The fund, which was set up as a collaboration between the "House Tour" singer and non-profit PLUS1 in 2024, raises money to support a range of causes including animal welfare and mental health. A large portion of the fund is dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ causes, with charities Rainbow Railroad and the LGBT National Help Center having benefited from the fund. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket sold for Carpenter's ongoing Short n' Sweet Tour is added to her charitable fund.
Anne Sterling Dorman, a Consulting Chief Financial Officer for venture capital backed start-up companies in Silicon Valley and beyond, died on July 19, 2025, just three months after the passing of her wife, Annette Tracy. Dorman for many years had suffered from primary progressive aphasia. Before her illness, she was a regular guest at "Betty's List" events. Both she and her wife, who shared a home in the Castro, were supporters of the San Francisco Bay Times.
"When Michael Seltzer first got involved in progressive and then gay activism in the 1970s, it was mostly funded through passing the hat at meetings and through low dollar fundraisers," Gay City News notes. "More than any other individual, Seltzer turned that around over the course of decades of work, from serving on boards of major gay organizations from 1980 onwards to creating and running organizations that exponentially increased philanthropy to gay and AIDS causes."