Applicants must be an England based non-profit group² or organisation that is led by and for LGBT+ people in the UK and specifically working with one of more of the following communities of focus:

• D/deaf and/or Disabled LGBT+ People
• LBT+ Women
• LGBT+ People from Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnicities and LGBT+ People of Colour³
• Older LGBT+ People
• Trans and Non-Binary People

We know some work will only focus on sections of those communities. Others may work across intersections.

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.

² This includes: Registered charities; CIOs; CICs; Non-profit companies (companies limited by share are not eligible); Unincorporated Charitable Associations (e.g. community and voluntary groups with a written constitution).

³ We recognise the use of terms such as BAME/PoC reflect a diverse range of people and communities. We use it as inclusively as possible to reflect people from communities who experience racism.

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

• LBT+ Women
• Older people
• People facing racial injustice
• D/deaf and/or disabled people
• Trans and Non-Binary people

What does ‘run by and for’ mean?

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. 

Our Chair is from one of the groups listed, can we 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.

We are a Pride organisation, can we 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.

• 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, we will discuss with you how long you want your grant to last.

To keep the application process as fair as possible our 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.

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

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

If you have a project you are interested in getting funded, then we want to hear from you. If your organisation can demonstrate it has been doing amazing work and needs core funding support then let us 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 we are excited to receive applications from a diverse range of intersectional and targeted LGBT+ organisations.

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

Applications are primarily via the online form, but we have worked hard to minimise the amount of time it will take organisations to apply.

Applications can also be made via a video application for which separate guidance is available here

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 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.

We aim to make this programme as accessible as possible and our Grants Team are available to provide support and advice with your application. You can contact us on 020 7064 6500 or at: [email protected]. Please ensure you have read the guidance before calling or emailing us if possible.

We can also support organisations with their application through our assisted application programme, where we help take your answers to the questions on the form via an online or phone meeting.

Whilst we are keen to fund as many LGBT+ Organisations, groups and projects as we can, there are several types of organisations, projects and work that we cannot fund.

Please ensure that you read the list carefully. If you are unsure if your organisation or proposed work is eligible, please get in touch with the Grants Team.

• Any organisation, group or project that is not specifically focused on and led by the communities of focus identified.
• Organisations which cannot demonstrate that they are working in an inclusive, non-discriminatory way.
• Activities that take place outside of the UK.
• Standalone or large capital purchases.
• Research, unless community-led research to increase lack of evidence base.
• Political Groups.
• Work that promotes religion (i.e. work that evangelises or proselytizes).
• Organisations or projects that will distribute the grant money to others.
• Retrospective costs, i.e. costs already incurred prior to receiving a grant including the repayment of loans.
• Work that duplicates existing local or thematic work.
• Any organisation currently or previously in receipt of a grant from Consortium which has a history of non-compliance with grant conditions.

Your application will be assessed by multiple community representatives who form our Community Panels, with expertise in the community or communities of focus your work is for.

For smaller grant requests, our Community Panels will make the decisions on amounts to award. For larger awards, Community Panel assessors will make a recommendation to our Grants Panel who will take the final decision. The Grants Panel will be formed of two representatives from each Community Panel, alongside a Consortium Trustee representative.

Consortium’s staff team may be in touch to ask you additional questions as part of this process, but the final decision will be made by a panel of experts.

Please be aware an organisation’s track record of meeting conditions of previous or existing grants will be taken into account when assessing applications.

We aim to let applicants know the outcome of their applications within a maximum of 4 months of applying—but hope decisions will be made much quicker than this.

We use the personal data you provide, such as contact details for individuals at your organisation, in order to allow you to apply and for us to assess your application.

If your grant is successful, we will use this data to check that the grant is being managed appropriately and maintain contact with you.

We are working in Partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund for the LGBT+ Futures: Equity Fund. We will share limited details of successful applicants with the Fund in line with our Grants Data Privacy Notice.