Lessons from overseas: how philanthropy can safeguard LGBTIQ+ futures 

An undercurrent of fear met Rainbow Giving Australia’s CEO Em Scott when she visited the United States in late 2025 to interview LGBTIQ+ advocates. 

She was visiting the US and the UK on a Churchill Fellowship while researching her report Resourcing LGBTIQ+ Futures. However, she found that some organisations she wanted to speak with cancelled at the last minute, would only speak anonymously, or insisted on meeting in private, reflecting a drastically changing climate. 

Speaking at the launch of her report earlier this month, Em described visiting both countries at a time of “fractures in democracy, escalating politicisation and rollback of LGBTIQ+ rights”. The LGBTIQ+ sector faced these new pressures at the same time as contending with retreating institutional funding. 

Her research asked: “How can Australia build a community-led, resilient funding model for LGBTIQ+ equality, inclusion and safety?” To answer this, she spoke to about 50 people across LGBTIQ+ and philanthropic sectors in London, Manchester, New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

The online launch event, co-hosted by Philanthropy Australia, the Snow Foundation, and the Sidney Myer Fund, provided practical recommendations on how funding models can better support long-term sustainability and strengthen collective impact. Em spoke about the advocates she met, who told her they felt that two decades of progress were reversed in just a matter of years. 

“People I spoke with noted that US and UK funders who retreated quickly often were unprepared for what was happening. Australian funders can learn from this,” Em said. 

“There is safety and confidence in numbers. Networks that include both funders and donors, as well as networks for LGBTIQ+ people who work in philanthropy, make sure that philanthropy is more inclusive and welcoming for LGBTI people.” 

Em shared the example of the Global Philanthropy Project, a coalition of 23 organisations from across the Global South and East supporting to LGBTI rights, whose Fund our Futures campaign secured USD182 million in funding. She also highlighted a US funding initiative focused on democracy, which deliberately funds LGBTI communities because its theory of change is that eroding democracies target LGBTI rights first as a scapegoat.  

Em also noted the rise in individual giving and community philanthropy. 

“This was identified by probably every single person I spoke with as one of the most resilient and scalable ways to resource LGBTI communities for the long term,” she said. 

“Australia should interpret the lessons from what’s happening, and from this report, as a warning to prepare. But also this is an opportunity for us to forge a path that is different and positions us as a global leader in LGBTIQ+ equality and generosity.” 

Find out more or get involved with Rainbow Giving Australia.