Tim Gill is a Colorado software entrepreneur who used wealth from Quark, the page-layout software company he co-founded, to support LGBTQ rights through philanthropy and political advocacy. Those efforts are associated with major movement victories, including marriage equality, but they were part of work by many organizations, donors, advocates, voters, litigators and public officials—not the achievement of one benefactor alone.
How Tim Gill made his money
Gill co-founded Quark in 1981, helping build a company known for page-layout software. The Colorado Business Hall of Fame says he started it with a $2,000 loan from his parents. According to the Hall of Fame’s retrospective account, Gill sold his 50% stake in 1999 for $500 million and set aside $300 million for LGBTQ rights and inclusion causes. These are figures reported by the Hall of Fame, rather than independently audited figures presented here.
Quark’s success supplied the resources for Gill’s sustained public-interest work. The important distinction is that the company generated his wealth; separate organizations and activities directed it toward charitable grantmaking and political advocacy.
What the Gill Foundation does
Gill founded the Gill Foundation in 1994 and co-chairs its board. The foundation says it has invested more than $480 million in programs and nonprofit organizations since it began; that is the organization’s current cumulative figure and may change. Gill Foundation: Tim Gill
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TIME reported a different, earlier figure in May 2025: about $447 million in cumulative grants since 1994. The foundation’s current biography uses “invested” and TIME described a grant total, so the figures should be understood as differently worded reports from different dates, not combined into a single total. TIME100 Philanthropy: Tim Gill and Scott Miller
The foundation’s approach includes support for state-level advocacy, litigation, public education and nonprofit organizations. Its work reflects Gill’s stated belief that philanthropy can help drive social change: “Transformative change, by its very nature, will never be easy. And we cannot depend on judges, lawmakers, or administrations to be catalysts. That’s why philanthropy is vital to the future of our movement and our nation.” Gill Foundation
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How Gill’s giving is linked to marriage equality
The Gill Foundation describes Gill as a leading donor to state campaigns, litigation and political campaigns that led to nationwide marriage equality. TIME’s 2025 profile says his fortune helped fund litigation that led to Massachusetts recognizing same-sex marriage in 2004 and the U.S. Supreme Court’s nationwide decision in 2015.
That funding was one contribution within a much broader legal and political effort. State campaigns, litigators, advocacy groups, couples who brought cases, supporters and public officials all played roles. The available accounts establish a significant donor contribution; they do not show that Gill alone produced either legal outcome.
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What Gill Action did in elections
Gill Action’s political work was distinct from the Gill Foundation’s charitable grantmaking. In an April 2007 account of the 2006 midterms, TIME reported that Gill Action deployed $15 million across 12 states and targeted 70 politicians it regarded as unsupportive of gay causes; 50 of those politicians lost. TIME: “The Gay Mogul Changing U.S. Politics”
Those are TIME’s reported figures and description of the effort. They show the scale of Gill Action’s activity and the outcome among its targets, but do not prove that the spending alone determined any individual race or election result.
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Why the work remains focused on states
Federal court decisions and national campaigns can bring broad change, but state policy continues to affect LGBTQ people directly. The Gill Foundation’s 2023 annual report says more than 660 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed that year and 80 became law. Those are the foundation’s figures; its report also describes grantee work in state policy, public education and litigation, rather than offering a complete independent accounting of every national measure. Gill Foundation 2023 Annual Report
TIME’s 2025 profile quotes Scott Miller, Gill’s husband and a foundation co-chair, on the role of state-level work: “It’s always fun to have the big wins at the federal level but first and foremost you have to make the change in the states in small ways that may affect fewer people but will help move the ball forward.”
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Recognition and foundation leadership
TIME reported that President Joe Biden awarded Gill the Presidential Medal of Freedom before leaving office in January 2025. Gill’s official biography reproduces Biden’s description of him as a figure whose “strong character, unwavering resolve, and indisputable effectiveness in fighting for love and equality for all make him a key figure in our nation’s story of freedom.” Gill Foundation: Tim Gill
On April 1, 2025, the foundation announced Kate Kendell as its next CEO, with a start date of May 7. The announcement identified Gill and Scott Miller as board co-chairs. Kendell previously led the National Center for Lesbian Rights, according to the foundation. Gill Foundation announces Kate Kendell as CEO
Gill has framed progress as incremental as well as vulnerable to setbacks. In TIME’s 2025 profile, he said: “We understand there will be setbacks but we think that over time we will make incremental progress toward a freer and more fair world.”
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