Meet the Donors Video
Video filmed October 2020

Meet the Donors Video

This video provides a broad overview of the types of philanthropic institutions and funding flows in the LGBTI community. The video reviews some background i...

About this video

In this video you can find:

Speaker Bios

Shalini Eddens
Deputy Executive Director
Urgent Action Fund for Women

Shalini Eddens

Shalini’s passion for women’s health and rights is grounded in her deep belief for justice and equity.  Shalini’s African American/India heritage and her strong sense of community and family are the compass by which she approaches her work. She has an extensive background in women’s health and rights, with over 15 years of leadership experience in the grassroots public health sector providing direct services, training, education and advocacy for women living with and affected by HIV. Previously, Shalini served as a Program Officer for the UN Foundation in Washington, D.C. where she oversaw a portfolio focused on advocacy and reproductive health. Shalini has spent most of her career working with HIV/AIDS civil society organizations domestically including; Project Inform, where she developed a curriculum for faith-based leaders on HIV Science and Treatment and Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases, she developed a national peer education and training program for women living with HIV that was replicated in domestically and globally. Shalini has expertise in training and capacity building, program monitoring and evaluation, and curriculum design. She has worked with women’s organizations globally in India, South Africa, and Mozambique to provide technical assistance on women-centered HIV/AIDS programming. She holds a bachelor’s in sociology with a minor in African American studies from the University of California Davis and an M.P.H. from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
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Marna Eide
Director of International Programs
FRI – The Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity

Marna Eide

Heads the International Programme at FRI – the Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity.
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Matthew Hart
Director
Global Philanthropy Project

Matthew Hart

Matthew “Matty” Hart joined as Director of the Global Philanthropy Project in 2015, leading the efforts of an organization internationally recognized as the primary thought leader and go-to partner for donor coordination around global LGBTI work.

Founder and Principle of the Paris-based Lafayette Practice, Hart has previously served as Senior Strategist for Europe for Funders Concerned about AIDS, and National Director for Public Engagement at Solutions for Progress.

Hart also serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Calamus Foundation (DE), and has previously served as a member of The Civil Marriage Collaborative, a board member of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Philadelphia’s Sustainable Business Network, and The Leeway Foundation; and the community funding board of Bread & Roses Fund. A Jonathan Lax Academic Fellow, Hart received degrees in Urban Studies and Cultural Anthropology from Temple University.

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Michael Heflin
Director of Equality
Open Society Foundations Human Rights Initiative

Michael Heflin

Michael Heflin is the Director of Equality at the Open Society Human Rights Initiative. In his role Michael oversees Open Society’s grant making to advance equality in several key areas including LGBTI rights and the rights of persons with disabilities. Michael came to Open Society in 2009 to launch a global initiative on LGBTI rights focused on supporting emerging LGBTI rights groups in the global East and South.

Prior to joining Open Society, Michael was managing director of the Campaigns Unit for Amnesty International USA. He also served as the founding director of Amnesty’s LGBT rights program. In addition, Michael worked at Amnesty’s International Secretariat in London where he directed the International Mobilization Program. Michael also was deputy director of Amnesty’s Midwest Region Office.

Michael holds a law degree with a focus on human rights from the University of Cincinnati where he served as fellow at the Urban Morgan Human Rights Institute and as editor of the Human Rights Quarterly.

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Mukami Marete
Co- Executive Director
UHAI-EASHRI

Mukami Marete

Mukami is an African queer feminist woman with a commitment to human rights and social justice for all people. She is currently the Co-Executive Director at UHAI – The East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative (UHAI EASHRI). UHAI EASHRI is Africa’s first indigenous activist fund for sex workers and sexual and gender minorities. We support civil society organising for and by sex workers and sexual and gender minorities with flexible and accessible grants; capacity support; support for Pan-African organising and advocacy, including support for activist-determined convening and knowledge building and documentation.

Before joining UHAI, she had worked with Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) in the finance and administration department and was actively involved in the sexual and reproductive health rights program and in particular right to safe abortions and rights of LGBTI people.

Mukami is a mother of two and believes that love makes a family. She wants to be able to bring up her African children to be resilient in a patriarchal, racist, imperialist and sexist world that she finds herself in.

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Shaun Mellors
Director Director of Programmes & Technical
ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action

Shaun Mellors

Shaun Mellors is the Director of Programmes & Technical at ViiV healthcare’s Positive Action Programme. He previously worked at Frontline AIDS as the Director of Knowledge & Influence and Associate Director for Africa.

Shaun has been involved in HIV work at for the last 30 years and has been living with HIV for 34 years. He was actively involved in developing the first post-apartheid South African national HIV strategy and has been integral to the development of the national, regional and international movement of People Living with HIV – co-founder of the National Association of People Living with HIV and the Global Network of People Living with HIV, Global Fund Board Member for the Communities Living with HIV delegation and co-chair of the International Task Team on HIV related restrictions related to entry, stay and residence.

Shaun is passionate about addressing self-stigma – a complex individual barrier that continues to impact people’s abilities to access and benefit from quality health related services. 

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Mukasa
Program Officer
International Trans Fund

Mukasa

Mukasa is a Program Officer with the International Trans Fund (ITF) and has been working at the ITF for the last three years. He has helped manage the grantmaking process for the ITF, including conducting outreach to potential applicants and supporting grantee partners through ongoing communication and capacity building. He is a law school graduate from Makerere University (Uganda) with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Taxation and Revenue Administration (PODITRA). Mukasa loves nature and values relationships. He also loves dogs!
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