Trans People Can Apply for Up to $2,500 in Transition Aid
Point of Pride’s Thrive Fund covers non-medical expenses, including legal name changes, fertility preservation, and vocal therapy.
Point of Pride, a trans-led nonprofit that provides financial aid and direct health services to transgender youth and adults, has opened applications for its Thrive Fund, which helps trans people with expenses not covered by the organization’s other programs.
Established in 2024, the Thrive Fund helps cover expenses beyond the nonprofit’s existing services, which range from free chest binders and femme shapewear to financial assistance for transition-related surgery, hormone therapy, and electrolysis.
Thrive Fund grants can cover non-medical transition-related expenses, including legal fees for name and gender marker changes, fertility preservation, vocal therapy, and medical tattooing used to restore skin pigmentation or conceal scars from gender-affirming surgery. Applicants may request up to $2,500 at a time.
“For many trans people, gender transition encompasses far more than hormone replacement therapies or surgeries, [and] the cost of transition can add up,” Point of Pride said in a press release announcing the application period. “The Institute for Research on Poverty found that 29.4% of trans people experience poverty, making many of these non-medical transition needs difficult to afford or access at all.
“For example, a trans person interested in fertility preservation may pay up to $15,000 to freeze eggs or $1,000 to freeze sperm. Medical tattooing, which is often not covered by insurance, can cost anywhere from $300 to $3,000, depending on the size of the area that needs to be covered. The Thrive Fund is one of the first funds of its kind, available from a national organization, to address these and other needs.”
Thrive Fund grants cover one-time or time-limited non-medical expenses, with priority given to requests that fill gaps in existing support systems, particularly for services connected to gender-affirming care. In most cases, the money is paid directly to the provider or retailer.
Since its inception, Point of Pride says it has awarded $6.3 million in financial aid to more than 30,000 trans people worldwide and in all 50 states. Since 2024, the Thrive Fund alone has awarded more than $116,000 to 104 recipients.
“We heard a real need from people in our community,” Jeff Main, the executive director of Point of Pride, said in a statement. “Even when someone can afford certain aspects of gender-affirming healthcare, there are often other essential expenses they are struggling to afford. The Thrive Fund was designed to help people fill these gaps, bringing them one step closer to feeling comfortable in their bodies and in their communities.”
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