Adrian started the International Human Rights Programme on joining Oak Foundation in February 2003. In its first year of operation, the programme had an annual budget of USD 2 million and largely focused on supporting international not-for-profit organisations. Since then, it has expanded to a programme with six staff and an annual budget of around USD 30 million, operating in diverse regions with both local and international organisations.

Prior to joining Foundation for a Just Society, she was a senior program officer at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, where she coordinated the land and property rights initiative and oversaw grants for international women’s movements. Maitri has also served as a program officer for East Africa at American Jewish World Service, the development officer for foundation relations at the Global Fund for Women, and a policy associate at Grameen Foundation USA.

She conducted research in the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations on peacekeeping and conflict resolution, and currently serves as the co-chair of the steering committees for Human Rights Funders Network and the Research Consortium on Women’s Land Rights. A native of India and Sweden, Maitri has a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley and a MA in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Happy Mwende Kinyili has been working for Mama Cash since 2014, first as Senior Program Officer for the Body Portfolio and since July 2017 as director of the Programmes team. Happy comes to Mama Cash from UHAI – the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative, an indigenous, activist fund supporting East African LGBTI and sex worker movements. Happy joined UHAI in 2009 and served as the Director of Programmes from 2013. In addition to supporting the activist-led peer grantmaking process each year, Happy led in crafting skills and knowledge strengthening programmes for UHAI as well as guiding co-creation processes with activists in the region to host three of Africa’s then largest conferences bringing together sex workers and LGBTI activists and donors.

Prior to becoming Executive Director, Maria Sjödin served as Outright’s deputy executive director leading the work of the development and communications teams. In this position, they oversaw a period of extraordinary growth in visibility, diversification and increase in funding, in addition to launching groundbreaking initiatives, such as Outright’s COVID-19 Global LGBTIQ and Ukraine Emergency Funds and pioneering engagement with international businesses.

Prior to coming to Outright, Maria served as Executive Director of RFSL, Sweden’s largest LGBTIQ organization. While in this position, Maria established RFSL’s international program, played a key role in ensuring that the human rights of LGBTIQ people become ingrained in the Swedish government’s agenda for development and foreign affairs, advocated for marriage equality (achieved in 2009) and the abolishment of forced sterilization of trans people as a requirement for legal gender recognition (outlawed in 2013). Maria has conducted leadership trainings for hundreds of LGBTIQ activists on topics including strength-based coaching and appreciative inquiry. They regularly provide expert opinions to governments, foundations, UN agencies, and corporations.

Lane Sugata is a nonprofit and philanthropic leader working to advance mission-driven organizations on the frontlines of social change. Currently a Program Officer of Creativity and Free Expression at Ford Foundation, Lane manages a national grants portfolio focused on the intersection of arts and culture, civic engagement, and justice. They helped organize Ford’s participation in Grantmakers United for Trans Communities and serve as the point person for Trans and Repro Futures, a new three-year, $10 million effort to strengthen cross-movement organizing. Prior to Ford, Lane was the Executive Director at Dance/NYC. They founded Dance/NYC as an independent nonprofit in 2012 and grew it from the ground up to serve more than 1,200 dance makers and companies.

Lane’s professional and educational background encompasses creative, business, and civic realms, including an MBA from Columbia Business School and an early career as a ballet dancer. Lane sits on the boards of Funders for LGBT Issues and Association of Performing Arts Professionals. They also currently co-chairs New York Grantmakers in the Arts, a peer network of grantmakers. Lane identifies as white, queer, disabled, and nonbinary, and is committed to anti-racism and elevating issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Matthew (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.

Katrina joined the Global Philanthropy Project in August 2024 as the Director of Philanthropic Field Engagement. She leads GPP’s strategy to mobilize the philanthropic sector to bolster the magnitude and impact of funding for LGBTI communities in the Global South and East, and to center LGBTI communities in philanthropic responses to rising anti-gender ideology. Katrina brings 25 years experience advancing gender justice as a queer feminist activist, human rights advocate, and movement strategist. Since 2017, she has managed a consulting practice focused on strengthening philanthropic strategies in support of intersectional feminist and LGBTI movements.

For eight years, Katrina led the U.S. human rights advocacy work at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she seeded the national Black Mamas Matter Alliance and launched campaigns with LGBTI, racial justice, immigrant rights, and disability justice movements. Previously, she worked in The Hague to pursue accountability for international gender-based crimes and for several local organizations in Southeast Asia advancing the rights of gender-based violence survivors, sex workers, refugees, and migrant workers. She received a BA from the University of Virginia, a JD from Seattle University School of Law, and an LLM from American University’s Washington College of Law.