Leadership

Staff

Matthew Hart
Executive Director
Matthew Hart
Executive Director

Matty 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 philanthropic and development coordination of global LGBTI work.

Founder and Principal 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, a US-based social enterprise.

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 Mediterranean Women’s Fund, 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 helped found the Susan Treadwell Memorial Fund and Fellowships at Ariadne. Hart received degrees in Urban Studies and Cultural Anthropology from Temple University.

Ezra Berkley Nepon
Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning
Ezra Berkley Nepon
Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning

Ezra Berkley Nepon is the Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning at Global Philanthropy Project and joined GPP in 2015. Ezra coordinates GPP’s research development, is the primary author of the Global Resources Report, and supports GPP’s communications and development.

Ezra previously served as Director of Grassroots Fundraising for Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and Development Coordinator for the William Way LGBT Community Center, and co-authored reports including “Who Decides: How Participatory Grantmaking Benefits Donors, Communities, and Movements” with The Lafayette Practice. They are the author of two books – most recently, Dazzle Camouflage: Spectacular Theatrical Strategies for Resistance and Resilience, and a recipient of the 2014 Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. Currently, Ezra is a board member of the Leeway Foundation, and an active member of Jewish Voice for Peace. Ezra received an M.A. Degree from Goddard College in Transformative Language Arts.

Zhan Chiam
Global Coordinator, LGBTI Pathways
Zhan Chiam
Global Coordinator, LGBTI Pathways

Zhan joins the Global Philanthropy Project in 2023 as Global Coordinator of LGBTI Pathways. In this role, he oversees the multi-year research project and ensures that global and regional LGBTI movements are engaged in developing credible and accurate evidence on their needs and priorities in order to influence grantmakers to increase the amount and quality of resources to improve the lives of LGBTI persons across the world.

He previously served as Transgender Europe’s Deputy Director (2021-2023) and founded ILGA World’s gender identity and expression program, and sport and human rights work (2014-2020). Zhan co-authored and led three editions of the ILGA Trans Legal Mapping Report and has worked with LGBTI civil society from all regions on United Nations advocacy, and research projects on health, conversion therapies and hate crimes. He is on the advisory committee of Canada’s Act Together for Inclusion Fund and has served on the Board of Directors of the International Trans Fund (2017-2023).

Born in Singapore, Zhan has worked in refugee and migration law, policy and casework in Australia, Pakistan and Thailand. He holds a Master of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Comparative Religious Studies, Semiotics) from the University of Sydney and a Juris Doctor from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Marina Gonzalez Flores
Senior Officer for Program, Events, and Member Engagement
Marina Gonzalez Flores
Senior Officer for Program, Events, and Member Engagement

Marina Gonzalez Flores is the Senior Officer for Programs, Events, and Member Engagement at the Global Philanthropy Project (GPP). In her current role, Marina oversees most of the public-facing programming GPP does, such as webinars, conferences, and task forces, and supports members in their involvement with GPP. Marina has worked at GPP since 2018, where she started as Program Associate.

Previously, Marina worked at the Citizens Committee for New York City, supporting organizers and grassroots neighborhood improvement projects through resources and micro-grants. Marina is committed to organizing locally in the U.S. and Mexico, as a trained doula and through a feminist collective she is part of. Marina graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies and from Columbia University with a master’s degree in Human Rights Studies.

Aurore Guieu
Government Relations Advisor
Aurore Guieu
Government Relations Advisor

Aurore joined GPP in February 2024 as Government Relations Advisor. In this role she engages with donor governments, providing them with the resources and tools necessary to increase the amount and quality of their global LGBTI funding provided through development assistance programming. Aurore also plays a leading role in GPP’s research on donor government funding policies and practices.

Before joining GPP, Aurore was Head of Policy for Oxfam Belgium, leading the advocacy work of the organization on a number of themes from inequalities and public budgets to climate and food systems, all with a gender justice lens. She previously worked as Advocacy Advisor for the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network, advocating for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) within EU’s cooperation policies, and as Researcher for the International Centre for Reproductive Health on maternal, migrant and sex workers’ health. A proud feminist and bisexual activist, Aurore is part of the Brussels-based collective ‘Where we belong’ to make lesBIan literature and culture known through public readings and is a volunteer for BruZelle, an organization fighting period poverty.

She holds a Masters in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris, with a specialisation in European Affairs.

Emilia Morales
Program Associate, Events and Member Engagement
Emilia Morales
Program Associate, Events and Member Engagement

Emilia is the Program Associate, Events and Member Engagement at the Global Philanthropy Project starting in November 2023. In her role, she coordinates member communications, manages meetings and webinars, and handles communication to members and external audiences through various channels.

Previously, she worked for about 4 years in different LGBTI rights and women’s rights organisations both as a communications officer and project manager,including ILGA World and Fondo Lunaria.

Emilia has a strong background in research and advocacy, particularly in trans rights, countering the anti-gender movement, and addressing violence against women. Emilia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Rosario University, in Bogota, Colombia, where she is from, and an Erasmus Master’s in Human Rights Policy and Practice from a consortium of universities, including the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dave Scamell
Director, Government Relations and Field Engagement
Dave Scamell
Director, Government Relations and Field Engagement

Dave Scamell is GPP’s Senior Consulting Advisor for Government Relations and Field Engagement, and has been working with GPP since 2018. Dave oversees GPP’s engagement with the world’s leading government and multilateral donors, providing them with the resources and tools necessary to increase the amount and quality of their global LGBTI funding provided through development assistance programming. He also plays a leading role in GPP’s work identifying and highlighting key issues impacting the global LGBTI funding landscape and providing donor governments, philanthropic foundations and civil society with the evidence needed to address such issues.

Dave has more than 20 years’ experience in human rights and public health advocacy, policy, programming and philanthropy, having worked with civil society organizations to advance the rights of marginalized communities in 27 countries across the world. He has held management and strategic leadership roles in leading non-government organizations, private foundations, and global networks in New York and Sydney, with strong experience and a passion for working with multiple stakeholders—advocates, service providers, donors, policymakers, thought-leaders—to achieve impactful social change. Dave holds a Master in International Human Rights Law (with honors) from the University of Essex and a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Politics and International Relations) from the University of New South Wales.

Celeste Smith
Operations Manager
Celeste Smith
Operations Manager

Celeste is the Operations Manager at the Global Philanthropy Project, starting in June 2022. Their role includes vendor management, operational and financial oversight, and Board of Directors support and engagement. Celeste builds new and optimizes existing systems to strengthen the Project’s infrastructure.
Before working at GPP, Celeste was the Executive Assistant at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and the Quality Performance Specialist at a Medicaid Managed Care Organization. Celeste organizes in her community through Ward 1 DC Mutual Aid and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Beloved Community Incubator. They also serve on a BIPOC steering committee for developing low-equity cooperative housing in DC. Celeste attended Butler University, where they graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry with coursework concentrations in Environmental Science and Political Science.

Consultants

Mauro Cabral Grinspan
Research Consultant, Gender Justice
Mauro Cabral Grinspan
Research Consultant, Gender Justice

Mauro Cabral Grinspan is a Consulting Advisor for Research, Gender Justice with GPP. He joined GPP in March 2022  to coordinate the Task Force on Trans and Intersex Funding and the Task Force on Philanthropic Responses to Anti “Gender Ideology.” In September 2023, Mauro transitioned from this staff role and became a consulting advisor, collaborating with the GPP research and advocacy initiatives.

Before joining GPP, Mauro had a long career as a civil society organizer. He co-founded GATE in 2009, serving as its Co-Director between 2009 and 2017, and as its Executive Director between 2017 and 2022. He also coordinated GATE’s international initiative on trans, gender diverse and intersex depathologization.

Mauro participated in the elaboration of the Yogyakarta Principles (2007) and of the Yogyakarta Principles Plus Ten, being a signatory of both. Mauro has a Degree in History, and pursued graduate studies in philosophy and gender studies. He serves as an ad honorem scientific collaborator at the Brussels Free University.

Lame Olebile
Donor Mobilization Consultant
Lame Olebile
Donor Mobilization Consultant

Lame joins the Global Philanthropy Project as the LGBTI Donor Mobilization Consultant, supporting GPP’s unique project to analyze, address, and mitigate the specific gaps in LGBTI funding resulting from OSF’s strategic shift. 

As a queer feminist activist, Lame has spent over 15 years contributing to queer feminist organizing through grantmaking, capacity building, research and advocacy. She previously served as a Senior Programs Officer at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice where she managed a grantmaking portfolio of African queer feminist organizations, facilitated learning and networking opportunities, and advocated for increased and sustainable funding for LGBTQI+ rights. Prior to Astraea, she worked with various civil society organizations across the continent, leading and coordinating projects on human rights education, sexual health, civic participation, and movement building. In various capacities, she has been involved in projects, publications, and advisory and governance roles related to queer feminist issues, women’s leadership in politics, resourcing feminist movements and strengthening civil society ecosystems.

Currently based in Botswana, Lame holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a masters degree in Research and Public Policy from the University of Botswana. 

Jay Postic
Research Consultant, Global Resources Report
Jay Postic
Research Consultant, Global Resources Report

Jay Postic has worked as a Global Resources Report Research (GRR) Consultant since 2019. He serves as a key researcher for the GRR and has a consultative role in other GPP research activities. For the past twenty years Jay has been involved in queer feminist organizing, education, research and advocacy related to: sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, and rights of LBGTIQ persons in Croatia and internationally.

He held strategic leadership roles in non-government organizations and coordinated activities and projects including organizing international conference on transgressing gender, Pride March in Zagreb, and research on discrimination and violence against LGBTIQ persons in Croatia. Jay holds a BA in Psychology and Women’s Studies from the University of Reno, Nevada, and a MA in Sociology from San Diego State University.

Jennifer Redner
Gender Justice Advisor, Programs
Jennifer Redner
Gender Justice Advisor, Programs

Jennifer works toward creating a world where all people’s rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled through systemic change. With previous roles in-house and as a consultant, Jennifer has experience working with a range of stakeholders and sectors, including philanthropy, governments, corporations, and civil society to collectively address a variety of structural and seemingly intractable issues while centering the voices and agendas of the people and communities most impacted. Working with and shifting resources and power to feminist Global South indigenous organizations, networks, and movements to realize the change they seek is a focus of her work and a personal passion.

Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Arts in International Development from American University in Washington, D.C. and has lived and worked internationally throughout her life and career. She is proficient in French, studied Italian and Spanish, and enjoys learning different languages and dialects. In her free time she cooks, connects with friends and family, and practices yoga and meditation.

Elisa Slattery
Research Consultant
Elisa Slattery
Research Consultant

Elisa Slattery is a senior research consultant with the Global Philanthropy Project and part-time faculty with Bard’s Globalization and International Affairs Program. Prior to that, she was Senior Program Officer of the Women’s Rights Program at Open Society Foundations. She has also worked as a consulting researcher at Amnesty International, in the health law program of the International Development Law Organization and was regional director of the Africa program at the Center for Reproductive Rights. Her fact-finding projects have focused on abuses of women in healthcare facilities; discrimination against women living with HIV; mandatory pregnancy testing and expulsion of pregnant schoolgirls; and the impact of restrictive abortion laws. She holds a JD from Columbia Law School and a MA in History from Duke University.

Board of Directors

Co-Chairs

Mukami Marete
UHAI EASHRI, Co-Executive Director
Mukami Marete
UHAI EASHRI, Co-Executive Director

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.

David Sampson
The Baring Foundation, Deputy Director
David Sampson
The Baring Foundation, Deputy Director

David joined the Baring Foundation as Deputy Director in 2014. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice, training and working at the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. Since then, he has worked on public interest litigation and human rights at the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco and as Global Pro Bono Advisor at the law firm Linklaters LLP. David is a trustee of GALOP, London’s LGBT anti-violence & abuse charity.

Board Members

Francisco O. Buchting
Horizons Foundation, Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications
Francisco O. Buchting
Horizons Foundation, Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications

As the Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications at Horizons Foundation, Francisco oversees all of the foundation’s grantmaking, programmatic strategies, and communication activities. His 25 plus years of experience in government, philanthropy, academia, nonprofit organizations, and community activism have blended scientific expertise, commonsense public health experience, research, organizational re-engineering, and grantmaking. Francisco’s career includes bilingual clinical practice in behavioral medicine with a special focus on chronic diseases. He has co-authored a bimonthly newspaper column on health, written numerous research articles, and produced research reports. He has also served on numerous community-based organization boards and museum advisories. Francisco holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in clinical psychology from Boston University, along with B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in philosophy from the University of California, Davis.

Rebecca Fox
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Vice President of Programs
Rebecca Fox
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Vice President of Programs

Rebecca Fox is Astraea’s VP, Programs and has been a long-time supporter of Astraea and grassroots, feminist LBTQI movements. In her previous role, Rebecca was the Senior Program Officer on the SOGIE team at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. In that position, she coordinated grantmaking on a variety of issues related to increasing the rights of and improving the lived experiences of LGBTI people. Formerly, she was Executive Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health and an adjunct professor of human sexuality at George Washington University. Rebecca currently serves on the Steering Committee on the International Trans Fund and was previously board chair at Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Rebecca’s other board membership experiences include those of Choice USA, Generations Ahead, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner, Meghan, and her not quite feral cat, Birdie Noodle. She is a women’s record holder for powerlifting in New York State.

Neville Gabriel
The Other Foundation, Chief Executive Officer
Neville Gabriel
The Other Foundation, Chief Executive Officer

Neville served as the inaugural executive director of the Southern Africa Trust, an independent regional funding agency dedicated to promoting policy engagement between governments and non-state entities for poverty alleviation in Southern Africa. Additionally, he holds positions such as a member of Global Citizen’s global policy committee, a member of the Africa policy advisory board for Bono’s ONE campaign, a senior fellow at the Synergos Institute, and the chairperson of community shareholding trusts associated with solar and wind renewable energy projects in South Africa. Neville was also part of the founding steering committee of the African Grantmakers’ Network (AGN), chaired the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), chaired the Open Society Foundations’ Africa advisory committee, served as a trustee at the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC), and previously worked at Oxfam in media and advocacy and at the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) coordinating social and economic justice programs. Currently, Neville holds the position of Chief Executive Officer at The Other Foundation.

Alli Jernow
Arcus Foundation, Social Justice Program Vice President
Alli Jernow
Arcus Foundation, Social Justice Program Vice President

Alli brings more than 20 years of experience in grantmaking, civil rights lawyering, and international human rights. Prior to joining Arcus in September 2022, she was the program director of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression Program at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, where she led U.S. and international grantmaking in support of LGBTQ movements. Previously, she was the head of the Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Programme at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, where she authored Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Justice: A Comparative Law Casebook. She holds degrees from Harvard College, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, and NYU School of Law. In her free time, Alli loves to read, hike, and cook for family and friends.

Nicky McIntyre
Foundation for a Just Society, CEO
Nicky McIntyre
Foundation for a Just Society, CEO

Nicky has more than twenty years of experience raising awareness about, commitment to, and resources for human rights and social justice. She has demonstrated success in managing growing human rights foundations and building programmatic collaborations that advance the human rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI people globally. Prior to joining FJS, Nicky worked for ten years as the executive director of Mama Cash in the Netherlands, where she oversaw one of the largest public funds that supports the rights of women, girls, and trans people. For ten years prior to that, she served as the vice president of development and communications at the Global Fund for Women. Nicky has served on numerous Boards, including OutRight Action International, the Women’s Funding Network, the European Foundation Centre, Prospera–the International Network of Women’s Funds, and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations. She has a master’s degree in urban affairs from Hunter College and a bachelor’s degree in history and French from the University of Oxford, Somerville College. Nicky grew up in Scotland, but also finds home in France, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Nina Spataru
OAK Foundation, Programme Officer
Nina Spataru
OAK Foundation, Programme Officer

Nina is a Programme Officer at Oak Foundation, where she manages grant portfolios related to LGBTQI rights, impunity for gross human rights abuses, and immigration detention. Nina has a background in international law and has previously worked in refugee protection and strategic litigation across Central and Eastern Europe.

Outside work she enjoys exploring the outdoors, and is a keen theatre-goer.

GPP Working Group and Task Force Chairs

Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Taskforce

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

Brett Davidson is the Narrative Lead at the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling (IRIS), a donor collaborative for philanthropy focused on strengthening civil society through narrative strategies and creative moving image storytelling for impact. He is also the founder and principal at Winged, where he works with foundations and nonprofits around the world interested in using the power of narrative, storytelling, listening, and creativity for social justice. Previously, Brett was Director of Media and Narratives at the Open Society Public Health Program, where he also co-led an OSF-wide community of practice on narrative change. He was a journalist, producer, and anchor in radio news and current affairs at the national public broadcaster, the SABC, during South Africa’s transition to democracy. He later worked with community radio stations across the country as part of the democracy institute, IDASA. Brett has an MA in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University and an MA in interdisciplinary study from NYU’s Gallatin School. He writes about narrative and social change.

Heather Benjamin
Founding Director Nebula Fund
Heather Benjamin
Founding Director Nebula Fund

Heather Benjamin (she/her) is the inaugural director of Nebula Fund, and has a background that bridges philanthropy, global policy advocacy, and grassroots activism. Prior to joining Nebula, Heather spent the last decade with the Open Society Foundations Public Health Program, where she served as a Senior Program Officer focused on global HIV financing, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and health governance issues.

In particular, her grantmaking focused on supporting activists working to respond to transnational anti-gender movements and harmful donor aid conditionalities that are shrinking the space for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice, sex worker rights, and LGBTQI+ rights. Her advocacy work has focused on engaging bilateral, multilateral, and private donors to improve policies and leverage funding in support of comprehensive SRHRJ, rights-based HIV treatment and prevention, and sex worker rights. She served as a member of the International Steering Committee of the Red Umbrella Fund, a sex worker-led participatory fund that supports the rights of sex workers globally.

She also served on the Private Foundations Delegation to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Prior to joining Open Society, Heather served as the program director for Close to Home, a grassroots organization dedicated to preventing and reducing the impact of gender-based violence through community mobilization, youth organizing, and social change work, and began her career working in crisis intervention at a domestic violence shelter. A strong believer in community-led and participatory approaches, Heather got her start as a youth activist focused on LGBTQI rights and sexual violence prevention.

Medina Haeri
Programme Officer, Issues Affecting Women Programme, Oak Foundation Co-Chair, Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Taskforce
Medina Haeri
Programme Officer, Issues Affecting Women Programme, Oak Foundation Co-Chair, Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Taskforce

Medina Haeri is a Programme Officer with the Oak Foundation’s Issues Affecting Women Programme. In that role, Medina connects feminist and women’s organisations and movements around the world with resources to strengthen their work and help advance their agendas. Medina leads the anti-trafficking and exploitation portfolio and supports global movement building work. Prior to working for Oak Foundation, Medina worked in the Women and War unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), ensuring that the organisation’s interventions better reflected the needs, vulnerabilities and capacities of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings. She has also worked with the International Rescue Committee supporting refugee resettlement in Thailand and with indigenous women’s collectives building economic development projects in Guatemala. Medina was born in Iran and immigrated to the US at a young age – following the path of many migrants in search of a brighter future. She immigrated again as a young adult to Switzerland to build a family and purse her professional ambitions. Medina holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Prachi Patankar
Program Officer, South and Southeast Asia, Foundation for a Just Society Co-Chair, Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Taskforce
Prachi Patankar
Program Officer, South and Southeast Asia, Foundation for a Just Society Co-Chair, Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Taskforce

Prachi Patankar is the Program Officer, South and Southeast Asia, at Foundation for a Just Society. Born and raised in rural India, Prachi was raised by a freedom-fighter grandmother and parents deeply involved in anti-caste, feminist, and peasant movements. Over two decades in New York City, she has been an activist, educator, grantmaker, and writer involved in social movements which link the local and the global, police brutality and war, migration and militarization, race and caste, women of color feminism and global gender justice. Prachi most recently served as the Program Director for social justice at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, leading grantmaking for criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, and locally led work in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Prior to that, Prachi was the Senior Program Officer at Brooklyn Community Foundation, where she helped create and implement grant programs through a racial justice lens. Prachi currently serves on the Board of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities and on the Advisory Board for Grantmakers for Girls of Color. Throughout the last two decades, she has been involved in organizing to link social justice movements between the United States and Asia. Prachi believes in the vital power of intersectional and international visions and strategies, which resonate across Dalit rights and Black lives, migrant justice and gender justice, to build bottom-up change from the local to the global.

Government & Multilateral Taskforce

Justus Eisfeld
Strategy and Impact Lead, Hivos Co-Chair, Government & Multilateral Taskforce
Justus Eisfeld
Strategy and Impact Lead, Hivos Co-Chair, Government & Multilateral Taskforce

Justus Eisfeld is the Strategy and Impact Lead for Hivos’ flagship program on LGBTIQ+ economic development. Before joining Hivos in 2019, he worked as a consultant at the corner of philanthropy, LGBTI rights and international development, including on the UN Development Programme’s LGBTI Inclusion Index, a scoping study on impact investing in LGBTI communities and co-authoring ‘Transformative Philanthropy’ with Ise Bosch and Claudia Bollwinkel. A trans man himself, he co-founded GATE, Transgender Europe and the Dutch Transgender Network. He holds an M.A. in political science/gender studies from the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Berlin and is currently pursuing an MBA from Central European University.

Caroline Kouassiaman
Executive Director, ISDAO Co-Chair, Government & Multilateral Taskforce
Caroline Kouassiaman
Executive Director, ISDAO Co-Chair, Government & Multilateral Taskforce

Caroline Kouassiaman is the Executive Director for Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Caroline has 15+ years of diverse professional experiences in philanthropy, human rights activism, social justice and education to ISDAO. Previously Caroline was Senior Program Officer at the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), managing the sexual health and rights grants portfolio in West and East Africa. While at AJWS, Caroline was involved with ISDAO throughout the first four years of its journey, where she contributed to resource mobilization, communications and outreach to other funders and activists, and developing ISDAO’s programs, initially as a member of the Brain Trust and later of the Interim Governing Body. Prior to joining AJWS, Caroline was the Program Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Global Fund for Women, where she coordinated grantmaking to over 100 women’s rights organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa annually, from 2011-2014. She serves as an advisor to the Queer African Youth Network.

Caroline is a queer Pan-African feminist of Ivorian and African-American heritage, and has lived in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Uganda. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Diplomacy & World Affairs from Occidental College, a Master of Public Administration degree and a master’s in international relations from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University (US). Caroline works for a world where LGBTQI persons – in their full and beautiful diversity – have the opportunity, autonomy and resources to live full, healthy and violence-free lives on their own terms.

Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force

Félix Endara
Senior Program Associate for the Mesoamerica Program, Foundation for A Just Society Co-Chair, Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force
Félix Endara
Senior Program Associate for the Mesoamerica Program, Foundation for A Just Society Co-Chair, Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force

Felix is the Senior Program Associate for the Mesoamerica Program at Foundation for A Just Society. Born in Ecuador, Felix has worked in arts administration and philanthropic organizations that support multidisciplinary artists, including the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, North Star Fund, and Open Society Foundations. He is a queer trans filmmaker who documents the preservation of LGBT historical spaces, champions activists who catalyze social change, and disrupts the insidious narratives that deny the humanity of marginalized communities. Felix recently joined the Board of Working Films to support work to bring together documentary filmmakers and grassroots activists to advance social justice. He previously worked with Detroit Narrative Agency, Tribeca Institute, and the New Orleans Film Festival.

Viviane Simakawa
Program Officer, International Trans Fund Co-Chair, Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force
Viviane Simakawa
Program Officer, International Trans Fund Co-Chair, Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force

Viviane works as Program Officer at the International Trans Fund. She is a transfeminist activist, researcher and economist based in Brazil, and is currently studying issues related to gender identities and expressions as a Ph.D. candidate in Women, Gender and Feminist Studies at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).

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