Human Rights Campaign executive to speak at Gay Community Endowment Fund annual meeting

AKRON, Ohio (April 9, 2014) – Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, is coming to Akron in April to speak at the annual meeting of the Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation. At the event, Rouse will discuss how the campaign is effecting change at the local, state and federal levels.

Donors, supporters and friends are invited to attend the meeting, which will be held Sunday, April 27, at the University of Akron’s InfoCision Stadium. The annual meeting celebrates the Gay Community Endowment Fund’s impact in the community and recognizes its most recent grantees. Since its inception, the fund has invested more than $315,000 into the community to improve the lives of LGBT people and greater Akron as a whole.

The meeting will begin at 3 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and desserts on the fifth floor of the stadium. Free parking is available on South Union Street in front of the stadium entrance. Additional parking is available in Lot 6 on Union Street and Lot 9 by the large scoreboard. 

As national field director, Rouse is tasked with mobilizing the Human Rights Campaign’s members and supporters. Before joining HRC in 2006, Rouse led MassEquality, the statewide group in Massachusetts that successfully defended marriage equality in the Bay State. Under his leadership, MassEquality became a national advocacy model that combined grassroots organizing with strategic electoral focus.

In addition, Tom Nobbe, executive director of Gay Games 9, will provide a three-month-out update on this year’s Gay Games, coming to Cleveland and Akron in August 2014. In October, the Gay Community Endowment Fund announced a $100,000 commitment to the Gay Games, making it the official host sponsor of events held in Akron and Summit County.

Tickets to the annual meeting are $38 each and may be purchased at www.regonline.com/GCEFAnnualMeeting or by calling 330-376-8522 by April 21. $17 of each ticket is tax deductible.

For more information, contact Cindy Christman at lunaontheroad@sbcglobal.net.

About the Gay Community Endowment Fund

Founded in 2001, the Gay Community Endowment Fund is a permanent philanthropic endowment of Akron Community Foundation. It facilitates and perpetuates philanthropy by supporting programs and services that support or positively impact the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, as well as the entire greater Akron community. Since its inception, the fund has grown to more than $900,000 while reinvesting more than $315,000 into the community. Contributions of any amount are welcome and support future grant-making. Checks may be sent to the Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation, 345 W. Cedar St., Akron, OH 44307-2407. For more information, or to contribute, call 330-376-8522 or visit www.gaycommunityfund.org.

About Akron Community Foundation

Celebrating 58 years of building community philanthropy, Akron Community Foundation embraces and enhances the work of charitable people who make a permanent commitment to the good of the community. In 1955, a $1 million bequest from the estate of Edwin Shaw established the community foundation. Today, it is a philanthropic endowment of $181 million with a growing family of more than 440 funds established by charitable people and organizations from all walks of life. The community foundation welcomes gifts of all kinds, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, life insurance and retirement assets, just to name a few. To date, the community foundation’s funds have awarded more than $111 million in grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. For more information about Akron Community Foundation or to learn more about creating your own charitable fund, call 330-376-8522 or visit www.akroncf.org.