Tim Gill
Tim Gill is an American computer software programmer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and LGBT rights activist.
He is the founder and co-chair of the Gill Foundation, a private Denver-based philanthropic organization supporting the LGBT community across the country. As of 2017, he was the single largest individual donor to the LGBT rights movement in U.S. history, having personally committed more than $422 million since the early 1990s.
Gill is also the founder of the pioneering page layout software company Quark, Inc. Gill sold his 50 percent stake in the company in 1999 for a reported $500 million.
He is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of JStar LLC, a smart home technology start-up.
Early life and education
Tim Gill was born in Hobart, Indiana. He attended Wheat Ridge High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, eventually studying computer science and applied mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.Philanthropy and political action
Tim Gill is the founder of the Gill Foundation, Gill Action Fund, and OutGiving.Gill first became involved in LGBT activism as a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He volunteered for the campus gay-liberation group and later supported local HIV/AIDS awareness. In 1992, he continued his involvement in LGBT political action in response to the passage of Colorado Amendment 2, which prevented non-discrimination ordinances in the state from protecting people based on sexual orientation.
Following the sale of his stake in Quark, Inc., Gill set aside 60 percent of his assets – more than $300 million – to fight for LGBT rights.
He is widely credited as a visionary strategist and mega-donor who has made significant contributions to virtually every major LGBT rights victory in the United States, from the 2003 Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health decision making Massachusetts the first U.S. state to allow same-sex marriage, to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
In July 2017, Gill was the subject of a profile by journalist Andy Kroll for Rolling Stone magazine titled "The Quiet Crusader: How Tim Gill turned a $500 million fortune into the nation's most powerful force for LGBTQ rights."
Gill Foundation
Tim Gill founded the Gill Foundation in 1994. The national, Denver-based non-profit organization underwrites academic research, polling, litigation, data analytics, and field organizing related to the LGBT rights movement.The foundation's early focus was to fund LGBT and other mainstream projects in Colorado. The foundation established the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado in 1996, which provides financial support to non-profit organizations in the state.
The foundation primarily focuses on advancing LGBT rights and causes at the state level.
Gill Action Fund
In 2005, Tim Gill established the Gill Action Fund, which is separate from the charitable endeavors of the Gill Foundation.The political fund has helped to elect hundreds of pro-equality lawmakers across the country at the local, state, and federal levels. In 2006, its first election year, the Gill Action Fund helped defeat 50 of the 70 anti-LGBT candidates it targeted.
The Gill Action Fund contributed to the successful 2016 election campaign of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who defeated the incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Gill prioritized unseating McCrory after he championed and passed the anti-LGBT HB2 "bathroom bill," which forced transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding with their sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
OutGiving
In 1996, Gill founded OutGiving, a private, invitation-only philanthropic conference, to bring major pro-LGBT philanthropists together. OutGiving holds a conference every two years to discuss philanthropic strategies.Freedom for All Americans
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, Tim Gill has shifted his focus to securing non-discrimination protections in the 28 states where it is still legal to discriminate against LGBT people in housing, employment and public accommodations.Gill is credited with developing a bipartisan strategy for securing non-discrimination protections in traditionally Republican states. In 2015, Gill, Paul Singer and Daniel Loeb, helped fund Freedom for All Americans to advocate for non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in states and local communities across the country.
Freedom for All Americans has successfully enlisted the support of businesses and corporations to work with Republican-held state legislatures to reject or overturn anti-LGBT legislation.
The organization borrows the state-focused model of Freedom to Marry, the grassroots organizations that directed the fight for same-sex marriage equality from state to state leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision.
Other
In 2016, Tim Gill directed funding from the Gill Foundation to support a comprehensive theme study by the National Park Service to identify historically significant places related to LGBT history for potential inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as a National Monument.Business ventures
Quark, Inc.
After jobs at Hewlett-Packard and a consulting services firm, Gill started the company Quark, Inc. in 1981 with a $2,000 loan from his parents. Quark, Inc. produced page layout software for the graphics market. With the introduction of Fred Ebrahimi as CEO in 1986 and the launch of the company's flagship page layout software, QuarkXPress, in 1987, Gill became a multi-millionaire.Gill sold his 50 percent interest in Quark, Inc., in 1999 for a reported $500 million, citing his growing involvement in philanthropic and activist endeavors.
Connexion.org
In 2003, Gill created Connexion.org, a social media platform for engaging the LGBT community in political activities. Connexion closed in September 2011.JStar LLC
In March 2015, Gill co-founded the smart home technology start-up JStar LLC. He is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of the company.JStar's flagship product is Josh.ai, a voice-controlled home automation system using JStar's own artificial intelligence technology platform.
The company is headquartered in Denver with offices in Los Angeles.
In July 2017, JStar announced an additional $8 million in private investment to create original hardware to compete with Google Home, Amazon Echo, and other devices with intelligent assistants inside.
Josh.ai can be used through Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, Google Home, and iOS and Android apps.
Personal life
Gill married his husband, Scott Miller, in Massachusetts in 2009. They live in Denver, Colorado, with their two dogs.Gill is an avid snowboarder.