ISDAO is a West African activist-led fund for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people. It aims to strengthen and support a West African movement for gender diversity and sexual rights by adopting a flexible approach to grantmaking and developing a philanthropic culture committed to equality and social justice.
We stand for the following values:
ISDAO provides flexible funding to support the general coordination, operations and strengthening of groups/organizations and the initiatives/projects developed by these groups and organizations. For the Asanka - Creative Initiatives pilot fund, this support is for LGBTQI groups/organizations and individual LGBTQI activists.
ASANKA funding can be used to cover creative initiatives that are other than those included in traditional forms of activism. This includes, but is not limited to, all initiatives of the spirit undertaken by LGBTQI groups/organizations or individual LGBTQI activists to support LGBTQI Activism in at least one of the ISDAO focal countries. This can be, for example, the production of a mini-documentary, the editing of a book, a comic strip, the creation of a web radio, the realization of a photo project, etc.
For the ASANKA Fund, ISDAO will only fund groups and organizations led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and individual LGBTQI activists based in or from one of the ISDAO focal countries whose work is rooted in and connected to the local movement in the region or one of the ISDAO focal countries and involves local partners can submit a concept note for a creative project.
ISDAO grants for ASANKA - Creative Initiatives Fund will be awarded :
Please note that :
ISDAO considers a group to be "led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and/or trans* people, people who use drugs and sex workers when at least 75% of the management and operational team is made up of people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and/or trans communities. People from these communities must play a key role in decision-making, and must be able to define the organization's strategic and financial priorities.
For individual activists, people need to identify themselves as being from the LGBTQI community and recognized by their peers as such.
ISDAO's funding comes from several institutional funders.
ISDAO works to make resources available to LGBTQI organizations across West Africa, with a particular focus in our early years of grantmaking on the nine countries that participated in the community consultations and mapping research that informed the fund's creation in its early years (2014-2016). These countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.
Yes. However, if funding is granted by our activist panel for the Asanka Fund, the organization will need to designate a fiscal host to receive and administratively manage the grant for them.
Yes, you can apply for funding. ISDAO welcomes concept notes from any organization/group that meets the criteria mentioned above and in the call for concept notes. We advise you to read the call for concept notes carefully before starting your application.
Yes, you can apply for a grant and if approved by our Asanka Fund panel, grant funds can only be sent to your designated fiscal host's bank account after all due diligence procedures have been completed.
Identifying and working with a fiscal host is a strategy commonly used by groups or organizations that do not or cannot legally register in their country, or have more limited capacity and experience in grant management. A fiscal host (or fiscal sponsor) is a legally registered organization that can support registered or unregistered organizations, and/or organizations with limited financial and grant management capacity, by hosting a grant on behalf of the organization(s) and providing technical support and advice to the hosted organization. The relationship must be governed by a collaboration agreement or contract between the two entities, which defines the roles and responsibilities of both entities and describes how the relationship works. Sometimes, a fiscal host may also provide coaching and capacity building in financial management to assist groups or organizations in this area. The fiscal host must be legally registered in its country. There are many ways to approach the role of fiscal host. If you have any further questions about fiscal hosting or ISDAO's requirements for organizations with fiscal hosts, please email pilotfunds@isdao.org.
No, you cannot apply for a new grant. Groups and organizations with a current ISDAO cannot submit a new application to the Asanka Fund - Creative Initiatives.
Grants from the Asanka Fund - Creative Initiatives are for LGBTQI-led groups/organizations/associations and individual activists. This includes groups and organizations led by and focused on the needs of LGBTQI people, through creative initiatives and advancing the rights of LGBTQI communities as a whole.
No, ISDAO only funds groups, organizations or initiatives led by LGBTQI people and individual activists who identify themselves as coming from the LGBTQI community and are recognized as such by their peers. This is part of our vision and our political and strategic commitment to strengthening the leadership, vision and capacities of people from the community.
Our grants go to groups and networks led by LGBTQI people who are committed to defending their rights. This includes groups, organizations, and networks of sex workers and people who use drugs that are led by and focused on LGBTQI sex workers and LGBTQI people who use drugs. For this call for concept notes, groups, organizations and networks of sex workers and people who use drugs that are not focused primarily on the LGBTQI SW and/or PWUD communities are not eligible.
However, we are part of a special initiative called the Love Alliance which integrates groups/organizations/associations led by sex workers and people who use drugs. Find out more about this initiative
For the regional and annual call for proposals, ISDAO does not prescribe priority areas for grant recipient organizations. However, for the Asanka Fund, ISDAO is particularly keen to support creative initiatives that are other than those included in traditional forms of activism. This includes, but is not limited to, all initiatives of the spirit undertaken by LGBTQI groups/organizations or individual LGBTQI activists to support LGBTQI Activism in at least one of ISDAO's focal countries. This could be, for example, the production of a mini-documentary, the editing of a book, a comic strip, the creation of a web radio station, the realization of a photo project, etc. To this end, ISDAO encourages organizations/groups/associations and individual activists-candidates to design creative, self-aligned programs and activities that meet the needs of community members in their immediate environment, while promoting the well-being and organization/movement of community members.
At ISDAO, we understand that some organizations/groups/associations and individual activists work at different levels, so we want to make sure that we understand the level of your work. Please note that this is not a determining factor in awarding a grant, so we advise you to provide a precise answer. The level of work includes local (city or province), national (country-wide), sub-regional (West Africa) or international. The level of work should correspond to the place where your work is concentrated and where you carry out your implementation. We therefore advise you to choose accordingly.
ISDAO will give priority to associations, grassroots groups or collectives of LGBTQI people and to individual activists who identify themselves as coming from the LGBTQI community and are recognized as such by their peers:
Groups/organizations led by and/or working specifically with LBQ women, trans and intersex people, youth and individual activists from the LBQ women, trans* and intersex communities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Yes, all these different types of structures can apply, as long as they meet our basic eligibility criteria for this Asanka fund. It's the same concept note form. If a group or consortium of organizations wants to apply, there must be a lead organization that will submit the concept note and be the main contact and manager of the grant, if awarded. For groups applying together or as a consortium, we encourage you to clearly describe the structure and decision-making processes of the consortium as a whole.
Yes, you can apply. However, a group submitting its own proposal may only participate in a group/organization proposal submitted by a consortium of groups/organizations, provided that it is not the lead organization in the consortium that will submit the concept note and manage the grant if approved.
The Asanka - Creative Initiatives pilot fund is not dedicated as core funding. However, as ISDAO opens its annual cycle of calls for proposals, core support funding is eligible and you can apply.
No, at ISDAO all open calls for grants encourage the submission of concept notes or proposals developing innovative and creative initiatives that support advocacy, community mobilization, movement building, etc. However, this pilot fund particularly encourages creative initiatives that are other than traditional forms of activism. However, this pilot fund particularly encourages creative initiatives that are other than traditional forms of activism.
ISDAO grants for the Asanka Pilot Fund range from $3000 to $5000 for a period of one year, depending on the creative project proposed. Please note that the final amount of the grant awarded may differ from the amount initially requested.
ISDAO does not currently provide emergency funds outside its annual grant-making system (national and regional grants). Currently, for our annual regional cycle, we provide additional resources to all our grantees ONLY for safety, security and emergencies through our RESPOND Fund initiative. We encourage you to contact the donors who all provide emergency support, including Frontline Defenders, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights-Africa, and Freedom House (Dignity for All program).
No, we accept only one concept note per group/organization/association and per individual activist.
At ISDAO, we understand that movements organize differently and that much of LGBTIQ organizing is not done using the typical NGO structure. We recognize the importance of acknowledging the diversity of our movement organizing, particularly the different structural approaches to organizing and movement building in our communities. Therefore, you don't necessarily have to be an NGO, but you can be a group (formal or informal), an association, etc. ISDAO works with structures that take many different forms, including organizations, groups, associations, etc.
We are currently accepting concept notes in French and English. The call for concept notes is open from August 24, 2023 to September 14, 2023. Any applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered for submission to the Asanka Fund panel.
Download the concept note application form, available in French at isdao.org, and send the grant/concept note application form, budget and additional documents by e-mail to pilotfunds@isdao.org by the deadline indicated.
Please ensure that your application is complete, with answers to all questions. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the application is complete before submitting it. After the deadline, ISDAO is unable to consider applications that are partially complete or missing information, and we cannot accept any additional information or revisions after the deadline.
We cannot accept proposals/concept notes received after the deadline, nor can we honor requests for deadline extensions.
You should receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 72 hours of the date of submission of the concept note. If you do not receive this acknowledgement, we have not received your e-mail. You will be informed of the final selection by email.
Once your application has been approved by the Panel, the grant approval process will take between 4 and 6 weeks from the date of receipt of your notification.
Yes, ISDAO aims to be as flexible as possible. Therefore, if an activity no longer meets the objective for which you had planned it, it is possible to make adjustments after receiving your pre-approval notification. As each situation varies, you should contact ISDAO to discuss changes and modifications.
Let us know immediately upon receipt of your pre-approval letter and we will discuss your new project/initiative before finalizing your grant agreement.