virtual platforms, messaging, and community work creating the foundation of our next steps.

We’ve committed to maintaining our scholarship and grantmaking programs in 2022.  We hope you’ll join us in supporting LGBQT+ scholars and organizations in whatever means is possible for you: by giving, by volunteering, or by simply spreading the word about the Foundation.

We have been working continuously to find the best way to preserve the history of the Foundation, while also ensuring its future vitality. This includes interviewing candidates for a Foundation employee and developing new strategies to prosper in a post-pandemic world. We believe that the Foundation has a role to play in the future of Milwaukee. As the second-oldest LGBTQ+ specific charity in the country, the Cream City Foundation is just getting started. We’re ready to get back into the community and the work that drives us.

We as the Cream City Foundation Board are simply individuals who believe that the Cream City Foundation will continue to improve the health, equity, and prosperity of the LGBTQ+ community in Southeastern Wisconsin. We look forward to sharing a detailed State of the Foundation with you on September 7, 2021 at 5:30-7:00 PM at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway Street. We can’t wait to share the evening with you and the rest of our community.

We look forward to seeing you there.