The Ask and the Offering: Building Queer Futures in Unseen Places

Dear Queer Professionals & Nonprofit Leaders and Allies,

The following blog is by guest writer, Andrew Mai Osborne (he/him) in the second person point of view. Queer Professionals, you will hear your own voice in Andrew’s. I hope you find the courage to continue living with (more!) authenticity. Nonprofit Leaders & Allies, you will hear a voice that is outside your own. I hope you learn how you can support Queer leaders in your organization and community through radical — yes, radical — allyship. —Matt

You hold two fundraising identities at once. The first is outward-facing: measured, strategic, and oriented toward outcomes. The second is deeply personal: rooted in intuition, history, and the quiet belief that something unnamed and beautiful awaits you. In both cases, you’re asking others to believe in something that doesn’t yet exist. To invest in a future that hasn’t fully taken shape. 

Over time, you’ve come to learn that fundraising is more than a job or a skill, it’s a kind of spiritual practice. A ritual of translation—turning vision into invitation, hope into structure, longing into language. Whether you’re advocating for a public initiative or self-funding a personal project, the work starts the same: with care, clarity, and commitment to the people you serve.

There’s a rhythm you’ve found in moving between these modes of “asking.” Your creative practice teaches you to inspire connection—to help someone feel seen and heard with a phrase or a note. Your fundraising practice teaches you to hold that connection with integrity—to build an infrastructure strong enough to carry the weight of your vision. The work isn’t seamless. The stress is real—especially when everything feels personal.

Fundraising, in any context, requires emotional stamina. You’re constantly shaping your inner world into something legible for the people on the outside. You’re translating the unseen into something fundable. That can be holy work—and it can be exhausting.

You’ve learned to protect the moments that ask nothing of you. You carve out space for reflection and rest. Some days, your roles harmonize. Other days, they compete. But you’ve come to learn that the friction is not a failure, but the practice itself. The tension between vulnerability and confidence, between dreaming and doing, that is the heart of the work.

Many of us walk this tightrope. For Queer professionals, especially those of us working in spaces where our identities aren’t always visible or resourced, that tension is also an act of survival. In a country that would rather us vanish, we are still here, laying brick on brick toward a future we’ve never been shown. We don’t always know who our audience is, or whether they’re ready, but that uncertainty becomes its own kind of freedom. It allows us to define sustainability on our own terms.

Can this project unfold with care?

Does it allow space for rest?

Does it make room for others?

Does it feel true?

You stay grounded, not only in place, but in presence. You listen for what the work asks of you and for what you’re capable of offering in return. There’s real labor in asking for support in spaces where Queerness isn’t always affirmed. There’s risk in being seen. There’s negotiation in every email, every pitch, every ask.

But there’s also power in naming what has gone unnamed. There’s power in holding the door open just a little wider. There’s power in becoming, even if briefly, the blueprint for what’s to come.

Take the next step—just one—and take it with care. That’s the work. Rest if needed. Begin again if you must. But never doubt that you’re building something real.

Sincerely,

Queers

About the Guest Writer

Andrew Mai Osborne (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist, fundraiser, and cultural worker based in Easton, Pennsylvania. His practice lives at the intersection of story, stewardship, and social imagination—spanning creative works, public initiatives, and community-rooted campaigns. As a queer person of color working in regional America, Andrew brings a values-driven approach to both fundraising and artmaking, treating each as an act of translation and care. He is the founder of Copacetic Records and the creator of Portrait of a Future Ancestor, a multimedia album and faux-documentary exploring intergenerational memory.

Learn more about Andrew <here>. 

About Queer For Hire

Queer For Hire provides fundraising support to Queer nonprofits, LGBTQIA+ cultural competency to straight-led organizations and corporations, and individual coaching for Queer professionals.

Learn about our Fundraising Services <here> – we’ll lead or support your fundraising efforts, whether you need general support or want to focus on raising money from and for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Learn about our Fundraising Trainings <here> – we can coach your board, staff, and fundraising team on how to fundraise and how to engage LGBTQIA+ donors.

Learn about our other services <here> or our resources <here>.