New Call for Applications for Projects Working with Racialised LGBTI Communities

Why we are launching this programme

Currently, the LGBTI movement across Europe operates in an increasingly hostile environment that directly affects the lives of LGBTI communities and the work of activists. This environment is marked by anti-rights opposition, anti-democratic developments, rising unemployment, economic crises, ongoing and brewing geo-political conflicts, deepening structural inequalities, fear-mongering, mounting transphobic, and sexist and racist rhetoric and violence.

In these circumstances, many divisions are imposed and (re)created within LGBTI movements and across different types of activism. At ILGA-Europe, we believe it is of crucial importance to support work that highlights the structural nature of intersectionality, which connects across work, and to recognise how structural oppressions interact to produce specific harms.

This is why we are launching this 12-month programme. The programme is focused on work being done by and for racialised LGBTI communities. It will support work within the LGBTI movement which is addressing the intersectional impact of socio-economic injustice, racialisation, racism and supremacy, and its specific impacts on the lives of racialised LGBTI communities across Europe.

So many organisations and groups have been doing incredible work and contributing to change, while at the same time being historically excluded from funding. By supporting these groups, we also wish to recognise and acknowledge the specialised knowledge and skills involved in addressing intersectionality. This can mean anything from exposing structural oppressions that shape harm; building and sustaining the resilience of racialised communities; developing and applying anti-racist, feminist and alternative approaches; to working through – and in spite of – institutional violence and trauma.

This programme expresses our commitment to continue our engagement with socio-economic justice and to strengthen our work on anti-racism. We see a great value for the wider movement in making the work of the organisations supported, disseminated and visible. We see an opportunity to bring the learning from this programme to the wider movement, as we believe that solutions and approaches that include a few will pave the way and point to the solutions for many.

Structure of the Programmne

The program has two interconnected components:

• Financial support for the implementation of a project (up to 20.000 euro per project), AND
• Learning and networking that will bring grantees together (on-line) on a regular basis to exchange learning, share challenges and solutions, build solidarity and find points for collaboration and inspiration.

Important! When you apply for funding under this call, please be aware that you commit to both of the components of this program.

Aim of the Programme

The aim of this program is to:

• Bring together a group of up to 15 European LGBTI organisations/groups across Europe that work on addressing the intersectional impact of socio-economic injustice, racialisation, racism and supremacy and specific harms affecting the lives of racialised LGBTI communities across Europe.
• Support, strengthen and advance their work on socio-economic justice for racialised LGBTI communities through a combination of grants and regular peer-learning/networking meetings.

Scope of Eligible WorK

By socio-economic justice in this programme, we mean the removal of obstacles and oppressions which disproportionately worsen the social and economic conditions of already marginalised populations. Social and economic conditions include but might not be limited to education, housing, work, health, and adequate standard of living.

When we speak about racialised LGBTI communities, we are referring to LGBTI communities whose lives – and life experiences – are shaped and limited by racialised profiling, racist structures, policies, treatment and discrimination.

Because intersectional oppressions are rooted in the ‘logic’ of a human hierarchy, with Whiteness and patriarchy as supreme, we know that harms will particularly affect people racialised as Black, as well as Indigenous people, people of colour, racialised minorities in Western and Northern Europe (such as Roma, Kurds, Sami people etc.) and in Central and Eastern Europe (such as Crimean Tatars, people from Central Asia and South Caucasus in Russia etc.) In other words, racialisation will always create particular negative impacts on people who are seen as furthest from Whiteness and patriarchy (including gender binarism and hetero-normativity).

We understand that migration/refugee status and faith/religion intersections are often part of lived experiences of racialised LGBTI communities. Migration/refugee status is racialised profiling at its core. In the same way, religious dimensions are often part of racialised profiling, since they are rooted in the ‘otherness’ of non-Christians, or those whose type of Christianity deviates from ‘White’ denominations in a given society. This is why these intersections can be indicated and included in a project, given its focuses on the ways in which this type of racial profiling intersects with socio-economic justice.

Types of Organisations we will support

LGBTI-run organisations and initiative groups in Europe*:

• that have a history and track record of practice of working with and for racialised LGBTI communities
• where racialised LGBTI communities are part of the organisational structure (this is a mandatory requirement)
• that have some experience of working on socio-economic effects and lived experiences of racialised LGBTI communities (this is desirable, but not a requirement.

PLEASE NOTE: Non-registered organisations are eligible to apply, but must partner with a registered legal entity that is able to receive funds from ILGA-Europe. This entity cannot be a physical person.

* For this call Europe is considered to include the following countries: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Type of Projects we are looking to support

We are looking for the projects that will fall into one or both of the following areas of work.

1. Evidence-based awareness raising and mobilisation work that focuses on the forms and scope of the impact intersectional marginalisation and structural oppressions have on the socio-economic status and opportunities for racialised LGBTI people.

In a broad sense, evidence-based awareness raising and mobilisation work refers to any activities that aim at gathering and using the knowledge, skills and various tools to defend, promote and advance socio-economic justice for racialised LGBTI people (see the Application Form for ideas/possibilities under this area).

• Developing/strengthening collaboration with service providers and/or other partners working on socio-economic justice with the explicit purpose of fair distribution of labour amongst the actors in this field.

As a broader impact of COVID and diverse unfolding crises and conflicts in the region show, LGBTI organisations often step up as service providers and fill the gap left by the governments and social and other services. However, it is important to understand that this call is not designed to support service provision. It can only support work that aims at strategic collaborations and partnership with existing organisations and service providers, with a focus on influencing their practice so they acknowledge experiences of racialised LGBTI communities and pro-actively meet the needs of these communities (see Application Form for ideas/possibilities under this area).

Key information

• ILGA-Europe aims to support up to 15 grants to the amount of €15,000 to €20,000.
• The project should be implemented within a period of 12 months. The programme runs from 1 June 2023 until 1 June 2024. (Only costs between 1 June 2023 to 1 June 2024 will be eligible). The final reporting will be due no later than 15 June 2024.
• Peer-learning meetings will happen on-line on a regular basis, approximately every six weeks during the project period. Over the course of 12 months, we will have up to eight meetings (up to three hours each). The first meeting will be a webinar to inform you on the financial and administrative requirements under this call. Please account for this staff time in your budget.
• For the duration of the project we will have regular check-in calls with you – a one-hour call every three months. During these conversations we will discuss the project implementation, threats, opportunities, challenges, and possible capacity building needs.

Budget Criteria

The types of costs covered through this fund are direct project costs and can include:

• Personnel costs
• Travel and event costs (both physical and digital)
• Costs related to obtaining external expertise and/or services associated with the implementation of the project
• Interpretation and translation costs
• Communication activities and campaigns related to the aim of this call, including social media and traditional media fees, production of materials, design, printing
• A fair proportion of administrative costs or core organisational costs which are linked to the implementation of the project (rent, utilities, IT, technology and telecommunications, accounting, administrative fees, fiscal sponsor fees, depreciation of new and existing equipment).

Under this call there is no budget percentage limitation to covering personnel and consultancy costs, as long as they are clearly directed towards the objectives of the call.

Organisational capacity building can be included. Projects can incorporate training, internal learning for staff and/or volunteers and other activities aimed at building the knowledge and skills needed for organisations to meet the broader purpose of this call.          

Reporting and communication

Mid-way and at the end of the project, you will need to report financially on how the funds were spent. Financial reporting will require some basic knowledge of Excel and the applicant will require some basic administrative and financial systems in order to manage the grant (e.g. cash management, tracking of expenditure, record-keeping). Full information and guidance on reporting financial and administrative requirements will be provided to successful applicants.

We believe that the broader LGBTI movement can benefit from the learning of these projects. We would like to share learning from the work done under this funding with other LGBTI activists in Europe and Central Asia. This knowledge can be shared through articles, educational materials, online learning sessions among others. Sharing learning will be ILGA-Europe’s responsibility and we will work with you to identify what information can be shared in what ways, and with whom.

key things to consider

In selecting proposals, ILGA-Europe will prioritise projects that:

• Demonstrate clear understanding of how the intersection of LGBTI identities, socio-economic injustice and racialisation works in their local contexts
• Present a clear plan for how the envisaged change is going to come about in these contexts
• Seek to establish practices/tools/solutions that can live beyond the project’s lifetime
• Have the potential to enhance the movement’s thinking on anti-racism and working towards socio-economic justice in general and for socio-economic justice for racialised LGBTI communities in particular.
• Respond to the framework, aim, objectives, and areas of work of this call
• Are implemented by LGBTI-run organisations and initiative groups in Europe that have history and practice of working with and for racialised LGBTI communities

Deadline and Timeline

• Proposals should be submitted using the attached application form and budget template. The last day to submit your application (deadline) is 2 April 2023, Sunday, 23:59 CEST.

• We will review applications, decide on projects to be supported and inform all applicants about the results of the review via the e-mail address provided in the application by 5 May 2023.

• Contracts will be signed with organisations in May 2023. Successful applicants should be available to respond to requests during that period. The project must start on 1 June 2023.
• To submit an application or if you have any questions in the preparation of your project proposal, please contact: grants@ilga-europe.org

Any Questions?

If you have any questions in the preparation of your project proposal please submit them via e-mail to grants@ilga-europe.org

We will answer all of your questions via e-mail and then publish answers on a dedicated ilga-europe.org website page on 27 February and on 23 March, in order to share the information among all applicants.

Application documents