GLOBAL LGBTQI+ FUNDING DECLINES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN A DECADE AS MOVEMENTS FACE GROWING POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL PRESSURE
New reports from Global Philanthropy Project and Funders for LGBTQ Issues reveal widening gaps between rising threats and available resources.
REPORT LINKS:
- 2023–2024 Global Resources Report: Government & Philanthropic Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Communities (Global Philanthropy Project, June 2026)
- 2024 Resource Tracking Report: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations (Funders for LGBTQ Issues, June 2026)
NEW YORK CITY / GLOBAL — Global funding for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities declined for the first time in the twelve-year history of the Global Resources Report, according to new research released today by Global Philanthropy Project (GPP).
The 2023–2024 Global Resources Report documents $861.5 million in philanthropic and government support for LGBTQI+ communities worldwide—a 5 percent decline from the previous reporting period. The decrease comes amid growing anti-rights mobilization, democratic backsliding, shrinking civic space, and unprecedented cuts to international development assistance.
The report’s release follows Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ newly published 2024 Resource Tracking Report, which found a 15 percent decline in U.S. foundation funding for LGBTQI+ communities in a single year.
Taken together, the reports present the clearest picture yet of a funding ecosystem entering a period of significant financial strain in the midst of rising anti-LGBTQI+ actions by regressive actors around the world.
“This is not simply a story about less money,” said Matthew Hart, Executive Director of Global Philanthropy Project. “It is a story about the redesign of the systems that finance social change. At the very moment anti-rights movements are coordinating across borders and sectors, many of the institutions that support LGBTI communities are being asked to do more with less. The question before philanthropy is not whether these movements matter. It is whether our funding systems are fit for the moment.”
The Global Resources Report documents more than 19,000 grants awarded by over 1,300 foundations, corporations and intermediary organizations, and 16 donor governments and multilateral agencies to more than 7,700 grantees worldwide.
While overall funding declined, the findings reveal a more complex global picture.
Funding focused on the United States fell by 24 percent, driving the overall decline. At the same time, funding focused outside the United States increased by 20 percent, with notable gains in Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe.
Despite those increases, LGBTQI+ funding remains a remarkably small share of global resources. The report finds that all LGBTQI+-focused foundation funding worldwide accounts for less than $0.33 of every $100 in foundation giving. Government funding for LGBTQI+ communities represents just $0.04 of every $100 in official development assistance.
The imbalance becomes even more striking when compared with anti-rights financing. Three anti-LGBTI organizations alone—Alliance Defending Freedom, Focus on the Family, and the Christian Broadcasting Network—reported more than $1.1 billion in combined income during the same period, exceeding the total LGBTQI+-focused funding documented for over 7,700 organizations worldwide.
The reports arrive amid a rapidly changing funding landscape. Since the close of the reporting period, major reductions in development assistance, the closure of critical funding mechanisms, and the restructuring or withdrawal of several key donors have created additional pressure on LGBTI movements globally.
Alexander L. Lee, Deputy Director of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, noted that the U.S. findings mirror broader global trends.
“With LGBTQI communities under sustained and escalated attacks, these decreases in both the global and U.S. contexts represent an alarming trend. The data should be a call to action for funders seeking to strengthen democracy, human rights, and social justice.”