.gay Community Spotlight Interview with Portugal. The Man’s PTM Foundation

For this week’s .gay Community Spotlight we caught up with our friends at PTM Foundation, founded by Grammy Award winning Alternative Rock Band, Portugal. The Man!

Learn more about their work HERE and read our chat below.

How would you describe your organization’s mission?

PTM Foundation is focused on building community resilience, empathy, and awareness through music, stories, art, education and connectivity. The organization aims to convene and organize partnerships and projects informed by community need, then we work to mobilize Portugal. The Man’s listeners and supporters around that shared vision.

While PTM Foundation’s advocacy, philanthropy, and community engagement work is primarily centered around universal issues related to human rights, community health, and the environment, this organization puts a specific focus on highlighting the stories of Indigenous Peoples, including LGBTQ+ Native communities and Two Spirit folks, and we are committed to helping bring these sacred voices – often the most informed, yet silenced among us – to the forefront.

Tell us about how that mission is brought to life through your work?

PTM Foundation funds and partners with organizations, projects, and community groups working to reconnect people with their heritage, heal generational trauma, and decolonize the field of mental and behavioral health. Our organization is committed to building community resilience, helping to facilitate healing through the arts, and addressing disparities within Communities of Indigenous Peoples as it relates to suicide prevention, addiction, depression, and social determinants of health such as racism, bigotry, and disconnection from the Land.

Native Peoples have been stewards of the Earth's resources for centuries and we see Communities of Indigenous Peoples as our teachers and guides when it comes to reforestation, environmental responsibility, agriculture, and how to adapt to the rapidly changing climate across the globe. Our organization funds and partners with Indigenous-led, Indigenous-focused organizations working in the environmental space and we center all of our work around Native wisdom.

PTM Foundation believes in the inherent dignity of all people. Our organization's mission, vision and values are rooted in this belief, and we fund and partner with organizations, community groups, and projects designed to uplift the human spirit and celebrate diversity. We come at this work from a place of radical inclusion and work to build bridges, not walls.

Music is the centerpiece of PTM Foundation's advocacy and community engagement platforms. Our organization would not exist if it weren't for music, and all of our work is mobilized around the power of people coming together through song. We believe everyone should have the ability to create and express themselves, and we fund and partner with organizations working to protect these rights.

PTM Foundation also believes that voting should be accessible for all people, no matter where they are from, their personal identities and beliefs, or their socio-economic backgrounds. Our organization helps to promote and support civic engagement with Communities of Indigenous Peoples and we envision a future where Native Leadership is the norm, on all levels of government.

What would happen if your organization suddenly did not exist?

God, that would suck! On the financial side, since we are a Foundation, it would mean that hundreds of community impact organizations would lose unrestricted project funding, during a time when this type of funding is already scarce. We also do a ton of work shining a light onto the communities we serve, so there would be a loss of visibility and of a really mainstream storytelling platform for those Tribes and organizations, as well.

What can people do to get involved and help make sure that never happens?

PTM Foundation is funded entirely by donations from Portugal. The Man and our community of support, and all organizational overhead expenses are paid out of pocket by the band and management team. This means that 100% of money raised into the PTM Fund goes directly to support the communities we hold so dear.

Help us do more good by donating to the PTM Fund HERE and every penny of that donation will be granted to the community.

Why does LGBTQ+ visibility matter to you?

We believe that LGBTQ+ people deserve the same access and rights as everyone else. We love and support our Queer and Trans community, friends, and family, and we have always tried to do whatever we can to help raise awareness and funding to help in this ongoing fight.

Recently our Board member Eric Howk from Portugal. The Man participated in a campaign for LGBTQ+ people living in Alaska. We all care deeply about this. We love y’all. 

In your own words, what does “LGBTQ+ safety and support” mean specifically?

At PTM Foundation, we believe everyone should be able to be themselves and feel completely safe in that experience. We won’t stop doing this work until that happens.

If you could give LGBTQ+ youth one message, what would it be?

That we are with you. Standing with you. Fighting for you. You are not alone. Ever!

Learn more about PTM Foundation and get involved HERE.