Donor Reception – Montreal, Canada July 2025
2025 Year in Review
Executive Director’s Letter
Matthew Hart
Executive Director
Dear friends and partners,
The past year has tested our movements with volatility, backlash, and retreat—and yet it has also revealed what becomes possible when philanthropy chooses purposeful action over paralysis. Leadership in this moment is not only about reacting faster to crisis; it is also about creating space for movements to be seen and heard clearly, for imagination and urgency to coexist, and for grantmakers to reflect honestly on how we can wield our collective power in service of LGBTI communities worldwide. In 2025, the choice to act together resulted in $182 million in new commitments through Fund Our Futures—the first global pledging initiative dedicated to resourcing LGBTI movements. Sixty-four philanthropic and government partners stepped forward because the moment demanded it.
And 2025 also made one truth unmistakable: resources, while essential, are not sufficient. Movements need funders willing to listen more deeply, act more deliberately, and hold power with intention. They need partners who show up not only with capital, but with courage, coordination, and long-term commitment. This is why Global Philanthropy Project’s work is grounded in a simple framework—Imagine. Build. Defend. It is both an orientation and a call: to expand what is possible, to strengthen what movements need to flourish, and to protect hard-won gains before they are rolled back beyond repair.
To Imagine is to reclaim creativity as a source of power in the face of cultural and political forces that seek to narrow belonging and constrain the future. To Build is to strengthen the infrastructure movements themselves have long identified as essential—funding led by those impacted, coordinated donor action across regions, and evidence that replaces speculation with clarity. In the months ahead, this commitment will deepen with the release of the LGBTI Pathways Project. The Pathways survey, launching in January 2026, will offer one of the most ambitious global analyses of movement needs and funding realities to date—a road map for new investments will soon be here.
To Defend is to act before damage becomes irreversible. As donor withdrawals and anti-gender and anti-democratic attacks accelerated, we learned—again—that delayed responses carry real human costs. Meeting this moment requires funders to move resources faster, use influence without apology, and stand together across public and private sectors. It also requires sustainability: the discipline to resist burnout, fund ecosystems rather than projects, and recognize that rest and resilience are not luxuries but necessities for long-term impact.
I invite you to read our 2025 Year in Review newsletter and dig deeper into what this moment is asking of philanthropy and how the framework of Imagine. Build. Defend can guide our collective response.
For now, the call to action is clear: move resources faster and more flexibly to movements facing extreme and escalating threats; invest in the intermediaries, coordination spaces, and narrative infrastructure that make sustained impact possible; and act together rather than in isolation. We invite you to join Global Philanthropy Project in this work—to imagine bolder futures alongside movements, to build the durable ecosystems they need to thrive, and to defend hard-won gains before they are lost. This moment demands collaboration, partnership, and shared responsibility. The forces working against LGBTI communities are organized, global, and well-resourced. Our response must be as well. Join us.
Matthew Hart
Executive Director
Global Philanthropy Project
Highlights of the Year
2025 in numbers
182 million USD
New Commitments
64
Fund Our Futures Campaign pledgers
269,000 +
Viewed GPP website
254
Attended GPP events in person
660
Attended GPP online events
280+
Global LGBTI grantmakers documented funding global LGBTI movements in 2023-2024
3
New reports
Convenings
February 24-25:
GPP’s Donor Pre-Conference at ILGA Asia 2025
More than 40 grantmakers from 16 countries gathered for GPP and ILGA Asia’s Donor Pre-Conference, ahead of the ILGA Asia Conference 2025: Diversity Dynamics – Unifying for a Just, Inclusive, and Sustainable Asia. Participants strategized a collective response to funding cuts in Asia, examined the growing anti-gender and anti-trans backlash in the region, and forged new connections.
July 31:
GPP and Egides Donor Pre-Conference
GPP and Égides (International Francophone Alliance for Equality and Diversities) hosted the first-ever Donor Pre-Conference (DPC) for funders supporting Francophone LGBTI movements in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. According to our research, only one percent (1%) of global LGBTI funding goes to French-speaking countries and territories, leaving Francophone groups struggling to respond to the needs of their communities. The event focused on the state of LGBTI funding in Francophone countries and territories, with particular attention to the impact of recent funding cuts. Participants worked together to identify shared challenges, explore new opportunities, and develop strategies for effective resource mobilization.
October 11-12:
Donor Coordination Meeting on Central Asia
GPP, Araminta, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and Norwegian Helsinki Committee hosted a two-day Donor Coordination Meeting on Central Asia during the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference (formerly known as HDIM). The event brought together 48 grantmakers representing public and private foundations, individual donors, donor networks, multilateral agencies, and philanthropic advisors. Participants gathered in Warsaw to strategize collectively, discuss shared priorities, identify key funding gaps, and explore opportunities to secure new financial commitments to support civil society initiatives across the region.
November 2:
Art & Culture in Action: A Funder Learning Day Centering Narrative Strategy in Climate and Gender Justice
GPP and The Center for Cultural Power, alongside partners and sponsors, co-organized a Funder Learning Day Centering Narrative Strategy in Climate and Gender Justice that brought together over 70 grantmakers from all over the world. Together, we examined why investing in narrative, arts, and culture is essential to climate solutions, gender equity, and LGBTQI rights. We heard how artists and cultural workers are advancing powerful narratives for a more sustainable, gender-just world, and discussed opportunities for donor collaboration to support artists and cultural workers most affected by global inequities. One message came through clearly for funders: we must think differently, act creatively, and reimagine how resources can support narrative and cultural strategies that connect gender and climate justice, which are inextricably linked.
Key Insights from Speakers
“We are facing a global mental health crisis, climate anxiety, and anxiety around the rise of authoritarianism and fascism. We need to create a level of participation never seen before on this planet. And we need to do it for two reasons: One to get those in power to move faster, and more broadly. And second, as a survival strategy, to make sure we can support each other, that our activism is soulful, energizing, and arts and culture gives us that possibility.”
“The way that we’re speaking about climate change leaves people with the feeling of being powerless. The way we talk about and communicate climate change needs to change in order to truly reach and move people.”
November 24-25:
GPP & Pan Africa ILGA Donor Pre-Conference
48 grantmakers from 21 countries convened in Johannesburg, South Africa, for a productive Donor Pre-Conference organized by GPP & Pan Africa ILGA. Together, participants analyzed the urgent needs of LGBTI communities across Africa amid ongoing funding cuts and identified priorities to strengthen our collective work. Key insights included the need for donors to deepen their commitments and prioritize long-term, flexible funding; to center rest, joy, safety, and collective care as essential to movement’s sustainability; and the importance of African leadership to guide the path forward. The landscape is shifting, but it is also full of openings if we are willing to meet the moment with courage and imagination.
“I always enjoy your events. They are full of information, great people, and new opportunities. You have a gift for making these meetings both fun and serious at the same time. We work, we learn, but we also connect on a human level. It is motivating.”
Virtual Events
GPP at…
Funding Forward Conference
March – GPP Executive Director Matthew Hart and Deputy Director Ezra Nepon participated in Funders for LGBTQ Issues‘ Funding Forward conference (Houston, TX). GPP presented during a half-day “Using Data to Advance LGBTQ+ Liberation” pre-session, held an information session about the Fund Our Futures campaign, and held many donor meetings about the campaign.
Philanthropy Australia Leadership Summit
August – Our Director of Government Relations and Field Engagement, David Scamell, spoke at the 2025 Philanthropy Australia Leadership Summit session “Holding the Line: Philanthropy, Inclusion and the Anti-Rights Agenda” at the Philanthropy Australia Leadership Summit.
High-Level Workshop on Strategic Responses to Antifeminist and Anti-Rights Backlash
India Philanthropy Forum 2025
November – “Out of $13 billion in annual philanthropy to India, less than $2.4 million supports LGBTQIA+ causes – yet small and mid-size grants can be catalytic, especially when they build leadership and legal access,” said GPP Executive Director Matthew Hart during their participation in the India Philanthropy Forum 2025.
GPP Members Delegation at Montréal Collaboratory
November – GPP Director of Government Relations and Field Engagement, David Scamell, led a delegation of representatives of five GPP member organizations to Montréal and Ottawa, Canada, organized by GPP and Dignity Network Canada.
Research
LGBTI Pathways Project
The Pathways Project made incredible progress in 2025. This research initiative, led by GPP and ILGA World, is working to develop credible, reliable, and accurate evidence on the needs, priorities and funding landscape of the international and regional movements:
- Seven Regional Expert Groups have been consolidated across all Pathways regions (Africa, Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and Southwest Asia and North Africa)
- Each Regional Expert Group met to discuss issues important to the region and to brainstorm region-specific questions.
- The Pathways survey will be released on 28 January 2026!
Advocacy
Engaging Government and Multilateral Funders
In 2025, the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) system shifted in historic ways. In response, GPP reviewed and updated our prioritization of donor governments. We continue to monitor the political situation, discussions around ODA, and the overall approach to global LGBTI issues for all these countries.
GPP engaged with donor governments in various ways throughout the year:
Direct engagement highlights:
- Two governments reported for the first time to the 2023-2024 Global Resources Report.
- GPP provided dedicated briefings to some governments’ agencies, analyzing global LGBTI funding trends over the past decade using the GRR database, and provided inputs to a number of policy processes, including the European Commission’s new LGBTI strategy.
- In November, David Scamell, our Director of Government Relations and Field Engagement, led a delegation of representatives of five GPP member organizations to Montréal and Ottawa, Canada. The delegation attended the Montréal Collaboratory, co-organized by GPP’s civil society partner in Canada, Dignity Network, and met with senior leadership from Global Affairs Canada, as well as advisors and Parliamentary Secretaries to the Prime Minister and Minister for International Development.
Research:
- In June, GPP produced a policy brief emphasizing the importance of donor government support for LGBTI movements, not only as a human rights imperative, but as a strategic investment in democratic resilience and global stability. This was shared with donor governments at a moment when ODA and security spending are increasingly pitted against each other in annual budget processes.
- In November, GPP launched a private/limited-audience knowledge hub with 17 profiles of major donor governments and the European Union institutions. This platform responded to several requests by donor governments to gain better insights into their peers’ practices around global LGBTI funding, and is meant to support mutual learning and coordination.
- Throughout 2025, GPP hosted donor-only webinars to share recent research and programming, while strengthening the community of key LGBTI focal points within all ministries and agencies we are working with.
Engaging Philanthropy
In early 2025, GPP rebooted the Private Funders Roundtable, a space for senior leaders in private institutions to share emerging trends and strategize to address shared challenges facing the field of LGBTI philanthropy. This roundtable met monthly, either in-person or virtually, to discuss opportunities for coordinating support to LGBTI grantees during the funding crisis, and to explore topics such as innovative resourcing for LGBTI movements in more depth.
In the wake of the funding crisis early in the year, GPP collaborated with feminist funders and networks to strategize around rebuilding the field of gender justice funding. Katrina Anderson, GPP’s Director of Philanthropic Field Engagement, attended meetings at the Commission on the Status of Women in March in New York, participated in the May planning meeting for Financing for Feminist Futures in Madrid, and organized side donor meetings around the UN General Assembly meetings and Climate Week in September.
In an effort to minimize disruption and build sustainable resource streams for LGBTI movements, GPP developed a set of offerings to support philanthropic institutions that are pursuing a strategic shift, analyzing their programs, or undergoing a strategic planning process. These include, for example, a grantmaking review, ecosystem analysis, regional focus, or impact review. The philanthropic field engagement team piloted these in 2025 and will then begin more widely in 2026.
In 2025, we welcomed Roselyn (Roxxy) Odoyo as a new Senior Program Officer for Philanthropic Field Engagement to focus on building the field of global LGBTI philanthropy and coordinating GPP’s Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Task Force.
Donor Organizing Spaces
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. The task force met monthly in 2025 to discuss emerging trends, such as the growing alliance between anti-gender and anti-climate forces, and to share tools and strategies to combat foreign agent laws and other restrictions on funding civil society.
Looking ahead to 2026, this task force will recalibrate to meet emerging needs of the field, including meeting bi-monthly and providing more time for strategic collaboration around topics or regions. We will also build connections across the climate, democracy, and technology sectors to better align strategies and ensure LGBTI people are centered in funders’ responses. We will produce original research and knowledge resources to inform philanthropic interventions and lay the groundwork for strategic convenings.
Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force
In 2025, this task force started the year coordinating resource mobilization for the Fifth International Intersex Forum. However, once the funding cuts by donor governments were announced, the Task Force shifted focus to how these cuts might impact trans and intersex funding directly. The Task Force realized that trans and intersex grantees are impacted not only through LGBT funding but also by the attacks on the broader ecosystem that supports our communities. The Task Force was a space to share practical examples of shifts in funding practices and strategies, discuss short-term opportunities to complement existing or developing efforts, and explore the types of research, tools, spaces, or other forms GPP could support funders’ needs.
The Task Force hosted two webinars: Harnessing Our Collective Power to Defend Trans Movements and Webinar: Collective Power to Protect Intersex Movements.
Looking ahead to 2026, the Task Force will focus on leveraging the findings from the State of Trans and the State of Intersex, and the Pathways Project reports, as well as reports from other similar networks and organizations, to continue much-needed commitment activation. GPP is excited to hire a new staff member to lead the Task Force and to coordinate the Trans Inclusive Grantmaking Training Program, and therefore ensure there is continuity between the two. And finally, the Task Force is looking forward to expanding its membership and reaching new funders who are new to funding trans and intersex movements.
Regional Cafés
In 2025, GPP hosted four regional cafés, meeting twice 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 are designed for regional grantmakers to coordinate funding needs, share lessons, challenges, and trends in their regions, discuss resource and research needs, and share information about grantee partners as needed.
In 2026, in response to the evolving needs of the LGBTI funding landscape, GPP reorganized the regional cafes as follows:
- Asia
- Central Asia
- Eastern Europe
- Francophone
- Latin America
- SWANA
GPP in the Media
Alliance Magazine
How the Global Philanthropy Project raised $182 Million for LGBTQI rights: Inside the playbook with Matthew Hart and Sarah Gunther
November 14, 2025
Context | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Op ed: LGBTQI+ movements face new funding crisis. Will philanthropy step up?
April 30, 2025
AP | Associated Press
Here’s how some human rights and LGBTQ+ groups prepared for major foreign aid cuts under Trump
March 20, 2025
Organizational Development
GPP Staff Retreat
The entire GPP team met in Croatia from Oct 5-11 for a staff retreat. The retreat was a unique opportunity to learn from each other, identify interconnections across our different areas of work, and plan for 2026 to shape the future strategic and programmatic direction of GPP and our leadership role in LGBTI resourcing.
New Staff Members
In April, GPP welcomed Shreya Menon as a new Associate focused on the Global Resources Report. Shreya will support all phases of the report development. We also welcomed two Global Resources Report Coding Assistants, Lilian Karanja and Lingga Tri Utama, who will support the data development through February 2026.
In November, we welcomed Roselyn (Roxxy) Odoyo as our new Senior Program Officer for Philanthropic Field Engagement. Roxxy will support GPP’s strategy to mobilize more and better resources for global LGBTI movements from institutional philanthropy, to expand the donor base to resource LGBTI movements in their efforts to counter anti-gender forces threatening democracy and climate justice, and to coordinate GPP’s Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Task Force.
Thank you to our Board of Directors, Members, and other supporters
Thank you to GPP’s 2025 Board of Directors for their support and partnership.
Thank you to GPP’s 23 member organizations for your partnership in 2025 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.
Other updates
WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner