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To achieve the greatest impact for LGBTQ social justice with the foundation’s finite resources, Arcus has identified 12 focus countries within the Americas and Africa to prioritize support.

Social Justice Grantmaking

Arcus approaches its social justice grantmaking in a manner that respects the wisdom, power, and self-determination of LGBTQ communities.

We distribute grants that build the long-term resilience of our partners so that they remain resolute in advancing justice, often in the face of ongoing violence, inequity, and exclusion.

Currently, Arcus’ Social Justice Program primarily makes grants through an invitation-only application process. Unsolicited requests for funding will not be considered at this time.

Organizations that are invited to apply for funding are done so based on their exceptional alignment with our goals and geographic priorities, and to address strategic opportunities. When applications have strong alignment with our strategy, we prioritize long-term grants in the form of general operating support over short-term, project-specific support.

Occasionally, and on an as-needed basis, Arcus’ Social Justice Program will issue public calls for applications (Requests for Concepts or RFC) through our website, social media, and email distribution lists. Any qualified organization may respond to an open call, including current and former Arcus grantees and organizations with whom we have not previously worked.

The most recent general Social Justice RFC was closed in 2019. An open call to organizations based in 11 countries across East and Southern Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean closed November 15, 2022. To be notified of any future open calls and to receive periodic Arcus Foundation updates, please sign up below.

Sign Up

For further information or questions regarding Arcus’ Social Justice Program grantmaking, please contact sjprogram@arcusfoundation.org.

Application Criteria

An organization may submit only one application in response to any open call or invitation, either on its own or in collaboration with other groups. The scope of work may be local, national, regional, or international. To be eligible for funding, applicants must meet the following criteria:

1. Geographic Focus
All applicants must be able to show the impact of intended work on one or more of Arcus’ 12 priority countries within focus areas of Africa and the Americas.

2. Legal Standing
United States-based applicants must have a non-profit, tax-exempt status recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Alternatively, organizations may apply through a fiscal sponsor with such a status.
Applicants outside the United States must be able to receive international funds through a registered entity in their home country.

3. Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
Applicants are required to maintain a board-approved internal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy including sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories.

4. Organizational Experience
Applicants must be able to demonstrate a minimum level and number of years of organizational operations.

Application Process

The foundation’s grantmaking is managed through Fluxx, a secure, user-friendly, cloud-based system. The application process takes approximately two to six months and has three stages:

Grantmaking Process

STAGE 1 – Application
Whether in response to a public call for concepts or an invitation to apply, all applications begin with applicants answering a set of questions.

STAGE 2 – Request for Proposals
Applicants considered most highly aligned with the guidelines and priorities of the program are asked to submit a proposal. Stage 2 involves an internal assessment and, when needed, dialogue with the applicant, taking into consideration a range of factors (see below).

STAGE 3 – Decision
Applicants are notified directly about the outcome of their proposal. Awards are shared publicly four times per year. We look for:

  • Self-determination, demonstrated by initiatives led from within the society or community an applicant seeks to influence, devised in open consultation with, and with accountability to, local LGBTQ communities;
  • Involvement of those most marginalized, including, for example:
    o Leadership and decision-making by marginalized groups;
    o Strong board representation of those most marginalized;
  • Involvement by members of faith communities, transgender individuals, and other groups with less access to resources and who are marginalized within LGBTQ communities;
  • Concepts related to one or more of the priority geographic focus areas;
  • Cross-sector or cross-movement alliances working toward one or more of Arcus’ goals.
   

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Get to Know a Muxe Artist and Activist


©MEXFAM
©MEXFAM


A muxe woman, Peregrina Vera is a member of the Indigenous Zapotec community from the town of Juchitán in the southeast of Oaxaca state in Mexico. A skilled artisan of traditional woven clothing, Peregrina also prepares decorations for local festivals. But in addition to her artistic endeavors, she is one of the leaders of the Transformándome (“Transforming Myself”) project housed at Mexfam, a nationwide civil society organization promoting access to health, education, and advocacy of sexual and reproductive rights. The project helps educate the muxe about their rights and how they can live authentically as themselves, including acquiring identification documents that accurately portray their names and genders.

Peregrina’s activism includes documenting incidents of hate crimes against the muxe throughout the region. This is a subject she unfortunately knows all too well after she experienced a recent violent attack and robbery in which all of her work tools were stolen.

These incidents have increased as new people have moved into the region.

“Before they did nothing to us,” Peregrina explains. “Now if you’re at a party, just by seeing you, they want to attack you, they insult you, and on many occasions, the aggression changes from words to physical attacks.”

By documenting these incidents, Peregrina is helping to bring the issue of hate violence to the attention of authorities and the public. She is also working to connect members of her community through online meetings using computers acquired by the Transformándome project. All of her activism is aimed at increasing the acceptance and inclusion of her muxe community.

Una líder Muxe comparte su historia


©MEXFAM
©MEXFAM


Mujer Muxe, Peregrina Vera es miembro de la comunidad indígena Zapoteca del pueblo de Juchitán, en el sureste del estado de Oaxaca. Hábil artesana de la ropa tejida tradicional, Peregrina también prepara adornos para las fiestas locales. Pero además de sus esfuerzos artísticos, es una de las líderes de Transformándome en Mexfam, la organización nacional de planificación familiar de México. El proyecto ayuda a educar a la comunidad Muxe sobre sus derechos y sobre cómo pueden vivir auténticamente sin esconderse, incluyendo cómo obtener documentos de identidad que reflejen con exactitud sus nombres y géneros.

El activismo de Peregrina incluye la documentación de incidentes de crímenes de odio contra la comunidad Muxe en toda la región. Se trata de un tema que, por desgracia, conoce demasiado bien tras haber sufrido recientemente un ataque violento y un robo en el que le sustrajeron todas sus herramientas de trabajo.

Estos incidentes han aumentado a medida que nuevas personas se han trasladado a la región.

“Antes no nos hacían nada”, explica. “Ahora, si estás en una fiesta, solo con verte quieren agredirte, te insultan y, en muchas ocasiones, la agresión pasa de las palabras a los ataques físicos”.

Con la documentación de estos incidentes, Peregrina está ayudando a llamar la atención de las autoridades y del público sobre el problema de la violencia motivada por el odio. También está trabajando para conectar a los miembros de su comunidad a través de reuniones en línea utilizando computadoras adquiridas gracias al proyecto Transformándome. Todo su activismo busca aumentar la aceptación y la inclusión de su comunidad Muxe.


Arcus homepage marquee video transcript

A bonobo in trees moving its mouth, with a binocular effect zooming in on the ape. A text overlay says, “Dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world.”

A forest with the sun shining through trees, with a text overlay that quotes Jon Stryker and Annette Lanjouw of Arcus Foundation saying, “Destruction of nature exposes us to a panoply of diseases, and creates and exacerbates social injustice and political repression around the world.”

A razed forest.

A Learn More button that links to the Arcus Foundation 2019 Annual Report

A city street with a large crosswalk and a large crowd of people crossing it.

Text overlay with a quote: “LGBTQ communities served by our Social Justice Program live at the intersection of this long chain of degradation—environmental and social.”

A scene from a protest, people wearing face masks, waving signs and banners, drumming on a drum, dancing, shouting through a megaphone. Two signs are a sheer black color with gold trim and list several names, including Roxsana Hernandez, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, and Nina Pop. Another sign says “Black Trans Lives Matter”.

A Learn More button that links to the Arcus Foundation’s support page for LGBT Social Justice.

A woman wearing a white dress, long wavy dark brown hair, teal lipstick, plum fingernails, rectangular metal glasses sits in a chair and talks. A text overlay identifies her as Úmi Vera, Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, United States, and quotes her saying: “There’s incredible power in the trans queer migrant community. To be dehumanized so much and not lose your hope, your sense of joy—it’s just astonishing.”

A Learn More button that links to a story: LGBTQ Migrants to the U.S. Fight to Stay Safe

A person with shoulder-length, dark brown, straight hair wearing a pink and silver fuzzy tiara and a white and purple dress with a big tulle bottom and a corset top, over a white t-shirt that says SELENA, dancing around in circles outdoors with a crowd of people sitting and standing nearby, and with the flags of Puerto Rico, Panama, and Peru hanging from wood beams in the background.

A woman with short black and gray hair wearing a black dress shirt talks. A text overlay identifies her as Indyra Mendoza, Red Lésbica Cattrachas, Honduras, and quotes her saying: “For so many years, we missed being free and open with our partners—now is the time to make it happen!.”

A Learn More button that links to a story: “I Know Who I Am, But My Country Doesn’t Recognize Me”.

A woman wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt under a jumper featuring white and pastel yellow, blue and green circles, a black head covering and a red face mask, stands in front of a church building with a sign that says: “Central Methodist Mission You are born in love by love for love”. A text overlay identifies her as Mia Lukas, SistaazHood, homeless trans women supported by Gender DynamiX, South Africa, and quotes her saying: “With their support, we feel more included in society.”

A Learn More button that links to a story: Supporting Cape Town’s Homeless Transgender Women During COVID-19

A map of the world with parts of the following regions emphasized: The United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, East Africa, Southern Africa, and Asia. A text overlay that says “Arcus Foundation grantees work in 29 countries around the world, affecting millions of lives in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.”

An aerial view of a forest with area of deforested land. A text overlay that quotes Fransisca Ariantiningsih, Orangutan Information Centre, Indonesia, saying “Logging and habitat destruction force animals from the forest, making them vulnerable to trafficking.”

A woman with neck-length dark brown straight hair and a beige dress shirt talks in front of a pink flowering tree.

A Learn More button that links to the homepage of the State of the Apes publication

A baby orangutan slowly climbs a tree.

A text overlay with a quote saying “The orangutan is Indonesia’s national treasure. It takes years to rehabilitate each individual.”

An adult orangutan eats tree bark while clinging to a tree.

A text overlay with a quote saying “Our ecosystem is shared between humans and wildlife. If one single thing is gone, it affects all.”

A Learn More button that links to the Arcus Foundation’s support page for Great Apes and Gibbons Conservation.

An adult gibbon with black fur climbs a tree with a baby gibbon clinging onto the adult. Two bonobos move through trees.

A man with a beard and buzzed hair wearing a tan polo shirt with the African Wildlife Foundation logo talks. A text overlay identifies him as Raoul Mulumba Tafua, African Wildlife Foundation, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and quotes him saying, “Protecting Congo’s forest biodiversity benefits the community from the perspective of climate change, food production, and tourism.”

A woman with tightly braided dark brown hair and wearing a t-shirt with pink sleeves, a pink bow, and the faces of two people against a light blue background, talks. A text overlay identifies her as Merveille Boale Batuli, supported by Village Enterprise and African Wildlife Foundation, and quotes her saying “I’m a mother, a widow, and I have to feed my family.”

A man in a gray dress shirt and wearing a shoulder bag sits behind a table and reaches toward prescription medicine boxes and opens one to take out a smaller box and hand it to someone on the other end of the table. A text overlay quotes Jon Stryker and Annette Lanjouw of Arcus Foundation saying “Conservation without social justice is neither ethical nor possible. To achieve conservation and respect for the world’s apes, we work with the people who live alongside them.”

A Learn More button that links to the Arcus Foundation’s Annual Reporting page.

The man from the pharmacy walks down a dirt path past bushes while smiling.

Text comes up on the screen saying “Push boundaries. Make change.” Logos for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn appear on the screen.

A button that links to the Credits for this video.


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