Responding to the Moment: Reaffirming Commitments and Welcoming New GMP Members

Over the last 6 weeks, the ITF has been grappling with the impact of the Trump Administration’s attack on human rights, and particularly the repercussions of the U.S. foreign assistance freeze. We are witnessing the increased vilification of trans people and the weaponization of our communities across the globe. The consequences are real and harsh: Life-saving programs are being terminated, people are losing their jobs, and trans-led organizations are fighting to find a way to keep their doors open. This funding shift is not unique to the US, as we have also seen dramatic cuts by the Dutch and Swedish governments. In a context where trans-led organizations were already chronically underfunded, this is devastating.

Still, we hold out hope. Our movements have always been determined, resourceful, and responsive – working in hostile contexts, pushing back against repressive and authoritarian governments, building community, supporting each other, and surviving.

As a participatory grantmaker, our role is to move money to trans movements and advocate for more resources for our communities. This work continues and we are determined to do everything we can to keep funding flowing. This is not easy; we’ve had two grants terminated and have had to cut our budget by 12%. However, we remain steadfastly committed to fundraising and ensuring as much funding as possible goes out in our 9th grant cycle.

Welcoming our New GMP Members
Despite these challenges, we are excited to welcome 7 new members of our Grant Making Panel (GMP), who bring diverse expertise and hail from different regions across the globe. Our new members will join the existing 8 members of the GMP and are entrusted with the crucial task of evaluating the 464 eligible applications and selecting grantee partners through a collective decision-making process. The GMP has started reviewing applications and grantee partners will be selected in June.

Learn more about our GMP members here.

We recognize the importance of having a diverse and representative GMP to ensure that the funds we distribute are allocated to trans-led organizations doing movement building work. We believe that having participation of trans activists from all over the world enables us to gain deeper insights into the issues facing trans communities and strengthens our grantmaking. This year, the GMP includes activists based in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Eswatini, Germany, India, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Panama, and the United Kingdom.

Due to the increasing attacks on trans communities, we also have one GMP member who cannot be named for safety and security reasons. We believe their insight and experiences strengthen our grantmaking and participatory process but also this reality underscores the increased oppression facing our communities.

We are excited to work with our new GMP members and look forward to the positive impact their involvement will have on our grantmaking process.