LGBT+ Futures: Equity Fund

Overview

Please Note, to be eligible, the primary purpose of your organisation or group must be to support one or more of the below communities of focus.

Their 5 communities of focus:

• D/deaf, Disabled, Neurodivergent LGBT+ people.

• LGBT+ People of Colour and People from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnicities.

• LGBTQI+ Women.

• Older LGBT+ people.

• Trans and Non-Binary people.

Grants will be available for organisational running costs, projects and organisational / leadership development and can range from £100 - £25,000.

This Fund is participative, meaning people with lived experiences of the broad thematic area/s your organisation is applying under will be making the decisions on what to fund.

To meet the eligibility criteria, you must be run by and for one or more of 5 LGBT+ groups:

• D/deaf, Disabled, Neurodivergent LGBT+ people.
• LGBT+ People of Colour and People from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnicities.
• LGBTQI+ Women.
• Older LGBT+ people.
• Trans and Non-Binary people.

Eligibility

Groups must be able to show they are led by and for the communities of focus.

This means the primary purpose of your organisation is to support one of the communities of focus and;
these communities are majority represented in your leadership.

If your organisation supports a wider group of people (e.g. all LGBT+ people), unfortunately your project is not eligible for this fund even if you have a project to support one or more communities of focus. Your organisation must be set up to support one or more of the communities of focus.

You do not need to be a Member of Consortium to be eligible to apply.

Existing grant holders who meet the new criteria are eligible to apply.

Applicants should be working according to Consortium’s core values of:

• Accessibility: Observe, promote and practice good equity principles, enabling access and inclusion.
• Accountability: Value each other’s diverse perspectives, language and capacity.
• Collaboration: Positive, proactive collaboration with other LGBT+ organisations, minimising inefficiencies and conflict without losing individual autonomy.
• Respect: Be considerate of the resource, support and insight gained through others and not using this to further own goals to the detriment of other LGBT+ organisations.

This means that your group was set up by people from one or more of the specific groups listed above, to run projects or offer support to those same groups.

If yur Chair is from one of the groups listed, can you apply?

Although your leadership involves people from those groups, if you are not set up to be run by and for, then you will not meet the eligibility criteria.

For example:

Highbury Pride have a Trans Chair and would like to apply for running costs for their summer event, including access provision for Trans and Non-Binary people. Their application would not meet the eligibility criteria as Highbury Pride is run for all LGBT+ people.

Highbury Trans Pride has a Trans Chair and all of its Trustee Board, staff and volunteers are from Trans and Non-binary communities. They would like to apply for running costs for their summer event. They would meet the primary eligibility criteria and can apply.

We are a group run by and for LGBT+ people and we want to apply for a project to work with one or more of those five groups. Can we apply?

Your application would not meet the eligibility criteria, as this Fund is designed to support those organisations which are specifically run by one or more of the five communities of focus.

For example:

Queer Music Youth would like to apply to run DJ training for young LGBT+ People of Colour. Their application would not meet the eligibility criteria as Queer Music Youth is run for all LGBT+ young people.

Sonic Sessions is a group set up by LGBT+ People of Colour to run creative groups for LGBT+ People of Colour aimed at improving mental and physical wellbeing. They would meet the primary eligibility criteria and can apply.

We are a group from one of the communities of focus within a larger LGBT+ organisation. Are we eligible?

You need to have a clear decision making structure, which is separate from the parent organisation and the activities you are applying for must be run by and for the community of focus.

For example:

The Legends 50+ creative writing group is run by Newtown LGBT+ Community Centre. The group is facilitated by a worker employed by the Centre, they advertise the group, set the themes for the meetings and provide the facilities. This group does not appear to be autonomous and therefore not run by older LGBT+ people.

Wiggle On 50+ LGBTQ dance group is part of Newtown LGBT+ Community Centre. The group was set up by 5 older LGBT+ people to provide an active social space. They have a steering group of older LGBT+ members who also advertise the sessions, decide on timing and frequency, write funding bids and make spending decisions. They report back to the Community Centre Trustee board. This group is run quite separately from the Centre and meets the primary eligibility criteria to make an application to the Fund.

If you are a Pride organisation, can you apply?

Your Pride organisation must be run by and for one of the communities of focus in order to meet the eligibility criteria.

For example:

Freshfields Pride would like to have an LBT+ women’s tent at their summer pride this year. Freshfields Pride is for the whole LGBT+ community. Although the activity they want to run is for the benefit of LBT+ women, the organisation is not run by LBT+ women. This would not meet the eligibility criteria for the Equity Fund.

Downsview QTIPOC Pride would like to apply to run a summer pride event for LGBT+ People of Colour. Their board and their volunteers are all LGBT+ People of Colour, the Pride event would be run by LGBT+ People of Colour who will manage the whole event and make all the decisions. This would meet the eligibility criteria to apply for funding.

Funding

• Grants range from £100 to £25,000 and applicants are welcome to apply for the amount they need to undertake their work.
• Each organisation or group can apply for one organisational grant from this fund (although organisations can also apply for leadership development grants as well when they become available).
• All grants must be fully spent by August 2023.
• How long you have to spend your grant will depend on when during the open period you make your application. Applications made towards the anticipated deadline of October 2022 will likely have just 6 months to spend their grants, if awarded. If successful, they will discuss with you how long you want your grant to last.

To keep the application process as fair as possible their application form requests more information from those applicants who request larger amounts.

All organisations should have good governance, appropriate financial management in place and high standards of safeguarding for staff, volunteers and those using their support or services. Organisations should have the following:

• A document which outlines what the group is for and the rules for running it.
• Two or more unrelated trustees, committee / board members or directors.
• A correspondence address.
• Relevant and appropriate Safeguarding Policies (for larger organisations or those working with vulnerable service users).
• Bank account in the organisations name, or be able to nominate a registered charity to hold the grant in trust.

They do recognise that smaller, grassroots organisations may not have all these structure in place. Please get in touch with their team if your organisation is missing any of the above, but your group meets the criteria and needs funds. They want to remove as many barriers to receiving funding as possible through this Fund.

Eligible Activities

The aim of this Fund is to help intersectional and targeted LGBT+ organisations be well resourced, sustainable and resilient. Therefore, they want to be as flexible as possible with the funding available.

If you have a project you are interested in getting funded, then they want to hear from you. If your organisation can demonstrate it has been doing amazing work and needs core funding support then let them know about it. If there is a piece of development that you as an organisation want to do then think about putting in an application.

Provided your funding request is relative to the size and functions of your organisation they are excited to receive applications from a diverse range of intersectional and targeted LGBT+ organisations.

They are also interested in hearing from groups who are new and needing support to thrive and grow.

Who can apply in the devolved nations?

• Applicants must be based in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and be a non-profit group1 or organisation that is led by and for LGBT+ people and specifically working with one of more of the following communities of focus as an organisation or project:
  • D/deaf, Disabled, Neurodivergent LGBT+ People
  • LGBTQI+ Women
  • LGBT+ People from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnicities and LGBT+ People of Colour
  • Older LGBT+ People
  • Trans and Non-Binary People
    
• Through previous funding activity, they recognise that specialist and intersectional LGBT+ frontline work in the devolved nations can be demographically different to work happening across the wider UK.
• Therefore, they have expanded the criteria for this additional funding and welcome applications from LGBT+ organisations that have a community specific project in line with this guidance.
• They will still continue to prioritise those organisations that are led-by and for this Fund’s communities of focus.
• Organisations who have a track record of working in that devolved nation(s).
• They know some work will only focus on sections of these communities. Others may work across intersections.
• Groups must be able to show they or their projects are led by and for the communities of focus.

For example

LGBT Dumfries Dance have a 50+ group and would like to apply for running costs to hire out the accessible dance hall they use for their 50+ dance group for a year. Their application would meet the eligibility.

Applicant Notes

A total funding pot of £90,000 is available for organisations across the devolved nations.

All applicants will need to provide:

• Key contact details.
• Brief details of who you work with.
• Brief details of your work and funding needs.

Applications under £1,000 only need to provide these details at the application stage.

If you are applying for £500 or less a member of the grants team would also be happy
to take the application details over the phone and complete the form on your behalf.

Applications under £1,000 only need provide these details at the application stage.

In addition, applications from £1,000 to £9,999 will also be asked to provide:

• Legal status of your organisation.
• Some additional detail about what work you will undertake and who will benefit.
• A budget.
• Supporting documents:
  • Annual Accounts or income/expenditure record for new LGBT+ organisations.
  • Recent bank statement.

Applications from £10,000 to £25,000 will also be asked to provide:

• Additional detail about what work you will undertake and who will benefit.
• A more detailed budget.
• Supporting documents:
  • Constitution, Governing Document or Terms of Reference.
  • Safeguarding Policy.