Frequently Asked Questions

ISDAO, in collaboration with other Love Alliance partners, receives funding for the Love Alliance from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

The opportunity for grant applications will be available each year for 3 weeks in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Each new call for proposals is announced on our website, as well as on  Facebook and Twitter.

ISDAO grants for the Love Alliance initiative in Burkina Faso and Nigeria will be awarded to organizations and groups that:

• Are run by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and trans* (LGBTQI) people, drug users and sex workers. ISDAO considers a group to be led by "LGBTQI people, people who use drugs and sex workers" when these communities play a decision-making role, notably in defining the organization's strategic and financial priorities, and represent at least 75% of staff, spokespeople and members of the board of directors or other decision-making bodies;
• Are based in Burkina Faso and Nigeria and implement projects in Burkina Faso and Nigeria;
• Dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQI people, people who use drugs and sex workers at the local, sub-national and national levels.
• Are committed to participating in and strengthening the movement to advance the human rights and inclusion of LGBTQI people, sex workers and people who use drugs. Your group/organization must be open to collaboration within your community and with other communities/organizations as allies and be willing to share experiences to strengthen the movement/community organizing.

ISDAO DOES NOT REQUIRE A GROUP TO BE LEGALLY REGISTERED TO BE BE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING.

PLEASE NOTE THAT REQUESTS SUBMITTED BY INDIVIDUALS, GOVERNMENT INDIVIDUALS, GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS OR POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ORGANIZATIONS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING.

For the Love Alliance initiative, ISDAO will only fund groups and organizations led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and trans* people, people who use drugs and/or sex workers in Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

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 who use drugs and sex workers. 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.

1. Decision-making body: Members of the organizations' decision-making bodies must be or include lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and/or trans* people; people who use drugs and sex workers.
   • If not, the group should be able to explain what mechanisms are in place to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and trans people, people who use drugs, and sex workers are involved in decision making within the organization.

2. Spokespersons: Spokespersons must be lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and/or trans* people; people who use drugs and/or sex workers.

• If not, the group must be able to explain the mechanisms in place to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and trans* people and/or people who use drugs and/or sex workers have a voice in the organization.

Staff/Volunteers: The staff is composed of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and/or trans* people; and/or people who use drugs and/or sex workers who have the same contracts and working conditions as other staff members of the organization who are not members of the community, beyond their function as peer educators or volunteers

Yes, however, if funding is awarded through our Local Activist Grant Making Panel, the organization will need to designate a fiscal host to receive and administratively manage the grant for them

Yes, you are eligible to apply for funding. ISDAO welcomes applications from any organization/group that meets the criteria mentioned above and in the call for proposals. We advise you to read the call for proposals carefully before starting your application.

Yes, you can apply for a grant and if approved by our Local Activist Grant Making Panel, the grant funds can only be sent to the bank account of your designated fiscal host. This is 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 help 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 questions about fiscal hosting or ISDAO's requirements for organizations with fiscal hosts, please email proposals@isdao.org.

Yes, you can submit an application for a new grant. Groups and organizations that have a current ISDAO grant may submit a new application to the Love Alliance initiative

Love Alliance grants are for groups and organizations led by LGBTQI people, people who use drugs, and sex workers who are committed to advocacy. This includes groups and organizations led by LGBTQI people, people who use drugs, and sex workers whose work revolves around sexual and reproductive health advocacy and any other advocacy that advances the rights of communities as a whole. Other groups and organizations that are not led by and focused on LGBTQI, People who use Drugs, and sex workers are not eligible. However, if there are opportunities and possibilities outside of this call for proposals and with different criteria, they will be posted on our website. Please continue to check our website: www.isdao.org

No, ISDAO only funds groups, organizations, or initiatives led by LGBTQI people, PWUDs, and Sex Workers.

ISDAO does not work by zone, department or region within a country. Therefore, you can implement your activities in any zone or department where your organization/group is currently working, there are no zone or department restrictions but only one application can be submitted per organization/group. There are NO focal zones or departments, so all zones and departments are included.

ISDAO does not prescribe priority areas for grantees. However, ISDAO encourages groups/organizations to design programs and activities that address the needs of community members in their immediate environment, and/or advocacy activities that promote the well-being and organization/movement of community members, and that are aligned with the overall goals of the Love Alliance initiative. In 2021, ISDAO hosted a meeting on developing community advocacy priorities with key representatives from the LGBTQI, People who use Drugs, and sex workers communities. Applicants are advised to carefully consider these priorities when preparing their grant applications, decide which of these priorities are relevant to their work, and then link them to Love Alliance outcomes.

At ISDAO, we understand that some organizations/groups work at different levels, so we want to make sure that we understand the level of your work, or in other words, the geographical scope 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 (a) the local level (local administration); (b) the national level (throughout the national territory); (c) the sub-national level (i.e. several states or regions in Burkina Faso or Nigeria); (d) the national level (throughout Burkina Faso or Nigeria), and (e) the regional (in West Africa) or international level. The level of work should correspond to the place where your work is focused and where you carry out your implementation. We, therefore, advise you to choose only that which best describes the geographical scope of your work.

ISDAO will give priority to associations, grassroots groups or collectives of LGBTQI people, people who use drugs and sex workers:

• With little or no access to funding from major donors;
• Who are working on new issues for which no funding has been previously provided;
• Who are located in rural, remote and/or underserved areas;
• Who have a diverse membership, including and/or working with underserved people in the LGBTQI communities, people who use drugs and sex workers;
• Who use innovative and creative strategies to promote their activism and advocacy (including art, music, culture, poetry, social networks, etc 😉
• Which have a focus on youth (under 30) and integrate gender in all its diversity.
• That address or wish to address the advocacy priorities of communities developed in 2021.

Groups and organizations led by and/or working specifically with LBQ women, trans and intersex people, women who use drugs, and male sex workers are strongly encouraged to apply.

Yes, all these different types of organizations can apply, as long as they meet our basic eligibility criteria. They will need to use the same application form. If a group or consortium of organizations wants to apply, there must be a lead organization that will submit the application and be the primary contact and grant manager, if awarded. For groups applying together or in consortia, we encourage you to clearly describe the structure and decision-making processes of the consortium as a whole

Yes, you may apply. However, a group submitting its own proposal may only participate in a proposal submitted by a consortium or group of organizations, provided that the group is not the lead organization in the consortium that will submit the application and manage the grant if approved.

ISDAO provides flexible funding to support the overall coordination, operations and strengthening of a group or organization. Our funding can be used to cover expenses such as registration fees, human and sexual and reproductive rights advocacy, capacity building (peer-to-peer), meetings, emergency funds and initiatives that advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights and needs of people who use drugs, sex workers and LGBTIQ people. Organizations can apply for core support funding, project funding or a combination of both. Organizations can determine the duration of the grant, from 6 months (minimum) to 24 months (maximum).

Yes, ISDAO provides flexible funding, and aims to address priorities identified within the movement, including core support for organizations. Groups and organizations can apply for core support funding and will indicate this on the application form. It is possible to submit a grant application for basic support only. In addition, we strongly advise groups/organizations applying for core funding to detail in the application how their work contributes to advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights needs of LGBTIQ communities, sex workers and/or people who use drugs.

ISDAO grants for the Love Alliance initiative range from USD 10,000 to USD 50,000 per year, for up to two years (24 months); depending on the organization's needs, grant experience and available funds. Our call for applications draws on our previous community consultations, which identified the varied capacities and needs of organizations in Burkina Faso. There are three categories of grants you can apply for, tailored to the country's diverse organizations. The categories are as follows:

• Up to $10,000 per year⎯Basic support for 0-2 year old start-up organizations or informal groups, working locally at the grassroots level. These organizations may lack formal systems or structures and have most, if not all, of their work conducted by volunteers. The annual budget for an organization or group applying for a grant of this size cannot exceed US$100,000.
• $10,001 to $30,000 per year⎯Funding to support pre-existing work or to implement new initiatives undertaken by more formalized groups that have been active for at least two years, working at the local, subnational, or national levels. These organizations must have systems and structures in place and be consistently staffed with paid (part-time or full-time) employees or volunteers.
• $30,001 to $50,000 per year ⎯ Funding to consolidate or expand the work of formal groups working at the subnational or national levels, with at least 5 years of professional experience and functional organizational systems and structures and full-time staff.

Please note that the final grant amount awarded may differ from the amount originally requested. This decision is made by our Local Activist Grant Making Panel.

ISDAO funds core activities and priorities identified by groups and organizations, which may include travel costs. ISDAO does not award separate travel grants, so groups are encouraged to include in their proposal the travel they consider a priority for the coming year. Please note that ISDAO does not award travel grants to individuals independently of organizations.

ISDAO does not currently provide emergency funds outside our annual grant-making system (country and regional grants). Currently, at the regional level, we provide additional resources to all grant-making organizations in the annual cycle ONLY for safety, security and emergencies through our RESPOND Fund initiative. As part of the Love Alliance, we recognize the daily realities our communities face in doing this work.

Therefore, if necessary, we recommend that you set aside a small percentage of your budget to meet safety, security and emergency needs. In addition, we encourage you to contact 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 application per group or organization. However, ISDAO offers flexible support, so it may be possible to request funding for several activities or projects in a single application.

At ISDAO, we understand that movements organize differently and that much of the organizing of LGBTIQ, people who use drugs or sex workers does not take place using the typical NGO structure. We recognize the importance of diversity in 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). ISDAO works with organizations, associations and groups

For this call, ISDAO will not provide direct funding to networks, but encourages eligible network members to apply as individual organizations and/or groups. However, ISDAO plans to explore ways of engaging with networks through other mechanisms. We will be contacting networks of LGBTIQ, sex workers and people who use drugs to understand their areas of work and engagement.

Download the grant application form, available in French at isdao.org and send the completed proposal/application form, budget and additional documents by e-mail to proposals@isdao.org by the deadline indicated.

Please ensure that your application is complete, with answers to all questions and all supporting documents submitted. 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.

No, ISDAO is not able to provide individualized feedback or ask additional questions during the review process. We therefore encourage you to ensure that your proposal is as complete and clear as possible at the time of submission.

We cannot accept proposals/requests received after the deadline, nor can we honor requests for deadline extensions.

You should receive an email acknowledgement within 72 hours of submitting your grant application. If you do not receive this acknowledgement, we did not receive your email. You will be notified of the final selection by email.

We aim to notify all applicants approved for funding by April 30, 2024.

Once your application has been pre-approved by our Local Activist Grant Making Panel, we will conduct due diligence and a site visit if necessary. We aim to process the grant within 4-6 weeks.

Yes, ISDAO aims to be as flexible as possible. Therefore, if an activity no longer meets the objective for which your groups or organizations had planned it, it is possible to make adjustments after receiving your pre-approval notification. As each situation varies, recipients should contact ISDAO to discuss changes and modifications.

Notify us immediately once you receive the grant pre-approval email and we will discuss your new project/initiative before we begin our funding agreement process.