In March 1996, a group of friends held the first Green Party to benefit Triad Health Project. They raised $10,000 to support people living with HIV and AIDS. These visionary leaders knew that HIV and AIDS would not be the only issue to impact the LGBTQ community, and in 1998 they founded Guilford Green Foundation, the first LGBTQ foundation in the southeastern United States. For over 20 years Guilford Green Foundation worked to support critical organizations, innovative projects, and emerging community needs in the Piedmont Triad.

In 2018, Guilford Green Foundation expanded its mission and opened Greensboro’s first LGBTQ Center in a 400-square-foot office space. Quickly seeing the need for a larger, more visible, and accessible space for the community to gather, our founders led the way in raising over $150,000 to create a center in downtown Greensboro. We proudly cut the ribbon in January 2020.

Uniting community has been the heart of our mission since our inception. We celebrated our 25th anniversary and can proudly say that we have invested one million dollars in our local LGBTQ community, raised almost one million dollars for our endowment, and united tens of thousands of people while creating a thriving and vibrant community for LGBTQ people and allies.