A funders’ collaborative is mobilising grantmaker support for LGBTI rights advocates and communities facing hostility

Global Philanthropy Project (GPP) is a collaboration of 19 funders and philanthropic advisers working to expand global philanthropic support to advance  the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the Global South and East. Established in 2009 as the first international cohort of LGBTI funders, GPP is internationally recognised as the primary thought-leader and go-to partner for donor coordination on global LGBTI work.

In recent years, as we expanded our programmatic work, it became clear that our members were responding to a shared issue across the world: grantees and partners were facing ongoing and increasing attacks from groups using religion and faith as weapons to limit the advance of LGBTI human rights. Our members also understood that these same anti-rights actors were often targeting reproductive rights and feminist movements with the same virulence. What role, we asked ourselves, can a global philanthropic network play in developing and deepening the field’s response?

In early 2018, GPP engaged a research team to produce a report with a dual purpose.