A legacy is deeply personal; it is what we leave behind, and what continues beyond our lifetime.
For more than 25 years, The Legacy Fund has honored the legacies of central Ohio’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally (LGBTQIA+) community through financial stewardship, grantmaking, and scholarships.
PICTURED (L-R): Molly O’Shaughnessy and Karen Cookston, Co-Chairs of The Legacy Fund Executive Committee.
Founded by passionate community leaders in 2000 as a Field of Interest Fund at The Columbus Foundation, The Legacy Fund serves as a knowledgeable and enduring place for LGBTQIA+ individuals and families to entrust their charitable giving. Through the generosity of hundreds of donors, The Legacy Fund has granted more than $925,500 to organizations that provide critical programs to LGBTQIA+ people in central Ohio.
Every two years, The Legacy Fund also honors an individual, couple, or organization whose service to central Ohio’s LGBTQIA+ community has improved lives and advanced equality.
Reflecting on the fund’s growth and impact, Karen Cookston, Co-Chair of The Legacy Fund Executive Committee and a founding member, said a turning point came in 2005, when The Legacy Fund was approached by United Way of Central Ohio on a project to better understand Columbus’ gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community. With The Legacy Fund’s support, the first-ever GLBT Census of Central Ohio was published.
“The census was a collective assessment of the gay community,” said Cookston. “With such strong participation, organizations could begin identifying the real needs of gay residents. It established us as a trusted convener and bridge builder for the entire community.”
In addition to grantmaking, The Legacy Fund also supports LGBTQIA+ students through the Howard T. Short and Burdette Augsburger Scholarship Fund of The Legacy Fund. Created in 2010 from the estates of longtime partners Howard T. Short and Burdette “Bud” Augsburger, the fund has awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships.
In 2025, to mark its 25th anniversary, The Legacy Fund undertook a new project: capturing the untold stories of central Ohio’s LGBTQIA+ community.
“Leading up to our anniversary, we saw an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come—and where we’re going—by reflecting on our history as a community,” said Molly O’Shaughnessy, Co-Chair of The Legacy Fund Executive Committee. “We wanted to help the community tell its own story and preserve these stories for future generations.”
Through grant support to Ohio Humanities and Columbus Metropolitan Library, The Legacy Fund launched the Illuminate Project. Designed to uncover and archive local LGBTQIA+ history, it is a true community effort: individuals are encouraged to contribute photographs, newspaper articles, memorabilia, and other materials to the digital collection. The project also includes a traveling exhibit that highlights stories of LGBTQIA+ central Ohioans across media, sports, community building, and other areas.
For O’Shaughnessy, the stories being gathered through the Illuminate Project serve as a powerful reminder of how far the LGBTQIA+ community has come—and what possibilities lie ahead.
“None of us could have imagined in 2000 what things would look like in 2025. We don’t know what the needs of our community are going to be in the future, but we want to continue to be present to meet them,” said O’Shaughnessy. “That’s why The Legacy Fund is here.”