| The Richmond Gay Community Foundation was founded in September 1999 with the mission of "improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people." The organization began operations in 2000 as Diversity Thrift, a thrift store that raised money to support other LGBT nonprofit organizations. In October 2002, the organization added a weekly bingo game to increase its revenues and grant making. Since then, we have distributed more than $450,000 to other organizations. Recipient organizations of the grant making and donation program have included the Fan Free Clinic, which received funding for their HIV/AIDS Case Manager and delivered 2,939 units of service to 180 individuals over a nine-month period, Meals on Wheels, which received a grant in the amount of $29,000 for the delivery of over 5,970 meals to home-bound HIV patients and the Virginia Holocaust Museum for a permanent exhibit detailing the persecution of gays.
In 2004, began our next phase by purchasing a 47,000 square foot property in order to house our new Community Center, in addition to our ongoing thrift and bingo operations. The thrift store began operating from our new Center in January 2006, and we finished renovations on our Event Hall in Summer 2007. In Spring 2008 we will add 4 community rooms to provide a meeting and conference space for LGBT nonprofit organizations. Our grant making, suspended in 2004 to pay for our new building, will resume in Spring 2008.
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