IGLYO Grants 2025 | Call for EU-based Members

Introduction

IGLYO — The International LGBTQI Youth & Student Organisation is the world’s largest LGBTQI Youth and Student member-based organisation, counting more than 125 Member Organisations in 40 countries across the Council of Europe Region.

IGLYO’s mission is to advance the rights of LGBTQI youth, fight for equality and inclusion, and empower LGBTQI youth voices through international training and events, thematic research and advocacy campaigns, online tools and resources, networking activities, and more.

IGLYO is excited to announce the opening of the third edition of its IGLYO Grants Programme, or “Financial Support to Third Parties”, as funded by the CERV Programme 2021-2027 of the European Commission.

This grant scheme is open only to IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in European Union Member States. The reason why the IGLYO Grants Programme 2025 is only open to IGLYO Member Organisations based in the EU is because this project is funded by the European Commission. IGLYO acknowledges that a large part of its membership is based outside of the EU, and we are therefore working to find ways to receive funding from other sources for this programme, and extend the Grants Programme beyond the EU in the future.

About the Grants Programme

The aim of IGLYO Grants Programme is to increase IGLYO’s impact by supporting our Members’ activities on the ground, as well as their work directly addressing the needs of local communities.

IGLYO will provide grants for 5 projects implemented by our Member Organisations in 2025. In addition to providing financial assistance, IGLYO will support the grantees with expertise in the areas of project management, financial management, administration, organisational development, communications, campaigning, research, policy, and advocacy. IGLYO aims to build the capacities of grantees in managing and reporting projects funded by donors, thereby enabling them to successfully apply to grants by other funders in the future. IGLYO will actively mentor its grantees with the aim to create more stability in the movement across Europe and allow our member organisations to have a bigger impact in their local and national contexts.

Through this call, IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in the EU are invited to submit simple concept proposals for projects in 1 of the 3 streams described below. If your project is pre-selected by IGLYO, you will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal. After stage 2 of the application process, IGLYO will select 5 projects (between 1 and 3 per stream).

The proposals can be for initiatives or activities complementing other projects that the organisations already implement.

Topic areas to be addressed

Your project proposal needs to address one of the following topics:

Stream 1: LGBTQI Inclusion in Sports

Your project can include activities such as:

developing and implementing inclusive policies in sports;
raising the awareness of the general public about LGBTQI inclusion in sports;
campaigning for better policies on LGBTQI inclusion in sports;
educating professionals in the area of sports education and training about LGBTQI inclusion in sports;
setting up community initiatives to create safe sport spaces for LGBTQI youth.

Stream 2: Policy, Advocacy and Research

Under this stream, IGLYO will fund policy, advocacy and research activities on one of these topics:

Combating anti-gender discourse;
Ending conversion practices;
Combating hate crime and hate speech;
Promoting LGBTQI inclusive education;
Working on trans-specific healthcare for minors.

Your project can include activities such as:

a research project, including data collection (surveys, interviews), desk research, analysis of existing data and literature etc;
the development of policy assets, e.g. a policy brief, a set of recommendations etc;
advocacy actions, e.g. contacting specific decision-makers, working with local authorities, collaborating with European institutions, participating in policy meetings and public consultations, issuing open letters, etc.
launching a communication campaign (e.g. on social media) related to your advocacy goal;
coalition-building with other NGOs to achieve a specific policy goal.

Stream 3: Anti-racism

Your project can include activities such as

doing an audit of your organisation and activities from an anti-racist perspective;
researching on the experiences of BIPOC beneficiaries, volunteers and staff within your organisation;
organising training and capacity building on anti-racism;
organising awareness-raising activities for the general public on anti-racism;
doing policy, advocacy and research work on the rights of BIPOC, refugees and migrants in Europe.
setting up community services specifically targeted to BIPOC.

To apply for this stream, your project team needs to include and be led by BIPOC.

Type of activities eligible for funding

Within each of the thematic streams described above, your project should include a number of activities among the ones listed below.

The IGLYO Grants Programme aims to support the work of Member Organisations in the most effective and efficient way possible. This also means giving you flexibility and ownership in designing activities that work for your own context. This list of eligible activities does not aim to limit your creativity but rather wants to give you some guidelines on how to build your proposal.

Capacity-building

training for staff and volunteers
training for external stakeholders
awareness-raising activities
workshops
seminars
retreats
development of capacity-building assets (e.g. manual for training, resources, etc.)

Policy, advocacy and campaigning

advocacy actions
research
writing briefs and reports
social media actions
media outreach
development of communication assets (e.g. brochures, posters, websites, etc.)
development of advocacy assets (e.g. open letters, policy briefs, etc.)

Organisational development

organisational assessment
consultancy projects

Community support

setting up supportive services
setting up community projects

Important practicalities before applying

More detailed information is provided in the Terms and Conditions, which all applicants are required to read carefully and agree to. Nonetheless, here are some elements to already consider:

Eligible organisations

The Programme is open to IGLYO’s Member Organisations which cumulatively meet the following criteria:

be a ratified IGLYO Member Organisation. Organisations that were pre-approved by the Board but who have not yet been ratified at an IGLYO General Assembly are not eligible. If you are unsure whether your organisation is a Member or whether you are ratified, please refer to our full Members’ list here or contact our Communications & Network Officer at toryn@iglyo.org;
be a legal entity, private non-profit organisation (private body);
be established in a Member State of the European Union (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs);
be active at the local, regional or national levels (EU-wide networks or umbrella organisations are not eligible);
commit to having all their membership dues and fees paid before IGLYO and the MO sign the grant agreement;
have an organisational bank account;
not have been a recipient of an IGLYO Grant in 2023 or 2024;
can designate a Project Coordinator who will maintain communication with IGLYO’s team (in English) and who will work to timely and effectively design, implement and report on the project as reflected by the approved proposal;
respect EU values as laid down in Art.2 of the Treaty on European Union and the EU Charter of fundamental rights.

Budget

The maximum amount of IGLYO’s financial assistance is 10,000.00 € for each project.

Timeline

27/01/2025: publication of the call, the start of stage 1 of the application process.
18/02/2025: online info session for prospective applicants.
09/03/2025: closing of stage 1 of the application process.
17/03/2025: notification of the results of stage 1 of the application process to a max number of 9 shortlisted candidates (3 per stream max) and opening of stage 2 of the application process.
30/03/2025: closing of stage 2 of the application process.
03/04/2025: notification of the results of stage 2 of the application process to candidates.
10/04/2025: public announcement of the results.

Application Stage 1

Application form for Stage 1

Please carefully read the Terms and Conditions and submit a proposal by filling in this Concept Proposal Form, before 9 March 2025 at 23:59 CET.

Info Session

On 18 February 2025 at 12:00 -13:00 CET, IGLYO is organising an info session with Members based in the EU to explain in detail how the Grants Programme works, what we expect in stage 1 and stage 2 of the application process, and to answer all your questions and doubts. The link to register to the info session will be available soon.

What about stage 2?

Stage 2 of the application process is open only to selected Member Organisations upon invitation of IGLYO and after a positive evaluation of the concept notes submitted in stage 1 of the application process.

In stage 2 of the application process, selected MOs will be asked to submit the following:

a more detailed project plan (using a template provided by IGLYO);
a list of deliverables with concrete numeric benchmarks (using a template provided by IGLYO);
a provisional budget (using a template provided by IGLYO).

Instructions for stage 2 of the application process will be published on this webpage on Monday 17 March 2025 together with the results of stage 1 of the application process.

Questions and contact

If you have any questions, please write an email to Viola (she/her), IGLYO’s Programmes Manager, at viola@iglyo.org.

Funded by

This grant scheme is open only to IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in European Union Member States and is funded by the CERV Programme 2021-2027 of the European Union.