The Ally Coalition 10101 / 13
The Ally Coalition 101
A few minutes on TAC: how a concert ticket turns into help for a queer kid in that city, and what you can do that actually counts.
In their own words: “Through tours, campaigns, events and partnerships, TAC provides critical support for grassroots non-profit organizations bettering the lives of LGBTQ youth.”
In practice that starts with a tour. An artist agrees to give $1 from every ticket sold. Ethel Cain did it across the Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour. So did Trixie Mattel, Joy Oladokun and Djo.
Then the second half, which is the part people miss. TAC invites the LGBTQ+ organization from that city to set up a table inside the venue, night after night. The money and the introduction arrive together, in the same room.
That is what the word coalition is doing in the name. When TAC wrote a letter backing the Equality Act, over 350 musicians signed it, from Elton John to Lady Gaga to Ariana Grande.
The coalition runs on artists who mean it. Before anything else, here is Hayley Williams on why she keeps showing up for LGBTQ+ young people.
“We worked closely with (TAC), to organize tabling for our fans, educating them about local and national organizations that work to defend LGBTQ rights, abortion access… putting together bespoke experiences in every city for our crowds. The resource we had was people’s attention, and the resource they offered in return was their time, dedication, expertise, volunteerism, and hopefulness.”
Lucy Dacus, boygenius
TAC does not run shelters or clinics. It backs what it calls “a network of community-based non-profits” that already do, and it keeps the list public. Communities across the country, and on into Canada, the UK and Europe.
wanted care and did not get it. In the same survey, 36% of LGBTQ+ young people had seriously considered suicide in the past year.
And the finding that explains why a drop-in centre is not a soft option: in communities the young people described as very accepting, 6% had attempted suicide in the past year. In communities they described as very unaccepting, it was 18%.
more likely than young people who are not LGBTQ+. The driver is not the streets, it is the front door: family rejection, and being asked to leave home for who you are.
It is why the press shorthand for TAC is an organization that supports unhoused LGBTQ+ youth, and why the groups on its list run housing and drop-in services as much as anything else.
Numbers are one thing. Here is Brittany Howard, in her own words, on why supporting LGBTQ+ young people is not optional to her.
Every December TAC runs a Day of Services with The Center in New York. A floor of the building becomes a shop where young people take what they need, for free, and choose it themselves.
Alongside a hot meal, flu shots, HIV testing and haircuts. Nothing about that list is symbolic.
TAC ships portable recording studios to the same organizations on that list, custom built with Bose, Korg, Shure, Ableton and Microsoft. Music, podcasting, spoken word: whatever the young people in that building want to make.
The reason it is not a nice extra: a studio is a door people will walk through voluntarily. TAC describes it as creating “a pathway to life-saving services for LGBTQ youth, such as housing, medical care, counseling, and job training.”
“We envision a world where public recording studios are as important to the fabric of a community as playgrounds, libraries, and parks.”
The Ally Coalition, on Sound Studios
“I plan to spend a large part of the next chapter of my life bringing these spaces to people who wouldn’t have access to them.”
Jack Antonoff, TAC co-founder
In 2025 the ACLU tracked 616 anti-LGBTQ bills in US state legislatures. TAC publishes a script for calling your representative about them, and the useful part is not the wording. It is the mechanics almost nobody knows.
Tickets go on sale with no lineup attached. Fans buy on trust, and the names walk out one at a time. In 2025 the last of them was Florence Welch, closing with “Dog Days Are Over” alongside everyone who had already played.
Claud, one of the names that has walked out on that stage, filmed backstage at TAC’s 10th Annual Talent Show.
TAC has run campaigns with Propeller for years: take an action, get an entry, and the prize is usually something only that artist can give. Signed setlists, a seat at a soundcheck, a trip to the Talent Show. Across all its touring work TAC counts more than 30,000 fans rallied to take action for LGBTQ equality.
across every Ally Coalition campaign on the platform, built out of tens of thousands of individual donations. 1,099 people now give to TAC every month, tour or no tour.
“The entire experience was so incredible! My sister and I had a blast in New York, but the best part was hands down the talent show… watching such talented artists in such an intimate environment while raising money for charity felt like a dream.”
Ashlee S., winner of the trip to the 8th Annual Talent Show
“I tried to get tickets both through the pre-sale and general admission and had no luck. I was extremely disappointed after waiting in the ticket queue when tickets sold out almost immediately. I found the Propeller posts for the sweepstakes and decided to enter because why not? I made a donation to TAC and had entries, so either way I was happy to be supporting a cause that I feel strongly about.”
Cailyn Z., winner of the trip to the 11th Annual Talent Show
“My highlight of the show was when Florence Welch came out as the final surprise act and sang ‘Dog Days are Over’ with all of the previous acts. She invited the audience to stand up and sing along and it was a moment of togetherness and community that I haven’t felt in a long time.”
Cailyn Z., on the night itself
This is who shows up for TAC. Dozens of artists have recorded a few seconds on why LGBTQ+ young people are worth backing. Play any one to continue.
A dollar from a ticket, a table in the venue, and a whole network of organizations already doing the work. Plus one phone call that anyone reading this can make.
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