
Jerry Chasen has spent much of his life in service of the LGBTQ+ community. He is the former principal of Miami based Chasen & Associates, PA, a pioneering LGBT Estate Planning law firm, providing services to the community that were unavailable through more traditional firms. He gave numerous presentations, many for continuing education credit, raising awareness in the legal community of the challenges of planning for “non-traditional families.” n addition, Jerry created The Advisors Project, an ongoing CLE credentialed educational program designed to encourage and support various professional advisors in creating client relationships that are both satisfying and productive for philanthropy.
Jerry served as a member of the national Boards of Directors of Lambda Legal and SAGE, and then joined SAGE’s staff, ultimately becoming SAGE’s Director of Development. Jerry also conceived of and effected the transfer of the annual Recognition Dinner and Winter Party from the events’ creator, the bankrupt Dade Human Rights Foundation, to the National LGBT Task Force, and in so doing, arranged that a significant portion of the proceeds from both events continued to be set aside for the local community. He subsequently founded and then chaired the Miami Foundation’s LGBT Community Projects Fund Committee for 10 years. Since its creation, that Fund has distributed close to $4,000,000 to the local community.