Wanderlust 2008 | About The Brooks Fund | About Franklin Brooks | Advisory Board | Grantmaking | Upcoming Events | How to Get Involved
Win a Trip through the Brooks Fund’s Wanderlust Travel Raffle!
For the past four years The Brooks Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has given a trip away through its Wanderlust Travel Raffle. This year we are giving away a $2,000 travel voucher to the destination of your choice. Buy tickets now!
Last year, two Nashvillians received a surprising call letting them know they had won the Wanderlust’s Travel Raffle trip for two to France. (Full story here)
Purchase tickets at $50. Includes raffle ticket for a $2,000 travel voucher for the U.S. or overseas and admission to the Wanderlust party with all of its amenities.
Purchase tickets at $35. Includes entrance to party and its amenities.
The Wanderlust Travel Raffle Party
Friday, June 13
The Cannery Ballroom
Join us for cocktails, Hors d'oeuvres, entertainment by DJ Mindub, door prizes, and a silent auction with other travel opportunities.
The Brooks Fund History Project
The Brooks Fund has announced an ongoing and diverse multimedia archival record of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life in Middle Tennessee. The initial stage of this extensive and groundbreaking project will collect oral histories from members of the LGBT community, from which a documentary film will be produced. "Gay and lesbian citizens of Middle Tennessee have a lot to tell us about what life was like for them fifty or sixty years ago,” said Iris Buhl, steering committee member. “They were – and are – an integral part of the fabric of this community. Our knowledge of the history of Middle Tennessee is incomplete without their stories. That’s why the Brooks Fund is mounting this effort.” Over time, The Brooks Fund History Project will expand to archive relevant LGBT historical information such as photographs, documents, and memorabilia.
Give online.
About The Brooks Fund
In 1995, The H. Franklin Brooks Philanthropic Fund was created at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to encourage the inclusion, acceptance and recognition of Middle Tennessee's lesbian and gay citizens by promoting respect and equality, improving services and strengthening alliances. This fund was named after Franklin Brooks (see below).
The Brooks Fund is focused on preventing disconnection, promoting understanding and providing education within the LGBT community of Middle Tennessee. Our major impact areas include an educational finance fund, youth social services, community awareness and access.
By supporting and encouraging the development of programs to enhance the quality of life for lesbians and gays in Middle Tennessee, the Brooks Fund can increase philanthropic awareness within the LGBT community, as well as raise LGBT visibility within Middle Tennessee.
About Franklin Brooks
For 25 years, Franklin Brooks was one of the most beloved figures on the Vanderbilt University Campus. As an associate professor in the Department of French and Italian, Franklin was instrumental in leading the dialogue that eventually helped include gays and lesbians in Vanderbilt’s anti-harassment policy in the late 1980s. He was the faculty sponsor for the first lesbian and gay student organization on campus. Franklin’s work to promote equality for gay and lesbians and diversity among the entire community lives on through The Brooks Fund.
While at Vanderbilt, Franklin was instrumental in leading the dialogue that eventually helped include gays and lesbians in Vanderbilt's anti-harassment policy in the late 1980s. It was important to Franklin that young gay people had positive role models—to make certain they knew that there were gay people in the world living their lives and not cowering in the margins. To that end, he was the faculty sponsor for the first lesbian and gay student organization on campus.
After Franklin's death in 1993, a group of his friends wanted to honor him and to continue his forthright championing of human rights, and so The Brooks Fund was created at The Community Foundation. Franklin's tireless work to promote equality for gay and lesbians and diversity among the community as a whole is a legacy that lives on through The Brooks Fund.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board of The Brooks Fund is comprised of community members who share the vision of a more accepting and tolerant community. They include business leaders, educators, community volunteers, nonprofit executives, and professionals from all walks of life. Advisory Board members oversee the activities of The Brooks Fund, which includes grant-making, fundraising, strategic planning, education, alliance-building, and public awareness.
2008 Members
Officers
Suzanne Bradford, Board Chair
Chris Chamberlain, Board Vice Chair
Roger Moore, Board Secretary
Members
Kathy Austin
Thomas H. Bailey
Barry Baird
Stephanie Barger
David L. Boyd
Russell Carbaugh
Erik Cole
Bryan Curtis
Laura Lee Dobie
Elaine Fahrner
Samuel L. Felker
Melissa Fortson
Dwayne Jenkins
Janie Kleiman
Jill Martin
Jim Mathis
Michelle Mazzara
Brent Meredith
Van Pond Jr.
Steve Powers
John Reynolds
Pam Sheffer
David Taylor
Chris Thomson
Michael Valentine
Beth Vincent
Cynthia Wiel
Amy Williams
LaRhonda J. Williams
Ex Officio Members
John A. Bridges
Iris W. Buhl
Hal Cato
Keith Merrill
Mike Smith
William Walker
Robyn Smith
Intern
Doug Alexander
Grantmaking
With the help of our generous donors, supporters and volunteers over the past eleven years, The Brooks Fund has granted over $135,000 to a variety of nonprofit organizations. These organizations offer a wide range of services to the Middle Tennessee community:
- cultural activities like film festivals and plays
- outreach programs focusing on crisis management, violence prevention, and healthcare access
- youth programs offering counseling, mentoring, and scholarships
- community services such as hotlines, peer counseling, and support groups
- training programs on topics of sensitivity/diversity, youth issues, and safety.
The Brooks Fund is committed to increasing its endowment and support of worthy organizations that are working to build bridges and break down barriers.
Click here for more information on grants.
Past Grant Recipients
| Organization | Summary |
Council of Community Services, 1996 |
Funding the services of person to conduct research and focus groups for aiding in creation of The Brooks Fund. |
Planned Parenthood Association of Middle Tennessee, 1997 |
Provide support for outreach campaign among the Middle Tennessee lesbian community promoting range of health care services and safe and welcoming environment and for training and education for clinical staff about specific needs of lesbian patients as well as overall sensitivity/diversity training on issues related to sexual orientation. |
Oasis Center, 1997 |
To conduct a conference for professionals and youth entitled Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Youth: Hearing the Unheard. Conference highlights included keynote address by Christopher Portelli of the Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States; a youth panel comprised of members of One-In-Teen, a local LGBT youth organization; and nine separate workshops dealing with topics ranging from religion, legal issues, mobilizing for education, and domestic violence and crisis prevention |
Unitarian Universalist First Church of Nashville, 1997 |
Pass through organization to create The Self Loan Fund |
Center for LGBT Life in Nashville (now closed), 1999 |
Provide some program and operational support to assist with continued outreach. |
GLSEN (now closed), 1999 |
Assist a newly formed chapter with start-up and leadership/resource development. |
Mockingbird Public Theatre, 1999 |
Assist with the production of Gross Indecencies: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. |
National Conference for Community & Justice, 1999 |
Assist with the continuing development of gay/lesbian educational component of their Building Bridges and Camp MiniTown diversity programs for school-aged children. |
Oasis Center, 1999 |
Develop a peer counseling program, including a teen crisis line and discussion groups with young people residing in The Oasis Emergency Shelter, and Teen Talk summits for youth ages 14 to 18 on Welcoming Diversity and Difference. |
PFLAG, 1999 |
Provide support for outreach via billboards and local movie theater screen ads. |
Nashville CARES, 2000 |
Provide support for an education/leadership retreat for gay and bisexual men of color. |
National Conference for Community & Justice, 2000 |
Support for the continuation of the Building Bridges program and to work in collaboration with Oasis Center to provide training and resource materials for educators |
Oasis Center, 2000 |
To provide outreach and training to school personnel and peer-led efforts outside of schools that focus on tolerance and acceptance of sexual identity differences. The focus this year included outreach to principals and parent councils. |
PFLAG, 2000 |
Provide support for outreach via billboards and local movie theater screen ads. |
Nashville CARES, 2001 |
To purchase supplies for a community building art exhibit by and for gay/bisexual men. This empowerment intervention helped Nashville CARES reach out to new members of the community |
National Conference for Community & Justice, 2001 |
To support training of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools staff in the prevention of discrimination against LGBT youth. With this grant, the Brooks Fund encouraged collaboration between NCCJ other local organizations serving teens in crisis (e.g., the Oasis Center, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) thereby allowing for more efficient and effective use of scarce charitable resources. |
Oasis Center, 2001 |
To support training for school personnel on tolerance/acceptance on sexual identity. |
PFLAG, 2001 |
Provide support for outreach via billboards and local movie theater screen ads. |
YWCA, 2002 |
To provide training on same-gender violence issues. This donation was the first made for this effort, and with this initial grant, the YWCA was able to leverage other monies in support of their outreach. |
Nashville Independent Film Festival, 2002 |
To launch the first Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, held in conjunction with NIFF’s annual event. This grant helped NIFF raise additional money to support the gay/lesbian film festival, which has continued each year without further support from the Brooks Fund. |
PFLAG, 2002 |
Provide support for outreach via billboards and local movie theater screen ads. |
Rainbow Community Center (formerly the Center for LGBT Life in Nashville), 2002 |
To develop programming for LGBT youth and increase presence within the LGBT community. |
Equality Tennessee (now closed), 2002 |
To compile a written history of LGBT life in Tennessee. |
Nashville Children’s Theatre, 2003 |
Support for the production of The Wrestling Season, a play about being gay in high school. |
Nashville Film Festival, 2006 |
To help with promotion and production of the LGBT portion of the Film Festival |
Tennessee Equality Project Foundation, 2006 |
To provide public discourses on issues affecting the LGBT community, specifically targeting areas outside of metro Nashville |
YW, 2006 |
To continue outreach efforts to LGBT communities on domestic violence |
Upcoming Events
The Brooks Fund Wanderlust Travel Raffle
Friday, June 13
Cannery Ballroom
Tickets available in April
For more information, contact Michael McDaniel at 615-321-4939 ext. 103.
How To Get Involved
Click here to make a donation now!
Email Michael McDaniel to let us know if you want to volunteer!
Email Michael McDaniel to be added to our mailing and e-mail lists!
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