Revealing white supremacy culture in an organization that supports queer and trans youth M. Candace Christensen Department of Social Work, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA Mar  ıa Ver onica El  ıas Department of Public Administration, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA  Erica Alcocer San Antonio Pride Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA, and Shannyn Vicente Inbodied, San Antonio, Texas, USA Abstract Purpose – This study aims to illustrate how white supremacy culture can be produced within nonprofit organizations with a mandate to serve marginalized communities and provide practical suggestions for preventing oppression. Design/methodology/approach – The site of inquiry was a nonprofit organization in south central Texas that provides social support to queer and trans youth. Through critical ethnography, the researchers evaluated the organization’s processes and structure (including hierarchy, decision-making, fundraising and interactions between leaders, partners and affected groups) to explore how the organization perpetuated attributes of white supremacy culture. Findings – Data reveal that the organization alienates the youth, volunteers and employees through defensiveness, fear of open conflict, paternalism, perfectionism and power-hoarding. Originality/value – A dearth of research focuses on how white supremacy culture manifests in organizations serving marginalized communities. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on a nonprofit organization in central Texas that supports queer and trans youth. The authors offer recommendations for addressing white supremacy culture in organizations and suggest future research opportunities. Keywords White supremacy, Intersectionality, Youth studies, Queer and trans youth, LGBTQ youth, Nonprofit organizations, Nonprofit, NGOs, Critical ethnography, Critical theory, Interpretation Paper type Article Introduction Few empirical illustrations of white supremacy culture within organizations exist in published literature. Though, we live in a political climate that is increasingly hostile to discussions about racism, sexism, or other social inequities ( Lu et al., 2023) because many believe the USA is thriving under a post-racial, post-gender, post-social stratification context (Horowitz et al., 2017, 2020; Kendi, 2021). However, current research shows that economic, political and social disparities across race, class, gender and other marginalized groups are alive and well (Desmond, 2023; White supremacy culture in an organization The authors appreciate the thorough and beneficial feedback provided by Dr Jelena Todi  c on this manuscript. Also, this project was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through grant UL1 TR002645. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The IIMS Community Engagement Small Project Grants program, with the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, made this award possible. Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliations: M. Candace Christensen is at the School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1746-5648.htm Received 29 May 2022 Revised 21 January 2023 31 May 2023 31 July 2023 Accepted 3 September 2023 Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal © Emerald Publishing Limited 1746-5648 DOI 10.1108/QROM-05-2022-2349