A week of firsts — and what Kevin Jennings reminded me about hope
by Jones Jones (they/them), Acting Co-CEO, Rainbow Giving Australia
Last week was a week of firsts for Rainbow Giving Australia, and for me.
We brought Amplify Pride grant recipients and some of our other key partners together in person for the first time, launched the pilot year of Rainbow Giving Circle with the inaugural Aurora Nights, and had the extraordinary privilege of spending the week with Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal (US).
Photography by Lexi Murrant
I knew Kevin’s professional story before he arrived in Sydney: a lifelong advocate, movement leader, educator and fundraiser whose work has helped shape LGBTQIA+ progress in the United States. What I could not fully anticipate was the warmth, generosity and joy he would bring to every room, and how much I would personally take from our time together.
The moment that captured Kevin’s generosity best came when he did more than encourage others to join us: he became a Rainbow Giving Circle Founding Member himself. After four decades in the LGBTQIA+ movement, including leading the Arcus Foundation, whose seed funding helped establish what would become Rainbow Giving Australia a decade ago, Kevin told us:
“What Rainbow Giving is doing in Australia is one of the most exciting philanthropic initiatives I have ever seen - so exciting, in fact, that I was moved to become a member of the Rainbow Giving Circle myself (and I don’t even live here!).”
It was generous, joyful and very Kevin: turning belief into action, then inviting others to come with him.
Aurora Nights was not simply an event held alongside the Circle’s launch. It was the first expression of what Rainbow Giving Circle can be, bringing Founding Members, grant partners and other important friends of Rainbow Giving Australia together across the year to learn, connect, celebrate and deepen their relationships with LGBTQIA+ communities. At its heart, the Circle is community-led and relationship-driven, designed to grow the resources our communities can direct where they are needed most.
The warmth and joy of community were everywhere at Aurora Nights. You can see it in the photos: everyone is smiling. I know we need that feeling now more than ever.
Photography by Zoe Hyland
Kevin spoke about journeys of hope. It was a fitting theme for an evening that held both celebration and the recognition that passivity is no longer an option. We celebrated the people and relationships that have sustained LGBTQIA+ giving in Australia, and the new generation leading a new dawn of generosity, while acknowledging that our communities face renewed hostility, disinformation and political pressure.
Kevin did not offer easy optimism. His message was more useful: progress and backlash are connected. When communities become more visible and win change, they can also become more of a target. Backlash is not proof that advocacy has failed. It is something movements must anticipate, prepare for and resource.
That insight stayed with me throughout the week. A win is not the moment to take our foot off the pedal. It may be exactly when sustained funding, strong institutions and movement infrastructure matter most.
Photography by Zoe Hyland
The following day, Kevin joined leaders from Snow Foundation, Equality Australia, Chris Bush AI and our Amplify Pride partner organisations for our first in-person partner convening. The day included people doing practical, community-led work across health, legal services, inclusion, family support, refugee advocacy and human rights, and was filled with capability building, shared wisdom and honest exchanges about what is working, what is difficult and what our organisations need next. Partners learned from Kevin and from one another, strengthened relationships, and built connections across an ecosystem that is too often under-resourced and fragmented.
After the convening, Kevin spent dedicated time with the Equality Australia team. Equality Australia is one of our most important peers and ecosystem strengtheners. We deeply value their leadership in advocacy and law reform, their generosity as collaborators, and the vital role they play in building a stronger, more connected movement. The conversation extended the day’s learning into another essential part of our movement’s advocacy and legal ecosystem.
At Pride in Law’s Supper Club the following night, Kevin spoke with LGBTQIA+ legal practitioners, advocates and allies. It was especially beautiful to see so many young LGBTQIA+ lawyers hear directly from him, ask questions and spend quality time with someone whose life’s work has helped shape the field they are entering. It was not only a speaking engagement. It was an intergenerational moment of connection, encouragement and possibility.
The next evening, Kevin, Teddy Loveny and I also attended the Pride Business Association’s Fruits in Suits 30th anniversary celebration. It was so much fun, and especially exciting to see many Rainbow Giving Circle Founding Members and Aurora Nights guests there. Their energy and excitement about what we can achieve together made the Circle feel less like a new program and more like a community already beginning to take shape.
Photography by Ann-marie Calilhanna
And we didn’t stop there. The following morning, the fifth and final day of Kevin whirlwind visit, he joined an online conversation with the Rainbow Funders Network and leaders from the wider Aotearoa New Zealand philanthropic and community sector. He shared his perspective on the state of the movement, progress and backlash, and what funders and institutions can learn from the United States. Once again, he brought not only expertise and wisdom, but hope and joy.
What struck me across the partner day, Pride in Law, Fruits in Suits and the Aotearoa New Zealand conversation was the willingness of leaders, across organisations and across borders, to share wisdom, connect and build stronger networks together. Together is much better. As a collective, we can and we will change hearts and minds.
Across the week, Kevin returned to the importance of relationships. When people are asked why they give, he reminded us, one reason stands above all others: because someone asked them.
“Please, please, please go ask people to join you as supporters of Rainbow Giving. ‘Don’t ask, don’t get,’ as they say.” — Kevin Jennings
People stay involved because they trust the people, understand the purpose and can see themselves as part of the work. Good development is not about extracting money. It is about inviting people into meaning, belonging and impact.
I saw that principle everywhere: in conversations between grant partners; in Founding Members meeting one another; in young lawyers spending time with a movement elder; in funders sharing what they were learning across countries; in Kevin offering his time, wisdom and encouragement so freely; and in the many people who helped make an enormous week possible.
Kevin also reminded us that defence is not enough. Movements must oppose harmful laws and policies, but we also need an affirmative vision - one capable of changing hearts and minds. Public education matters because disinformation thrives when people feel they do not know the communities being targeted.
For Rainbow Giving Australia, that means continuing to fund urgent community-led work while strengthening the relationships, knowledge and infrastructure our movement needs for the long term. It means trusting community expertise. It means helping funders understand both the immediate need and the larger possibility. And it means creating spaces where people experience LGBTQIA+ community not only through crisis, but through connection, creativity, generosity and joy.
Photography by Zoe Hyland
Last week was exhausting. It was also one of the most affirming weeks of my working life.
I came away clearer that hope is not passive. Hope is something we organise. It is built through relationships, sustained investment and the willingness to keep showing up after the event, after the win and after the headlines move on.
As Kevin put it during the week: change is a process, not an event.
Aurora Nights was an event. The Amplify Pride partner day was an event. The same was true of our dedicated exchange at Equality Australia, the conversation with Pride in Law, the Pride Business Association celebration and the gathering with funders across Aotearoa New Zealand.
What matters now is the process those moments have set in motion - and the growing community of people who will carry it forward together.
