Rainbow Changemakers Scholarship

$25,490
101%
Raised toward our $25,000 Goal
64 Donors
12
days left
Project ends on July 31, at 11:59 PM EDT
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Help us establish a new scholarship in support of student leaders in the LGBTQIA+ community

Update: Fully Endowed!

Thanks to your generosity, we are pleased to announce that the Rainbow Changemakers Endowed Scholarship is officially funded! Donors like you helped to raise over $25,000 in just seven months, making this one of Nazareth's most successful crowdfunding projects to date. We plan to award the first scholarship to a current undergraduate student over Naz Weekend, which is scheduled for September 19-21, 2025.

With the scholarship now formally endowed, our goal has shifted to growing the endowment so we can make an annual award to a graduate student, in addition to the undergraduate award. This will only be possible through the generous support of of the Nazareth community, friends, and family-- please consider making a gift to help us uplift students making a meaningful difference in the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Help us grow the next generation of LGBTQIA+ leaders at Nazareth University! Give to the Rainbow Changemakers fund and help endow a financial aid scholarship for students who take on leadership roles and actively contribute within the LGBTQIA+ community.

Queer activism and leadership have always existed on Nazareth's campus, in whatever forms they could-- usually through the amazing work of key students, faculty and staff. We are grateful for the efforts of the past century that have brought Nazareth to a place where students can now freely express their identities and access various formal resources on campus, such as the Atlas Center and clubs like the Lambda Association.

There is still more work to be done. We need an active and engaged generation that won’t take hard-won rights for granted—young people who, now more than ever, have the skills, freedom, confidence, and support from their communities to create change for the good of all.

We seek to be the supportive adults that we needed when we were students. It is our hope to establish this scholarship to show Nazareth students that they have the support of generations of alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends of the university behind them-- both financially and spiritually. 

Please consider a gift to the Rainbow Changemakers fund.


Scholarship Details:

Upon reaching the goal amount of $25,000, the Rainbow Changemakers scholarship will be permanently endowed at Nazareth University. The University will award the scholarship annually to an undergraduate student who has demonstrated leadership skills, engaged in activism, and/or made significant contributions within the LGBTQIA+ community. Examples include but are not limited to: starting an organization or project to address a need within the LGBTQIA+ community; serving in a leadership position within an LGBTQIA+ group; actively contributing to advocacy and activism efforts at local, regional, national, and/or international levels. When possible, it is preferred that the recipient identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, queer, intersex, or 2 Spirit.

In the event that the fund fails to reach our $25,000 goal (which is the minimum required to establish an endowed scholarship at Nazareth), all gifts will be used to either:

  • create a restricted scholarship using the same criteria as above. After funds are spent down, the scholarship will only be awarded with renewed support.
  • support the Atlas Center, which offers space and programs welcoming to and inclusive of students, faculty, and staff across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.


Learn more about scholarships at Nazareth University here.

Questions? Feel free to contact Amy Lyman in Nazareth Advancement at (585) 389-2637 or alyman3@naz.edu.