eQualityGiving's mission is to grow and support an online community of donors by providing free services and strategic advice to achieve legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans.
WE ARE HANGING ON TO A DREAM...
... the equality inherent in the US Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
... and the liberty and justice for all provided by the US Constitution:
"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
OUR NAME SAYS ALL WE DO
- eQualityGiving: Our focus is on Giving and donors...
- eQualityGiving: to achieve Equality...
- eQualityGiving: using electronic communication...
- eQualityGiving: with high Quality
GOALS TO ACHIEVE: EQUALITY GOALS
Legal equality means having the same basic human rights and protections available to all other individuals. The goals to be achieved are called Equality Goals. Read more...
Equality Goals are the main criteria that eQualityGiving.org uses to endorse politicians and are a main organizing factor of this website. Each Equality Goal is discussed from multiple perspectives.
FOUNDERS AND FUNDERS
eQualityGiving was founded in 2005 by Juan Ahonen-Jover, PhD and Ken Ahonen-Jover, MD and is funded exclusively by them.
The couple was drawn to strategic giving by attending for many years OutGiving, the conferences organized by the Gill Foundation for high level donors.
Their philanthropic experience includes donating to politicians, organizations and universities, as well as hosting fundraisers, serving on national and local boards, and participating in endorsement panels, political task forces, and donor conferences. Combining this experience with backgrounds in technology and research, they have developed an approach to giving strategically using the internet, which is implemented in this website.
Juan holds four advanced degrees including a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (supercomputers) as well as a Masters in Engineering Management, both from Stanford University. He is a Fulbright scholar, co-author of a textbook on computers, and fluent in four languages. He worked at AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and American Express, where he supervised the work of outside consultancies such as McKinsey & Co and others. As an entrepreneur in computer chips, he sold his company, now part of Intel. Since selling the company, at age 40, he has devoted most of his time to achieving equality. Juan is the author of the book series, The Gay Agenda, a very comprehensive guidebook for LGBT equality which is updated yearly.
Ken is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a Regional Faculty Member with the American Heart Association, and Medical Director of Advanced Cardiac Life Support. He is medical director of Emergency Services as well as President of Medical Staff in a hospital. His passion for politics has developed into his role of political editor at eQualityGiving, where he now devotes much of his free time.
Juan and Ken can be contacted here.
eQualityGiving is fully funded by its founders as their contribution to the community. None of the services costs anything to donors, organizations, politicians, or anyone. Furthermore, to ensure objectivity and independence, eQualityGiving.org does not accept money or advertisements from anyone.
Juan and Ken have created multiple initiatives to accelerate LGBT legal equality. In addition to eQualityGiving, they introduced the Blueprint for LGBT equality
which includes the Omnibus Bill and the American Equality Bill (both
written by Karen M. Doering, Esq.). They convened the Dallas Meeting in May 2009 which lead to the creation of The Dallas Principles and later ActOnPrinciples (webmastered by Donald Hitchcock). Another initiative is eQualityThinking: a free and open virtual convention for LGBT equality. Their most recent work is Loving Everywhere, a website to highlight the need for all marriages to be available in all 50 states and territories.
Check these articles:
NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Advisory board members suggest strategies and recommendations, but are not responsible for the contents of this website. Current members of the National Advisory Board:
RON ANSIN is a well-respected donor and founder of the Ronald M. Ansin Foundation. He gives large amounts to numerous politicians and LGBTQ causes and organizations. He stays very involved in the battle for equality.
DANA BEYER, M.D. is a donor, a retired eye surgeon, and a well known advocate for health issues as well as gender rights. She practiced medicine and surgery in D.C., Miami, Mississippi, Africa and Asia. She was a candidate for State Delegate and State Senator in Maryland. She was Vice President of Equality Maryland, Executive Vice President of Maryland NOW, member of the board of governors of HRC, and board member of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Currently she is the executive director of Gender Rights Maryland.
LYNN CONWAY is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and Professor Emerita at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her work in microelectronic designs has become a basis for the computer chip industry. Her website LynnConway.com is translated into 17 languages and is a major source of information on transgender issues and role models.
LILA GRACEY knows donors and their needs very well due to her experiences as the Director of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council and as the Director of Donor Resources at the Gill Foundation. Now she is running a strategy consultancy, Grace Concepts, and has published a fundraising manual, Secrets of Successful Political House Parties.
LINDA KETNER, Ph.D. is very well known and respected in the LGBTQ donor community. She is working on equality nationally as well as in her state of South Carolina. She is the owner of KSI Corporation and founder of the Alliance for Full Acceptance. She ran for Congress in South Carolina in 2008.
MICHAEL KRAWITZ, Esq. was CEO of Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSX), a diversified technology company, prior to the company's merger. He is on the Board of Advisors of Brightline Compliance, a leading provider of responsible and practical corporate compliance training to Fortune 1000 companies. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School.
KATHY LEVINSON is a very well known and respected strategic philanthropist. The founder of the Lesbian Equity Foundation of Silicon Valley and past President and Chief Operating Officer of E*Trade, she made headlines when she gave $300,000 to defeat Proposition 22 in California, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
DONNA RED WING is the primary consultant at Red Wing Works, the Senior Advisor at the Interfaith Alliance and Project Director of First Freedom First. Her experience as a leader in the Human Rights Campaign, the Gill Foundation, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and many other equality-related organizations, makes her an expert on LGBTQ issues and philanthropy.
CHARLIE ROUNDS is a maverick donor and cofounder of Mark and Charlie’s Gay and Lesbian Fund for Moral Values. He is President of RSVP Vacations, the famed LGBT cruise line, and founder of Forward Motion Travel, which organizes travel packages and cruises for people with similar progressive values.
REBECCA M. SALOKAR, Ph.D., J.D. is Chair of the Politics & International Relations Department at Florida International University. The author of The Solicitor General: The Politics of Law, Becky has also written and published articles on LGBTQ political mobilization, LGBTQ family creation in Florida, and the election and selection of state judges. Most recently, as a newly-minted attorney as a second career, she completed a year-long clerkship for a federal district judge in South Florida.
JIM STORK is an entrepreneur and past mayor of Wilton Manors. In his run for Congress in 2004, he was a top fundraiser in the country, but he had to bow out of the race due to health reasons. Having recovered, Jim stays busy helping to elect other fair-minded politicians and working on equality issues.
POLICIES & DISCLAIMERS
- Privacy: eQualityGiving does not give your information to anyone. Check our Privacy Policy.
- Disclaimer and Terms of Service: Check the legal Disclaimer and Terms of Service.
- Distribution: You can LINK to any page on eQualityGiving.org, but do not copy or distribute its contents. This protects the integrity of content, included content which is exclusively for Registered Members.
- Federal Elections Commission Regulations: This website, www.eQualityGiving.org, and the Discussion Network listserv are paid for by Juan Ahonen-Jover and Ken Ahonen-Jover and are not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
- Political Candidates: The endorsement criteria are listed here.
- Discussion Network: Its policies are listed here.
- Posting on our website: Check the posting guidelines.
- Posting to What's New Blog: Posting on this blog is limited to authors of articles. Check the posting guidelines.
Check also: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | Benefits of Registration
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