Global Survey

Table of contents for survey

Section 1: Group information, identity, and focus 

Section 2: Budget, Funding, and Resources

Section 3: Collaboration with other movements 

Section 4: Additional comments 

Section 5: Funding cuts in 2025

Section 6: Regional questions

Section 7: Glossary

Mission statements will help us better understand the type of work that you do. To secure privacy, we will code these answers. Your information will not be shared with anyone outside LGBTI Pathways and will be stored in a secure database.

Some funders use the categories below to describe groups doing SOGIESC work. Many organizations don’t fit perfectly into these categories. If you had to choose one or more categories to describe the identity of your group, which ones would you pick?

The next few questions are about the SOGIESC groups you work with. This includes work by, with, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and/or queer (LGBTIQ+) people as well as those who use local terms to describe their identities.

The next few questions are about the SOGIESC groups you work with. This includes work by, with, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and/or queer (LGBTIQ+) people as well as those who use local terms to describe their identities.

Some answer options are limited to the binary terms “women and men” to help us compare answers with another survey that used these terms. Please select the answer that best matches the work you do.

The next questions are a very important part of the survey as we want to understand the diversity of communities you work with and the range of issues you focus on. Please answer based on your work in 2023 and 2024.

The next questions are about the funding you received in 2023-2024. Please provide information for the calendar year January 1 to December 31 even if your financial or reporting year is different. Please estimate and answer in US dollars even if your funding is in another currency. To convert, you can use this calculator: https://www.x-rates.com/historical/ with 30 June, 2024 as the conversion date.

The next question is very important for LGBTI Pathways and the purpose of the study. Please take your time to think carefully and provide the most accurate estimate possible.

The next question is about whether and to whom you regrant. By regranting, we are referring to grants awarded with the intent to be fully or partially regranted to other initiatives and organizations. Global LGBTI funding streams encompass a complex network of intermediary “regranting” organizations that receive funds from donor governments and multilateral agencies and/or private foundations (these original funders are sometimes referred to as the “back donor”).

The next questions focus on how much of your SOGIESC work has been funded. 

The next question is about your ideal budget. Please calculate any amounts based on USD. We suggest you use this calculator to convert funding to US dollars (https://www.x-rates.com/historical/) and use 30 June, 2024.

The next question is about the average number of paid staff, regular volunteers, contractors and consultants involved in your SOGIESC work in 2023 and 2024.  Since the number of people or roles may have changed over those two years, please think about the average number of people doing this work. Only count those who typically worked 10 or more hours a week for you. 

This question is about the SOGIESC identities of your staff, contractors, consultants, and volunteers who worked at least 10 hours per week for you during 2023 and 2024. Please provide average percentages over those two years. We understand that people may have left, changed their identity, or identify with more than one category. Use the slider to show the percentage of any identities that apply to your group or program. The percentages should add up to at least 100% but can be higher if people identify with more than one category.

 41. In the past 12 months, how has your orginisation collaborated with external partner orginisations whose primary focus is supporting or representing the following COMMUNITIES/ CONSTITUENCIES? Please select all types of collaberation that apply for each row; if none, select 'No collaboration'.

42. How do you collaborate with other non-LGBTIQ groups/organizations that primarily focus on the following issues?

 TYPES OF SUPPORT

Capacity-Building - grants focusing on strengthening an organization’s infrastructure, management, governance and/or to develop individuals’ leadership skills.

Capital Support - funds specifically to purchase, renovate or construct facilities or purchase major equipment.

Crowdfunding - A way of raising money by collecting donations generally through one’s networks. This is typically done using online platforms.

Emergency Funds - Grants for individuals or organizations facing urgent and/or unexpected short-term financial need.

Impact Investment - Investment intended to generate measurable social and/or environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Matching Grant - Philanthropic support fulfilling a matching donation agreement for already awarded funds to an LGBTI organization or project. A grant that is made under the condition that other funds must be secured, either on a matching basis or via some other formula.

Microfinance - Provision of financial services (e.g., small loans, savings, insurance, remittances) to people excluded from mainstream banking. Definitions and models vary by context.

General Operating – Flexible, unrestricted funds to support an organization’s overall mission and operating costs, allocated at the organization’s discretion.

Program Support - Restricted funding for a specific program or project, often including related staffing and program delivery costs.

Regranting - Funding provided to an organization with the intention that it will be fully or partly regranted to other organizations or initiatives. Global LGBTI funding streams comprise a complex network of intermediary “regranting” organisations that receive funds from donor governments, multilateral agencies, and/or private foundations.

Scholarships/Fellowships - Grants to individuals to support education, training, research or professional development opportunities.

Seed Funding - Early-stage funding that helps new organizations get off the ground and develop through their beginning stages.
Social Impact Bonds - Outcomes-based financing where investors fund a service or programme upfront and are repaid (often with a return) only if agreed outcomes are achieved. Models vary by jurisdiction.

Sponsorships – Support (cash or in-kind) provided in exchange for public acknowledgement and/or association with an organisation’s activities or events.

TYPES OF DONORS/FUNDERS

Anonymous donor - Donors who do not publicly disclose their identity in relation to their giving to the public and/or to recipients. 

Corporate donor/Corporate foundation - Foundations and grantmaking programs provided by for-profit organizations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

Government donor - A national, regional or local government body that provides funding (directly or through its agencies or embassies) to support organisations, programs or projects. 

Intermediary organizations - Nongovernmental (NGO) and/or civil society organizations (CSOs) operating a range of programs, including the regranting of funds received from foundations or government donors to other (generally smaller) civil society organizations and grassroots groups. They are also known as “intermediaries”. 

Multilateral agencies - International organizations formed by multiple countries for the purpose of joint funding or other types of cooperation (e.g., UN bodies, development banks).

Private foundations - Nongovernmental and/or nonprofit organizations or charitable trusts whose funding is typically endowed by a family or an individual donor or through the sale of corporate assets. Private foundations do not solicit funds from the public.

Public foundations - Institutions set up to raise funds from the general public to award grants. Some public foundations also function as intermediary grantmakers, receiving funds from other foundations or government donors to regrant those funds to civil society organizations and grassroots groups.

GENERAL TERMS
Arts and Culture - Organizations, projects, or individuals related to visual and performing arts or the humanities and the creation, sharing, and honouring of LGBTI culture; also includes pride celebrations and parades.

Biphobia/Homophobia/Interphobia/Transphobia - Refers to negative cultural and personal beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and behaviours based on prejudice, disgust, fear, and/or hatred of, respectively, bisexual people, gay and lesbian people, intersex people or trans people.

Bisexual - An adjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to more than one gender.
Civil union - Form of legal recognition of relationships that does not always guarantee the same rights and/or benefits as marriage—synonymous with registered partnership or civil partnership.

Cisgender - An adjective used to describe a person whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. The term is commonly used to refer to a person who does not identify as trans. 

Curriculum development - Work in schools, colleges, universities, and educational support organizations to develop general or discipline-specific curricula related to LGBTI issues.

Direct service - Any organizations or projects offering a range of services to individuals that can include medical services and testing, housing support, mental health care and counseling as well as social and recreational services. 

Discrimination - Unequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds, such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, or sex characteristics, amongst others. 

Food security - Work to ensure people have reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, including direct support and efforts to address structural drivers of food insecurity. 

Gay - An adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attractions are towards people of the same gender. Men, women, and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves. 

Gender - Attributes, norms, behaviours, roles, relationships, expectations, and opportunities that a given culture or society associates with the assigned sex of a person. As a social construct, gender depends on the context and can change over time. While sex refers to bodily differences between individuals, gender describes socially, culturally, and psychologically constructed expectations for them.

Gender expression - Each person’s presentation of their gender through physical appearance—including dress, hairstyles, accessories, cosmetics—and mannerisms, speech, behavioural patterns, names and personal references. Gender expression may or may not align  to a person’s gender identity.

Gender identity - Each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth.

Hate crime - Offence motivated by hate or bias against a particular group of people. This could be based on, but is not limited to, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics. Legal definitions vary by jurisdiction.

Hate speech - Any kind of communication in speech, writing, or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are — including on the grounds of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics.

Intersex - Umbrella term describing a wide range of innate variations in bodily sex characteristics. Intersex variations may manifest at different stages of life or remain unknown to or hidden from an individual born with one of these variations.

Legal gender recognition - Laws, administrative procedures, or processes by which a person can change their sex/gender marker and names on official identity documents.

Lesbian - Adjective/noun used to describe a woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is towards other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves.

Liquid savings - Money in bank accounts, cash or funds you can easily access and use. Non-liquid assets include property, vehicles, land, etc.

LGBTI/LGBTQI - An acronym referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex people. Multiple acronyms are in use globally to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics. 

MVPFAFF+ -An acronym used to refer to a range of culturally specific Pacific gender-diverse identities, including māhū (Hawaii/Tahiti), vaka sa lewa lewa (Fiji), palopa (Papua New Guinea), fa'afafine (Samoa/American Samoa), akava'ine (Cook Islands), fakaleiti/leiti (Tonga), and fakafifine (Niue). These terms are best understood in their own cultural contexts and should not be assumed to map neatly onto Western identity categories (including LGBTIQ+) . The ‘+’ acknowledges additional identities beyond this list. 

Marriage equality - Legal recognition of marriage for same-sex couples on the same terms as different-sex couples, typically through gender-neutral marriage laws. The phrase ‘same-sex marriage’ is commonly used since ‘gay marriage’ can be misleading as it excludes lesbians and other groups.

Non-binary - A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. While many also identify as trans, not all non-binary people do. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender-fluid.

PIDSOGIESC+ -An acronym for Pacific Island people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics. It is used for Pacific Island nations in Oceania and Pacific diaspora communities. It is not intended as a label for other Indigenous groups in Aotearoa New Zealand or Australia.

Queer - An umbrella term used by some people to describe diverse sexual orientations and/or gender identities. It has been reclaimed by many but can be considered offensive in some contexts.

Sex - A classification (often assigned at birth) of individuals based on sex characteristics. Many systems use “male” and “female”, but sex characteristics vary and do not fit a strict binary for everyone. 

Sex characteristics - Each person’s physical features relating to sex, including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty.

Sex marker / gender marker - The field in documents referring to the sex or gender of a person. Language of sex/gender markers may vary between documents and jurisdictions. The sex, sex characteristics, and gender identity of a person may or may not correspond to the marker on their documents.

Sexual orientation - Each person’s capacity for profound emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender, the same gender, or more than one gender.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) - The defense and expansion of rights and access to sexual health and reproductive autonomy and justice.

SOGIESC - Acronym which stands for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.

Takatāpui - A traditional Māori term from Aotearoa New Zealand meaning “intimate companion of the same sex”. The term was reclaimed in the 1980s and is now widely used as an umbrella term for Māori with diverse genders, sexualities and variations of sex characteristics. It asserts Māori culture and spirituality alongside (and sometimes above) Western identity categories.

Trans - Adjective/umbrella term used to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Victim support - Work in aid of people who have survived acts of violence or other catastrophic events.