Rupert Abbott, Executive Director, GiveOut
Grant Making in 2021: £500,00
Can you tell us about GiveOut – when and why you were set up?
GiveOut is an award-winning international LGBTOI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex) community foundation. We were founded in 2018 by Elliot Vaughn, a senior partner at management consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group. The more he learned about what was happening to LGBTQI people around the world, the more he wanted to do something about it. Through speaking with a wide range of international LG BTQI activists, he realised that there were many incredible LGBTQI organisations to support, but there was no way to do it in an effective and efficient way, with good governance. So, together with a group of colleagues, he decided to establish GiveOut – a platform to enable our LGBTOI community and corporate allies to provide support and back LGBTOI activism around the world.
Who benefits from your work?
We pool the donations we receive to provide grants to LGBTOI organisations, ensuring they have more of the resources they need to defend our communities, tackle inequality and campaign for lasting change. We identify the groups we work with through a rigorous process of consultation, due diligence and vetting. We’re guided by our grant-making advisory panel and governed by our board of trustees. Through GiveOut, our community is now collectively funding 33 LGBTQI organisations. Our grant partners include lraOueer, Iraq’s first LGBTQI organisation; TransWave, the leading organisation for transgender people in Jamaica; and Rainbow Railroad, which has coordinated efforts to evacuate LGBTQI people from Afghanistan.
What’s different about your funding approach?
As well as the funding itself, our grant partners tell us how important the source of funding is – LGBTQI people giving to each other. We only fund LGBTOI organisations, and we look to provide long-term flexible support. Our trust based grant-making is guided by nine key principles, including supporting the agency of activists with resources not strategies, and acting responsibly and consciously with respect to our privilege and power.
What have been your key learnings over the past few years?
We’ve recognised how important it is to make our grant-making more participatory, further grounding it in the advice and expertise of those active in the LGBTOI movement. We’ve made sure activists are represented on our board of trustees and established a grant-making advisory panel, made up of activists with knowledge of the LG BTQI movement around the world. Recognising that many in the LGBTQI community face multiple forms of systemic discrimination and disadvantage, based on overlapping identities and the contexts in which they live, we’re looking to support organisations working at the intersection of LG BTQI human rights and refugee experiences, youth and faith, and climate change, including through our new LGBTOI Climate Fund. Based on the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and Afghanistan appeal, we’ve developed capacity and expertise to respond to emergencies. This is so we’re better prepared to fundraise in crisis situations and provide short term support to LGBTOI organisations, alongside our long-term grants.
What impact has the pandemic had on your grant-making?
From the beginning of the pandemic, our grant partners told us that the virus and lockdown measures were amplifying existing vulnerabilities for LGBTQI communities. In response, we launched the Covid-19 LGBTOI Global Solidarity Fund – the first of its kind in the world. Thanks to our supporters’ generosity, we provided emergency grants to our partners working around the world, on top of the long-term support we already give. These grants have allowed our partners to support LGBTOI communities across five continents during the pandemic. They include: TransWave and the United Caribbean Trans Network (UCTRANS), who delivered emergency packages and essential items and food to trans people in need across 10 Caribbean countries.
Access Chapter 2, who provided training to those delivering relief in South Africa to be LGBTOI inclusive. ASEAN SOGIE Caucus in Southeast Asia, who made small grants to support LGBTQI livelihoods during the pandemic. One of their grantees was a Thai trans organisation that established a food delivery business, ensuring a reliable income while also providing a vital service to the wider community.
What are your ambitions over the next few years?
By 2024, our ambition is to provide grants totalling at least £1m annually. To achieve this, we aim to provide opportunities for our community and allies outside the UK to give through GiveOut. We’ll build on our progress so far and continue to make our grant-making more participatory.