Deadline: 31-Mar-23

The Elton John AIDS Foundation is inviting organizations to submit expressions of interest to support its strategic goal.

The Foundation’s new LGBTQ+ strategy aims to accelerate progress towards an AIDS-free future by challenging the key barriers that prevent and limit LGBTQ+ people from accessing HIV and health services.

The goal is to empower the LGBTQ+ global community towards greater rights, funding, and health equity to accelerate an AIDS-free future. With this announcement, they are inviting organizations to submit expressions of interest to support their strategic goal.

Strategic Priorities

The Foundation’s new strategy focuses on the three strategic pillars, please see the details below:

• Through the first strategic pillar, they aim to reduce HIV prevalence and increase wellbeing within the LGBTQ+ community through better service delivery. Their ambition is to increase quality service delivery interventions for the LGBTQ+ community by investing in innovative pilot models that demonstrate high potential for impact and scale-up. Specifically, they are looking to support:
  • Innovative models of HIV service delivery that are integrated, LGBTQ+-driven/sensitive and reliable.
  • Models that can prove and scale promising HIV service and product delivery models, including PrEP and HIV self-testing.
  • Approaches that harness technology and use virtual models of care to increase awareness, demand, and, uptake of HIV services and commodities.
  • Models that increase the capacity of healthcare workers and LGBTQ+ organizations to provide holistic and integrated mental health services (including digital approaches).
  • Models that develop and utilize global standards of care for community-oriented public health services.
  • Interventions that support particularly marginalised communities through innovative approaches, such as LGBTQ+ people who use drugs, LGBTQ+ people involved in sex work, and LGBTQ+ young people.
• The second strategic pillar aims to advance equity and reduce social vulnerability for LGBTQ+ people and communities. Their ambition is to partner with the global LGBTQ+ community to advocate for and protect the legal rights of LGBTQ+ people across the world, driving forward justice and equality. Specifically, they are looking to support:
  • Interventions that aim to decriminalize same-sex relationships, achieve legal recognition of trans* identities and establish measures that advance equity in policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks.
  • Interventions that reduce violence, threats, and intimidation faced by LGBTQ+ people, and/or address self-stigma and discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community.
  • Size estimations of the LGBTQ+ community to strengthen the LGBTQ+ rights movement, including community-led monitoring.
  • Strengthen LGBTQ+ Community Based/Led Organisations capacity to document, monitor, and respond to human rights violations and barriers.
  • Interventions that empower local LGBTQ+ leaders and organizations to uphold LGBTQ+ equity and rights, the provision of core support will be considered when a particularly strong case for support is made.
• The third strategic pillar focuses on increasing investment by global donors and governments in LGBTQ+ health and equity. Through this pillar, their ambition is to increase and diversify funding sources for LGBTQ+ organizations via local public funds, large donors, and smaller grant-makers. Specifically, they are looking to support:
  • Interventions that enhance the capacity of LGBTQ+ organizations to harness funding opportunities and to receive and utilize larger funds.
  • Approaches that influence key target audiences to widen and deepen financial support for the LGBTQ+ community.
  • They are looking to partner and collaborate with other funders to mobilize more funds for LGBTQ+ organizations including co-funding/granting opportunities.

Geographic Locations

The focus of this strategic period is sub-Saharan Africa, and East and South Asia; however, they remain open to supporting other geographic areas if a particularly strong investment opportunity arises. Where opportunities emerge at the regional or country level, the Foundation aims to help catalyse changes for betterment via advocacy or delivery of innovation models that support local LGBTQ+ leaders and communities in ensuring greater equity. In addition to Africa and Asia, their emergency response fund will support urgent interventions in the Caribbean and Latin America. They would conduct additional landscape mapping to identify opportunities in the USA.

For more information, visit Elton John AIDS Foundation.