THE CURRENT ROUND WILL CLOSE ON Sunday 18 SEPTEMBER 2016. Please review the below information carefully before deciding to apply.

We established ‘Allies in Action’ because we believe that for a social change towards acceptance of diversity and towards equality to happen, we need to activate and develop meaningful ties and relationships between different communities, create a diverse support network for LGBTI persons, and be strengthened by voices and expertise of non-activist allies. Simply put, we believe in the power of person-to-person contacts, the significance of committed individuals that become multipliers within their communities, and in bottom-up progress.

We established ‘Allies in Action’ to support impactful, creative, and genuine ideas by local LGBTI communities and those who are ready to contribute by action and knowledge to better environments for LGBTI and to a better understanding of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics (SOGISC).

The fund is meant to enable initiatives and actions that inform and involve individuals, communities, and groups outside of LGBTI movements. We seek to enable participation of those who are well-placed to have a positive impact on the everyday life experiences of L, G, B, T, or I persons, as well as on improved understanding of SOGISC and diversity. They would contribute through exercising their professions in an ethical way and by sharing information within their professional or social circles. Among these audiences are lawyers, psychologists, educators, social workers, journalists, healthcare professionals, art and culture opinion makers, as well as parents and family of LGBTI and more.

Initiatives supported by ‘Allies in Action’ can have very diverse goals – from stepping up voices of parents of LGBTI, to incorporating SOGISC issues into broader cultural events, to SOGISC-related educational activities/ publications by professionals for their colleagues, etc. We welcome creativity and innovation in approach.

Do you think this vision and your ideas for action match? Share your initiative with us!

First off, be sure to carefully review our conditions. We would not like you to waste time on a proposal that will not fit the program.

We only support initiatives that:

• Are led by LGBTI persons and/ or allies of LGBTI (with no limitation in regards presence or absence of official registration of the group);
• Are implemented locally by groups in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, or Ukraine;
• Are focused on a specific, carefully selected audience/ target group outside of LGBTI movement and serve to engage, inspire, mobilise individuals and collectives that are in a position to impact everyday realities of LGBTI persons, advocacy capacity of LGBTI organisations, and/ or proper understanding of issues pertaining SOGISC;
• Demonstrate a clear vision of how this action contributes its bit to a change you want to achieve in your environment;
• Are concrete and scalable (i.e. with balanced, matching goals and actions);
• Are endorsed by LGBTI organisations (if proposed by an informal group of allies or activists);
• Require funding from ‘Allies in Action’ of no more than 5,000 euros (if your initiative will be additionally funded by someone else, then the total combined budget should not exceed 12,000 euros);
• Value feedback and are interested in the opportunity of engaging external expertise, and therefore commit to regular communication with us in the course of application, implementation, and reporting.

We prefer:

• Initiatives that feed into, reinforce, and/or diversify other ongoing efforts towards better environment for LGBTI persons and protection of their rights (by you or another group);
• Genuine and innovative approach to action that is strongly rooted in a local reality, with its limitations, opportunities, and existing relations;
• Duration of action or initiative of no more than 6 months in total (from receipt of the award to its completion and reporting);
• Willingness to share experience with colleagues and activists across the above-indicated countries and beyond.

We don’t support:

• Initiatives proposing direct support and/or services to the LGBTI communities;
• Initiatives aimed at the anonymous, faceless ‘general public’ or ‘broader audience’, without a clear vision of the specific people (or their groups/ communities) that you want to approach or work with and why you think it is needed;
• Continuation of regular, ongoing activities;
• Structural costs, such as ongoing office rental or salaries (please note that honorariums/ one-off fees needed within your specific action can be supported if scalable);
• Initiatives proposed and managed through external third-party organisations (unless it is a joint action by your group and a local LGBTI organisation). We want to cooperate directly with the groups we support, without an additional layer in-between.

Proposals to which any of the above NO-criteria apply will not be accepted for consideration.

It is possible to submit a proposal if you have received an AiA grant previously already,

We commit to:

• Supporting you in planning, implementation, and reporting if you are selected for award;
• Ensuring that both application and reporting processes are not too heavy, while turning them into our joint learning experience;
• Connecting you with other individuals, groups, organisations, processes, and materials that you might find interesting and helpful in your work, or where your expertise or experience will benefit others.

How to apply for support?

To begin with, we will need a brief proposal from you that will contain essential information about your group/ organisation and plans and will demonstrate why this program and your initiative are a good match.

Please use this format to share your action plans and send them to us at ILGA-Europe and COC Netherlands. We are looking forward to receive your proposal!

Proposals are reviewed and evaluated by an expert advisory group that consists of representatives of international human rights and donor organisations with experience in the program region and knowledge of the LGBTI landscape there.

You can submit your proposal at any time. However, keep in mind that submissions are reviewed as a pool several times per year.

THE CURRENT ROUND WILL CLOSE ON 18 SEPTEMBER 2016.

After that, you should count on up to two weeks of follow-up communications.

Final decisions will be announced in the first weeks of November.

Successful initiatives are expected to receive funds and to be launched in mid-November and be completed by June.

Please feel free to reach out to us at ILGA-Europe and COC Netherlands should you have any questions.

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