The Rainbow World Fund (RWF) is the only international humanitarian aid group based in and created by the LGBT community. In the wake of the crippling Japanese earthquake and tsunami earlier this month, the organization has established the LGBT Japan Earthquake Fund in order to finance relief efforts for victims of the disaster.
RWF seeks to promote LGBT philanthropy in the interest of global humanitarian relief. The group has donated $3 million in humanitarian aid world-wide over the last seven years. Now, they join forces with the Japanese American community to gather funds and support the evacuees at the Fukyshima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, as well as those who lost their homes at the hands of the devastating tsunami.
Jeff Cotter, founder of the Rainbow World Fund, explains that the organization’s mission “is about serving humanity, gay and straight alike.”
The RWF will launch the Japan Earthquake Fund with an online donation campaign combined with a series of fundraising events planned in partnership with the San Francisco LGBT community. Organizers of the events and fundraising campaigns have asked LGBT communities nationwide to rally in support of Japan by getting involved or making donations to the fund.
