Frequently Asked Questions

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.

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.

YES, you can submit a grant application. However, please ensure that the creative initiative you wish to submit does not fall within your organization's areas of focus.

Grants from the Asanka Fund - Creative Initiatives are for individual LGBTQI activists, focused on the needs of LGBTQI people, through creative initiatives that advance the rights of LGBTQI communities as a whole.

No, ISDAO only funds individual activists who identify themselves as LGBTQI and are recognized as such by their peers. This is in line with 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 beyond traditional forms of activism. Examples include producing a mini documentary, editing a book, creating a comic strip, launching a web radio, or developing a photography project, among others.

ISDAO encourages applicants 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 organizing of members of communities or movements.

ISDAO will give priority to individual activists who identify themselves as coming from the LGBTQI community and are recognized as such by their peers:

• Have little or no access to funding from major donors.
• Are working on emerging issues that have previously been underfunded.
• Are in rural, remote, and/or underserved areas.
• SPECIFICALLY, AND PRIMARILY use innovative and creative strategies to promote their activism and advocacy (including art, music, culture, poetry, film, etc.)

Activists from LBQ, trans* and intersex communities are strongly encouraged to apply.

No. For this Asanka fund, only concept notes from individual LGBTQI activists are accepted. We encourage LGBQTI-led groups, organizations, and consortia to submit a proposal during our regional call for proposals, launched in October each year.

The ASANKA Fund does not provide core funding. However, ISDAO's annual grant cycle includes opportunities for core support funding, and you are welcome to apply when the call for proposals opens.

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 under the ASANKA Fund provide up to $7,500 for a one-year period, depending on the proposed creative project. Please note that the final grant amount 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 individual LGBTQI activist.

We are currently accepting concept notes in French and English. The call for concept notes is open from March 04 to March 25, 2025. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered for submission to the Asanka grant panel.

We cannot accept proposals/concept notes received after the deadline, and neither 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.