2024 Year in Review

Global LGBTI Funding Summit – Cape Town, November 2024

Executive Director’s Letter

Matthew Hart

Executive Director

A Call to Action: Meeting the Historic Moment to Defend and Support LGBTI Movements

Dear Colleagues, Friends and Partners:

We are in a time of profound geopolitical challenges and heightened threats to the lives, safety, and needs of LGBTI communities—especially in the Global South and East.  Today, there is a demand to reaffirm our commitment to sustain funding and collective action for LGBTI rights and movements.

The stakes may have never been higher, but neither have the opportunities for transformative change.

At the Global Philanthropy Project’s first-ever Global LGBTI Funding Summit in Cape Town, nearly 200 grantmakers committed to work together at a scale that matched the urgency of the moment. 

The launch of the Fund Our Futures Campaign at the Summit was a movement milestone in our shared journey: a commitment to mobilize $150 million in new funding for global LGBTI movements, with $100 million already secured from 28 philanthropic institutions and governments.

The challenges are stark: stronger anti-gender movements, rising authoritarianism, and a global funding landscape in flux. Yet, these challenges also create opportunities for bold leadership and innovative resourcing strategies. With drastic cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA) already announced and more looming, the resilience of LGBTI movements hinges on commitments from philanthropy and courageous government leadership to fill the documented gaps.

We invite you to join the Global Philanthropy Project and:

  • Commit to Bold Funding: Join the Fund Our Futures Campaign and help secure the next $50 million in transformative funding.
  • Expand and Innovate: Join GPP’s efforts to develop public-private partnerships that accelerate resources for LGBTI communities in regions most at risk of losing funding.
  • Strengthen Regional Movements: Leverage GPP’s groundbreaking research insights, including the new Global Resources Report and State of Trans and Intersex Organizing reports, to ensure funding reaches the communities and regions most in need.
  • Support Trans and Intersex Inclusion: Participate in trainings like Mobilizing for Trans Futures to align your funding practices with the values of inclusion and justice.
  • Engage, Learn, and Debate in Global Conversations: Attend GPP’s donor convenings, including the upcoming ILGA Asia Donor Pre-Conference in Kathmandu, to strategize alongside fellow grantmakers.

History will remember how we have responded in this pivotal moment. It will record whether we stood firm in defending human rights and, through our grantmaking, capacitated LGBTI movements to thrive and win, or whether we faltered in strong headwinds. 

This is our opportunity to defend, accelerate, and expand the resources committed to our many LGBTI movements’ struggle for dignity, liberation, and rights.

I invite you to join GPP and our community of grantmakers. Let’s meet this historic moment together.

Onward,

Highlights of the Year

Global LGBTI Funding Summit

Nearly 200 grantmakers came together to Cape Town in November 2024 to unleash transformative funding for LGBTI movements – at a pivotal time for human rights worldwide. Learn more about the Summit.

Fund Our Futures Campaign

As part of the Summit, GPP launched the Fund Our Futures Campaign, which will raise $150 million in new funding for global LGBTI movements. To date, 28 funders have committed $100 million to the Campaign. Learn more about the Campaign.

Mobilizing for Trans Futures: A Training on Trans-Inclusive Grantmaking

Mobilizing for Trans Futures is a training program designed for peer education and dialogue among funders to address emerging needs in movements for trans rights and ensure that their organizational values and grantmaking practices align with goals for trans-inclusion. Through presentations, small group conversations, and exploration of scenarios specific to grantmakers, this training seeks to create a supportive and confidential space where funders can ask questions, explore challenges, and receive guidance on providing intersectional support to trans communities in the regions or issue areas they serve. 

Available cohorts this year are April 24-25 and Sept 15-16 (held online). GPP is also available for hire to do personalized institutional training. Sign up and learn more about it here.

2024 in numbers

Convenings

In service of GPP’s goal to cultivate and deepen the knowledge, skills, and capacity of GPP members and other funders, GPP regularly organizes Donor Pre-Conferences and related events in advance of regional or global meetings of LGBTI Civil Society. GPP events center funder peer education, and may include civil society representatives as content experts. See upcoming events here.
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March 19:

Financing a gender justice infrastructure to counter anti-gender ideology and anti-rights movements

GPP and Ford Foundation, in collaboration with the Countering Backlash project of the Institute of Development Studies, convened a hybrid event attended by over 200 people, towards well-informed, robust, and coordinated donor response to counter anti-gender ideology and anti-rights movements and advance towards a more gender-just world.

April 24:

Coordination Meeting at Ariadne/HRFN on Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology and Anti-Rights Movements

GPP hosted a half-day working meeting on sharpening the philanthropic sector’s response to anti-gender ideology at Ariadne’s 2024 Annual Reconnect and HRFN’s Funding Futures Festival. The event included over 100 donors in public and private philanthropy with diverse regional and thematic portfolios. In advance of the working meeting, GPP co-organized with the Dalan Fund the webinar ‘Voices and Perspectives of Civil Society and Movements in the CEECCNA Region’ to familiarize participants with key anti-gender and anti-rights issues across the CEECCNA regions.

June 11:

AI & Philanthropy Summit at MozFest

The Mozilla Foundation, European AI & Society Fund, and GPP hosted the AI & Philanthropy Summit at MozFest Amsterdam, bringing funders together to explore the intersectional impacts of AI and its relevance to their portfolios. 

June 24:

Weaving horizons to strengthen funding for LBTIQ+ movements in Latin America

GPP, the Latin America Alliance of Women’s and Feminist Funds, and Prospera – International Network of Women’s Funds hosted the virtual donor conference “Weaving Horizons to Strengthen Funding for LBTIQ+ Movements in Latin America,” focused on advancing funding initiatives for the region. The event united public and private grantmakers, donor governments, corporate funders, high-net-worth individuals, and other partners supporting Latin America and the Caribbean.

July 19:

GPP and GATE Donor Pre-Conference at ‘Unite! Advocate! Thrive!’

GPP and GATE hosted a donor pre-conference ahead of the ‘Unite! Advocate! Thrive!’ Global Conference in Munich, convening donors to discuss strategies for resourcing trans movements, the current state of global trans funding, prevailing challenges, and future initiatives to support trans and gender-diverse movements and communities.

August 6:

Networking Brunch Montreal

Dignity Network Canada, Égides, Fierté Montréal, and GPP organized a Networking Brunch and an International Symposium to explore Canada and Quebec’s role on the global stage in upholding LGBTI rights through and beyond Global Affairs Canada’s LGBTQ2I International Assistance Program during Montréal Pride (Fierté) festival.

September 16:

GPP Donor Event at the Qawsuna Summit

GPP hosted a donor event at the Qawsuna Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, focusing on funding LGBTI communities in North Africa and West Asia, inviting donors to share and strategize on supporting holistic care and safety, managing resources in crisis, conflict, and restricted environments, and discovering innovative approaches to funding and supporting movement growth.

October 16:

GPP and ILGA-Europe Donor Pre-Conference

GPP and ILGA–Europe organized a Donor Pre-Conference (DPC) in Bucharest, Romania to discuss funding the LGBTI movement in Europe and Central Asia.

November 9-11:

Global LGBTI Funding Summit 

GPP organized the first-ever Global LGBTI Funding Summitin Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 200 grantmakers came together to unleash transformative funding for global LGBTI movements at a pivotal time. At the Summit, GPP launched the Fund Our Futures Campaign. See more above.

GPP at…

2024 Dignity Roundtable in Ottawa, Canada

In May, a delegation of GPP members and Dave Scamell, GPP’s Director of Government Relations and Field Engagement, participated in the 2024 Dignity Roundtable in Ottawa, Canada. Together, the delegation showcased best practices in grantmaking for LGBTI movements and advocated for more decisive Canadian leadership in global LGBTI funding.

IDAHOT+ Forum

In May, GPP’s Executive Director Matthew Hart delivered a keynote speech at the European IDAHOT+ Forum, organized by the Government of the Netherlands, in the Hague. The keynote introduced the “Towards a sustainable European equality infrastructure to guarantee LGBTIQ+ rights” session. Read extracts of the speech here.

15th AWID International Forum

In December, GPP’s Executive Director Matthew Hart participated as a speaker in the ‘Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing?’ Breakout Session as part of the 15th AWID International Forum. This session reflected on the funding trends affecting feminist movements and discussed what it would take to shift power and resources to feminist and social justice movements in the future.

2024 Equal Rights Coalition Conference

In December, Dave Scamell, GPP’s Director of Government Relations and Field Engagement, delivered opening remarks as part of a plenary panel on sustainable resourcing for LGBTI movements at the 2024 Equal Rights Coalition Conference, hosted in Berlin by the Governments of Germany and Mexico.

Webinars

GPP hosts webinars to cultivate and deepen the knowledge, skills, and capacity of GPP members and other funders in support of global LGBTI issues. See upcoming events.

Research

GPP is committed to cultivating and deepening the knowledge, skills, and capacity of GPP members and other funders in support of global LGBTI issues. GPP and member funds often commission new research exploring and documenting opportunities, challenges, and trends in the field. Explore our full collection.

LGBTI Pathways Project

2024 saw the first in-person meeting of the Pathways Global Steering Committee, where decisions were made about the project’s regions and global research questions. The Pathways team consulted extensively about the West Asia and North Africa region during the year and worked with the Technical Team and Global Steering Committee to finalize the Global Survey questions. The year closed with recruiting the first region’s Lead Organization and Regional Steering Committee in Latin America and the Caribbean. Learn more.

Advocacy

Engaging Government and Multilateral Funders

In 2024, GPP prioritized a number of donor governments that were identified as key opportunities for increased LGBTI funding. In partnership with national civil society organizations, GPP produced reports to the Canadian and Danish governments to provide recommendations for how each government can increase its support to the global LGBTI movement. These reports were accompanied by briefings and engagement with government representatives. Building on the successful engagement that led to Australia’s announcement of a new strategy and fund for LGBTI issues in its foreign policy at Sydney WorldPride 2023, GPP continued to work in partnership with Equality Australia to encourage the government to increase its commitment to support to the LGBTI movements in Asia and the Pacific.

Engagement with priority donor governments directly led to governments attending the Global LGBTI Funding Summit, and to new funding announcements. Three donor governments (Denmark, Germany, and Norway) have contributed US$7 million to the Fund Our Futures Campaign. 

Engaging Philanthropy

In 2024, GPP hired Katrina Anderson as Director of Philanthropic Field Engagement. Katrina will develop a strategy to lead GPP’s engagement with institutional philanthropy to mobilize resources for LGBTI movements in the Global South and East. Building on the momentum from the Fund Our Futures Campaign, in 2025, GPP will deepen its accompaniment to select philanthropic institutions, providing tailored research and analysis to make a case for bolder commitments to LGBTI communities.

Task Forces & More

Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology (RAGI) Task Force

This grantmaker task force is dedicated to strengthening and expanding philanthropic support for a robust, coordinated, and well-informed response to “anti-gender ideology” forces. In 2024, the task force met monthly. Looking ahead to 2025, this task force will focus on providing grantmakers with opportunities to strategize and coordinate to mitigate the harms of geopolitical and funding shifts on LGBTI and inclusive gender justice movements due to anti-gender and anti-rights movements.  To express interest in joining the Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Task Force, as a grantmaker, please fill out this form.

Co-chairs:

Prachi Patankar

Program Officer, South and Southeast Asia, Foundation for a Just Society

Brett Davidson

Narrative Lead at the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling (IRIS)

Medina Haeri

Programme Officer, Issues Affecting Women Programme, Oak Foundation

Heather Benjamin

Founding Director Nebula Fund

Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force

This task force transitioned to fewer meetings in 2024, prioritizing in-person engagements in broader philanthropic spaces, including HRFN’s Funding Futures Festival, Central American Donor Forum, and the AWID Forum. Looking ahead to 2025, key priorities include ensuring the utilization of the key findings and recommendations from the State of Trans and State of Intersex Organizing reports. Task force meetings will continue to be a space to share updates, strategies, challenges, and opportunities to increase the amount and quality of funding for trans and intersex-led movements. If you are a grantmaker interested in joining the Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force, please fill out this form.

Co-chairs:

Félix Endara

Senior Program Associate, Foundation for a Just Society

Viviane Simakawa

Program Officer, International Trans Fund

Regional Cafés

In 2024, GPP hosted four regional cafés that met twice a year per region. The cafés focused on the regions of West Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These cafés provide informal spaces for regional grantmakers to share lessons, challenges, and trends in each region, discuss resource and research needs, and share information about grantee partners when needed.  If you are a grantmaker who wants to join a regional café. Learn more about GPP’s regional cafés here.

GPP in the Media

Organizational Development

GPP Infrastructure Development

In 2024, GPP welcomed several new staff members! In February, Aurore Guieu joined GPP as the Government Relations Advisor to work alongside Dave Scamell on our government relations and advocacy. In April, Marla Swanson joined as GPP’s Director of Development and Advancement. In August, Ari Kajtezović joined GPP as the Operations Manager, and Katrina Anderson joined as Director of Philanthropic Field Engagement.

Three team members were also promoted in recognition of their years of dedicated work. Ezra Nepon was promoted to Deputy Director, Marina Gonzalez Flores was promoted to Director of Public Engagement, and Jay Postic was appointed Senior Program Officer for Research after many years of working with GPP as a consultant for the Global Resources Report. 

Throughout the year, GPP also worked with two new consultants on specific initiatives: Eirene Chen joined as Senior Consulting Advisor for Humanitarian Financing, Sarah Gunther joined as the Global LGBTI Funding Campaign Manager to support the creation and implementation of the Fund our Futures Campaign, and Nico Amador, who built the curriculum for Mobilizing for Trans Futures: Trans-Inclusive Grantmaking Training.

New staff:

Aurore Guieu

Government Relations Advisor

Marla Swanson

Director, Development and Advancement

Ari Kajtezović

Operations Manager

Katrina Anderson

Director, Philanthropic Field Engagement

GPP Members

Thank you to GPP’s 2024 Board of Directors for their support and partnership. 

  • Francisco Buchting, Horizons Foundation Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications  (Treasurer)
  • Rebecca Fox, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice Vice President of Programs
  • Alli Jernow, Arcus Foundation Social Justice Program Vice President (Secretary)
  • Mukami Marete, UHAI-EASHRI Executive Director  (Co-chair)
  • David Sampson, Baring Foundation Deputy Director (Co-chair) 

Thank you to GPP’s 23 member organizations for your partnership in 2024 and beyond! 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our members and other partners for your essential support. Your contributions have enabled GPP to grow and achieve a remarkable impact this year! To discuss supporting GPP or a specific project, please contact Marla Swanson, Director of Development and Advancement.

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