About Queer For Hire

Queer
Extravagance

Queer For Hire strives to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community to a level of Queer Extravagance that accomplishes both personal success for every single queer person and shared equity for all through the power of authenticity, uniting diverse people, and maximizing the abundance of philanthropy on all levels.

What Our Clients Are Saying

  • "The topics that I have seen the agency having issues with were promptly addressed, and in my opinion in a way as if to say politely “this is not okay, there are no excuses “, and I LOVED that."

    Client of LGBTQIA+
    Cultural Competency Training

  • "Given there are some individuals in the community who are shy or uncomfortable confronting these topics, I feel like the agency needed someone outside to be the one to stand up for them. Sometimes an ally can only do so much."

    Staff member of a client

  • "Overall, you were engaging and interesting, most of the staff thought your training was beneficial and many learned a lot from it, and that’s exactly what we hoped going into this."

    Hiring Manager, client

  • "Keep providing it."

    Staff member of a client

Matthew Easterwood, CAP®, CFRE (they/he)
Founder & CEO

Hi there, I’m Matt! Welcome to Queer For Hire! I tell the story of my experience and how I got here…

I’ve been in nonprofit management for 11 years and a professional fundraiser for seven. Most of that time has been in queer organizations, and I quickly came to see that there were no leaders or path makers when it came to fundraising in the LGBTQIA+ community at all – whether that was as a queer person, or for a queer organization, or engagment with the LGBTQIA+ community and donors, there isn’t much shareable knowledge and resources in our sector.

As the founder and CEO of Queer For Hire, I wanted to create and share this knowledge and these resources, and so now I’m pursuing LGBTQIA+ consulting for nonprofits who want to engage the LGBTQIA+ community through fundraising, hiring, board involvement, and more; and coaching nonprofit queer professionals interested in getting hired, excelling in the nonprofit sector, and boosting their professional development and living career success.

Professionally, I am a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® and Certified Fund Raising Executive — both certifications equip me with knowledge, skills, resources, and community that help elevate my fundraising and ethics in the nonprofit field while staying up to date on current effective methods and practices worldwide.

Now clearly I’m qualified in general fundraising, so to give some background as to how I’m qualified in fundraising from the LGBTQIA+ community…

I’m Queer AF!

In all seriousness…I started my fundraising career at a science center in Eastern Pennsylvania in a very entry level position learning the ropes. From the science center, after a year and a half, I was recruited by the Executive Director of the local up and coming LGBT community center to be their new development manager. There, I honed my Development generalist skills in individual, corporate, planned, grant, and major event giving.

Within three years, I was promoted to Director of Development and had successfully doubled the organization’s operating budget. I implemented a peer-to-peer year-end campaign that raised $12,000 in its first year and more than $40,000 by its third.

From Pennsylvania, my destiny was finally fulfilled by moving to California, where I currently live in Sausalito, Marin County. I was recruited by a 40-year-old LGBT community organization to be their chief development officer – their first professional fundraiser in almost 30 years. As you can imagine, it was not easy. Regardless, I basically built their development program from scratch, and at the end of my first four months, I ran a peer-to-peer year-end campaign with a goal to raise $40,000 in the last 40 days of the year to celebrate the 40th anniversary – we raised more than $90,000. The next year, we raised more than $100,000.

I didn’t know what to expect from an organization with 40 years of history and almost no donor constituency. But there, and in Pennsylvania, I adopted my fundraising skills with my knowledge of the queer community to successfully meet goals and expand our mission in communities to which I felt I was a newcomer. From a science center to my first queer community organization? There were maybe two queer donors at the science center and the organization had JUST started talking about gender neutral bathrooms. How was I going to be successful at my first fundraising gig at a queer org? Well, I nailed it! And then going from Pennsylvania to California SF Bay Area? A different planet! I soared with flying colors.

My mission is to help nonprofits advance their mission by engaging the LGBTQIA+ community, and to coach queer professionals toward a journey of career success.

I’m queer and I’m for hire to help you reach your goals.

Bio updated April 2024