The Crisis Response Fund is designed to address the critical funding gaps faced by grassroots organizations when planning and responding to crises impacting LGBTQI+ individuals and communities facing displacement.
Crisis Response Fund
The Queer Forced Displacement Initiative and Crisis Response
The Queer Forced Displacement Initiative (QFDI) is a project that aims to create an international LGBTQI+ forced displacement network – a critically needed long-term platform to support and find solutions for LGBTQI+ persons who are impacted by forced displacement. As a core component of this mandate, the QFDI seeks to understand and mitigate the key forces driving queer forced displacement globally, which includes addressing the underlying crises, crackdowns and complex emergencies which cause and fuel the forced displacement of LGBTQI+ persons.
The Crisis Response Fund (the Fund) emerges in recognition of this reality. By investing in LGBTQI+ grassroots networks, local expertise, and the sustenance of civil society infrastructure in displacement-producing crises, the Fund seeks to strengthen crisis response frameworks globally and mitigate the root causes of LGBTQI+ forced displacement.
Crisis Response Fund – Why We Exist
Despite their pivotal role in providing effective, frontline support to LGBTQI+ persons in crisis, grassroots LGBTQI+ organizations remain chronically underfunded and face systemic barriers to accessing sustainable resourcing within the traditional humanitarian funding sector.
The Crisis Response Fund is designed to address these critical funding gaps by providing low-barrier, flexible funding to grassroots organizations that respond to crises that disproportionately impact and cause the forced displacement of LGBTQI+ individuals and communities.
The Fund offers micro-grants targeted at strategic, high-impact projects, and will enable key local actors to directly feed into the design and delivery of tailored crisis response programs, build internal crisis response capacity and respond more effectively to emergencies. With a focus on both short-term, urgent interventions as well as medium-term advocacy and skills development, the Fund seeks to foster sustainability and ensure that LGBTQI+ individuals facing persecution, crises, or displacement have consistent access to lifesaving protection services.
Core features of the Crisis Response Fund
Providing accessible, low-barrier grants
Grassroots and refugee-led organizations often face significant challenges and barriers to obtaining funding, such as limited access to direct funding sources, exclusionary compliance due diligence requirements, and complex bureaucratic processes. These obstacles create substantial funding gaps that limit an organization’s ability to effectively resource emergency responses, sustain their initiatives, and develop a robust crisis response capacity over time. As a result, LGBTQI+ individuals in crisis are at high risk of displacement. Those already displaced face inadequate access to essential services and are left exposed to greater risks, further fuelling the underlying drivers of forced displacement.
A pride parade makes it’s way through a city street with signs of protest.
Using a holistic granting approach and an expansive, queer lens, the Fund offers low-barrier grant applications, flexible funding categories and simplified reporting processes. By alleviating key barriers to obtaining funding, the Fund seeks to promote a more accessible, supportive ecosystem for resourcing grassroots LGBTQI+ organizations, with the goal of strengthening and sustaining urgently needed crisis response efforts.
Investing in local expertise and leadership
The Crisis Response Fund is grounded in the understanding that grassroots LGBTQI+ organizations, activists, and networks are best positioned to identify and support LGBTQI+ individuals facing persecution or displacement during a crisis. These local actors possess invaluable insights and critical knowledge about the specific needs, risks and emergency strategies required for their communities, which significantly enhances the effectiveness of crisis response programming. By directly investing in grassroots expertise and LGBTQI+ and refugee leadership, the Fund aims to ensure that emergency and crisis initiatives are contextually relevant, timely and responsive to the urgent needs of those at risk.
Maximizing the impact and sustainability of grassroots crisis response
The Fund adopts an integrated and broad approach to understanding and addressing crises, to support LGBTQI+ individuals and communities throughout their displacement journeys, from individuals at high risk of displacement to those who are already displaced. As such, The Fund is designed to include short-term urgent emergency services and critical interventions to address immediate needs, while also investing in medium-term support to strengthen existing LGBTQI+ civil society and infrastructure and driving broader structural reform. By integrating advocacy, capacity building and mobilization efforts into the crisis response framework, the Fund aims to enhance both individual resilience and collective empowerment, increasing the impact and stability of crisis interventions over time.
How the Fund Works
The Fund defines ‘crisis’ broadly, encompassing humanitarian crises, human rights crises, protection crises, health crises, climate-related crises, and other complex emergencies. As part of the broader Queer Forced Displacement Initiative, the Fund’s core understanding of ‘crisis’ focuses on situations that have caused, or are likely to cause forced displacement of LGBTQI+ persons or communities. This includes crises and crackdowns specifically targeting LGBTQI+ communities and broader crises with a disproportionate impact on LGBTQI+ commu
nities.
The Fund is dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ grassroots organizations across the following regions:
- Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
- Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes
- West Africa
- Central & Southern Africa
- The Americas
- Eastern Europe and
- Asia and the Pacific
The Fund invites applications for projects that address displacement-producing crises by mitigating some of the drivers of displacement and by strengthening existing support structures for LGBTQI+ people in crisis.
The Fund will support initiatives aimed at supporting people at high risk of displacement, and/or supporting those who are already displaced, through three core granting streams:
Funding Stream A: Crisis & Emergency Response Services Grant
Funding Stream B: Crisis Capacity Building Grant
Funding Stream C: Crisis Advocacy Grant
Funding Stream A: Crisis & Emergency Response Services Grant
Community and grassroots organizations can apply for funding to support emergency response to LGBTQI+ communities during a crisis. This may include:
- Small grants to help organizations enhance their capacity during ongoing or anticipated crises (contingency planning);
- Funding to provide critical services such as shelters, queer safe accommodation, food, medical supplies, and other support for LGBTQI+ individuals and families fleeing conflict or crisis situations;
- Grants to support the provision of essential services to individuals facing violence due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Fund also allows for targeted grants to organizations facilitating emergency pathways for LGBTQI+ individuals in a crisis. Organizations can apply for funding to establish safe houses, cover short-term rent for transitional accommodations, and support short-term staffing costs for crisis operations. This grant will also assist in urgent relocations of high-risk individuals within or outside an impacted country. It will also support escape routes during government or police crackdowns and emergency transportation to safer areas.
The Fund will prioritize supporting the needs of the most vulnerable LGBTQI+ communities, including trans and other gender-diverse people, LGBTQI+ refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
By addressing urgent needs in an emerging or ongoing crisis, the Fund seeks to promote resilience, provide critical support and promote recovery for LGBTQI+ individuals during challenging times.
What can you apply for under the Crisis & Emergency Response Grant?
- Emergency crisis response and/or contingency planning
- Safe houses & transitional housing (rent)
- Queer-friendly temporary accommodation
- Emergency transport & cash assistance
- Medical & first aid assistance
- Mental health services (crisis counseling)
- Food & personal care supplies
- Staff costs for crisis operations (excluding long-term staff costs)
- Other essential crisis services including support to survivors of gender-based violence or abuse due to sexual orientation or gender identity
Funding Stream B: Crisis Capacity Building Grant
The Fund seeks to empower grassroots LGBTQI+ organizations to proactively assess and effectively respond to emerging and existing crises, by supporting initiatives aimed at building internal capacity and strengthening crisis response tools and infrastructure.
This may include initiatives such as emergency response training delivered through a queer lens, the development of internal crisis management procedures and the integration of monitoring and evaluation practices.
The Fund may also consider supporting organizational staff to build internal capacity, develop critical skills, and foster cross-movement collaboration through attendance at conferences, workshops and networking events related to LGBTQI+ forced displacement and crisis response. This may include the provision of subsidized funding for flights, accommodation or event participation fees.
What can you apply for under the Crisis Capacity Building Grant?
- Emergency response trainings
- Crisis management & capacity building
- Crisis monitoring & evaluation tools
- Relevant workshops, conferences & networking events
- Other community mobilization crisis efforts
Funding Stream C: Crisis Advocacy Grant
The Fund will also invest in crisis advocacy efforts to protect and uplift LGBTQI+ communities, migrants and refugees in times of crisis. This may include the provision of limited funding to support organizational lobbying efforts, challenges to discriminatory laws and policies, public awareness or advocacy campaigns or research on novel policy issues.
What can you apply for under the Crisis Advocacy Grant?
- Crisis advocacy campaigns
- Lobbying efforts or challenges to discriminatory laws and policies
- Promoting protective legislation for LGBTQI+ individuals, including migrants and refugees
- Advocacy & public awareness campaigns
- Novel policy research and reports about LGBTQI+ rights and protections
- Legal cases/advocacy for HRDs, activists, and detention (excluding strategic litigation)
Our Process: From Application to Impact
In the first round the Fund will accept applications from organizations based in the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region only.
Additional regions will be announced later in 2025.
Each application will be assessed on its merit against international screening criteria and unbiased projects selection. Applications will be assessed on the following criteria (but not limited to:
- Organization Mission,Purpose & Leadership
- Project Scope(urgency, focus areas, type of crisis, intersectionality)
- Impact Potential
- Financial Accountability & Budget
- Organizational Capacity & Accountability
- Sustainability & Risk
Special consideration will be given to LGBTQI+ and/or refugee-led organizations, and projects focusing on LGBTQI+ intersectionality, inclusivity, displacement and those creatively tackling barriers to equality.
Selected projects will be presented to the internal review committee for final approval.
The first round of applications will close on February 15, 2025 at 11:55 pm EST.
Is the Crisis Response Fund Right for You?
The Crisis Response Fund operates as a flexible, micro-grant, providing funding for a limited time; long-term or large-sum funding is currently unavailable. The project/organization must be focused on LGBTQ+ communities in a crisis and tackling displacement.
Small, medium-sized grassroots organizations (registered or unregistered) and individuals are invited to apply for one-time funding up to CAD $25,000.
Applicants are encouraged to review the application criteria for submitting a valid application.
You can use our application eligibility checklist to self-assess your eligibility to apply before submitting your application.
All eligible organizations approved for funding will be required to provide detailed reports on the activities undertaken, project outcomes and impact.
Approved organizations will be required to submit two reports during the project period.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted through the website. Ensure you fill in all of the required fields. Unfortunately, we cannot accept applications via email.
If you have any questions or need assistance with your application, please contact us at [email protected]
Application Process and Deadlines
We are currently accepting applications from organizations in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region only.
Additional regions will be announced later in 2025.
The first round of applications will close on February 15, 2025 at 11:55 pm EST.
Application outcome will be announced in March 2025. The first round of payments will be made in April 2025.
