The Rosi Fund: Workforce Pathways, Legacy, and Opportunity
Named scholarship funds keep GSBA’s Scholarship & Education Fund sustainable year after year, allowing donors to invest in the futures and communities they care most about. One of those funds is The Rosi Fund, created in 2023 by GSBA President & CEO Ilona Lohrey and her wife, Sussie, to support LGBTQ+ scholars pursuing workforce and trade education pathways and named after Ilona’s mother, Rosi.
Growing up in post-war Germany as the youngest of four siblings, Rosi was encouraged by the nuns at her school to pursue higher education. “They said, ‘You need to let her go to higher education,’” Ilona recalled. “But my grandma said no. She had to run the family business.”
So, instead of higher education, Rosi entered the trades.
Years later, that experience would become part of the reason Ilona believes so deeply in workforce scholarships today.
“She was always an example of what it means to be a strong, powerful woman that doesn’t take crap from anyone,” Ilona said. “She’s my hero.”
Rosi built a life in a male-dominated industry and left a lasting impact on the people around her, especially Ilona.
“She lived like four different lives,” Ilona said. “She was constantly going, going, going.”
Rosi passed away from melanoma at 62 years old, but her influence continues through the fund created in her name.
“When we created the trade scholarship fund at GSBA, it was a no-brainer,” Ilona said. “It was so important to both of us.”
Workforce Pathways Matter
GSBA’s workforce scholarships support scholars pursuing careers through certifications, apprenticeships, technical programs, and hands-on training across industries ranging from healthcare and aviation to skilled trades and manufacturing.
To Ilona, workforce pathways deserve the same respect people automatically give four-year degrees.
“Being in the trades shouldn’t have a stigma,” she said. “It’s not less than having a college degree or a PhD.”
She also understands that traditional college pathways are not financially realistic — or personally fulfilling — for everyone.
“Not everybody wants to come out of college with a ton of debt,” she said.
Instead, workforce pathways can create stability, flexibility, and lifelong skills people carry with them wherever they go.
“We always need nurses, electricians, contractors,” Ilona said. “It doesn’t make anyone less than because they didn’t go to college.”
Building Community and Belonging
While scholarships help remove financial barriers, Ilona says one of the most impactful parts of GSBA’s scholarship program is the sense of community scholars find once they arrive.
“We see them as whole individuals,” she said.
That support can look like mentorship, networking, immersion experiences, professional development, emergency funding, or simply realizing there’s a room full of people rooting for your future.
Ilona recalled one scholar who almost skipped a GSBA event because they didn’t feel like they belonged there.
“Why would I want to go to an event with a bunch of professional people? I don’t have anything to contribute,” the scholar told her beforehand.
After attending, the scholar’s perspective shifted completely.
“I feel so connected,” they later shared. “I can’t believe a whole room of professionals would care so deeply about my education.”
Why GSBA
Long before becoming President & CEO, Ilona first connected with GSBA while working in banking.
“At the time, it was relayed that I should be involved in a nonprofit for my career advancement,” she said. “I looked around, came across GSBA, and it was interesting to me because it was LGBTQ+, my community.”
What kept her here was the Scholarship & Education Fund.
Reviewing scholarship applications and hearing directly from LGBTQ+ students navigating hardship, rejection, financial barriers, and uncertainty changed the way she thought about community investment.
“That got me hooked,” she said.
Paying It Forward
For Ilona and Sussie, creating The Rosi Fund was about honoring Rosi’s legacy while helping someone else build their own future.
“It was so important to both of us to put something out there that is creating, on one hand, a contribution to my mom’s legacy, but at the same time is supporting somebody who is setting out for their own legacy.”
When asked what she would say to someone considering creating a named fund of their own, Ilona’s answer was immediate.
“Do it,” she said. “It will help support someone’s dreams and aspirations. It will change their lives.”
And when asked what her mother would think about the impact of The Rosi Fund today:
“She’d be very proud.”
Maybe most importantly, Ilona believes her mother never fully realized just how many people she would eventually impact.
“She had more impact on myself and others than she’ll ever know,” Ilona said. “I think she pays that impact forward through the fund.”
by Cortney Gosset, GSBA
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