Once we were able to regain our focus after the pandemic hit, we raised new funds that we gave in grants to help prevent a rollback of the recent gains achieved by the LGBTI movements in our region. So far this year, we gave 29 grants amounting to about R6 million, and are currently in the process of allocating a further R10 million in grants to support LGBTI groups to re-establish themselves. Altogether, this will be the highest volume of grant making that we have done in one year, even while we revise our plans for the years to come to take account of how the world changed this year. It will bring the amount we have given in grants to R56 million since 2015, given in more than 400 grants.

In March 2020 the Foundation hosted the first ever Global Equality Fund (GEF) stakeholders workshop in Johannesburg. It was convened by the Global Equality Fund in partnership with the Other Foundation and Hilton hotels. The workshop was a unique opportunity for different actors to connect, engage and strategize about securing the human rights of LGBTIQI+ people globally. It provided a space for strategic sharing, learning and community development among the GEF partners and grantees from 32 countries across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South, Central and North America. The Foundation is affirmed and humbled by the positive evaluation of this event.

The Foundation has started developing a new strategy for the next five years, as its strategic plan needs to be adjusted for the impact of the COVID-19 situation. A key part of developing the new strategy was to reflect on the work of the Foundation over the past five years. We carried out an external review of the Foundation’s work and a public perception survey of the Foundation. The results of the independent external evaluation of the Foundation, as well as the results of the public perception survey are available on our website. We thank Hope Chigudu and Dawn Cavanagh for leading this work, as well as the many people from different countries who participated in it. Over the next five years, the Foundation will work to be a stronger, more relevant and a resilient community resource for LGBTI people in southern Africa.

The Foundation was called into action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic which continues to threaten a rollback in the gains of the LGBTI movement in our region. Contributing to broader efforts, we developed a COVID-19 response plan to optimize available funding and support the groups most susceptible to the shock presented by the pandemic and have now set aside new resources to continue to provide COVID-19 support to LGBTI groups in our region.

A call for grant applications is open until 15 January 2021 for a limited number of grants to support work towards the prevention of the reversal of gains in LGBTI organizing, visibility, and advocacy as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, in addition to supporting broader work that advances or defends the freedom, equality, and social inclusion of homosexual and bisexual women and men, and transgender and intersex people.

A new report, Participatory grant making: Embedding participatory approaches in funding, affirms the Other Foundation’s participatory practices. It is written by Hannah Paterson from the National Lotteries Fund in Britain who visited us for two weeks as part of a Winston Churchill Memorial Fund fellowship to explore our participatory grant-making practices.

The report particularly values our ‘peer review’ grant making process for its leadership development through collaborative learning. It includes reflections from some of our peer reviewers about how they felt motivated by the process to be more ambitious, effective and connected in working to improve the lives of the LGBTI communities in southern Africa. We also find the report especially helpful as it allows us to learn from other foundations supporting different movements such as the Disability Rights Fund, with many practical examples and case studies. Thank you Hannah for strengthening our commitment to this expression of deeper inclusion of, and meaningful engagement with LGBTI communities in southern Africa.

The Foundation convened two online panel discussions in July and in October. The first webinar was on LGBTQI+ Communities and COVID-19: A southern Africa perspective. It was a panel discussion with activists from Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa to learn about how various groups and communities are being impacted by the pandemic, as well as to hear from them the nature of support they most urgently need.

The second webinar, African Traditional Culture, Religion and Homophobia, was held in collaboration with award winning author and journalist, Mark Gevisser. Marking Pride season in our region, this panel discussion was held with an excellent panel of experts in religion, politics and African cultural anthropologies, to discuss the intersection of traditional African cultures and practices, religion and political homophobia, and was explored through Gevisser’s latest book, The Pink Line: Journey’s Across the World’s Queer Frontiers. In addition, we celebrated and commemorated Pride season with a series of video messages from members of the LGBTI community and its supporters, titled Pride Is.

In November, PLUS the LGBTI+ Business Network – an initiative of the Other Foundation – held the 2020 South African LGBTI Business Summit which was streamed from our the community space at the Other Foundation’s office. 128 participants registered from South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Canada, and the United States with several companies represented including Business Partners, Corteva Agriscience, EY, IDF Capital, South African Supplier Diversity Council, The Funding Guru, Uber, WDB Growth Fund, and WeConnect International. A report about the 2020 South African LGBTI Business Summit will be available on the PLUS website soon.

In September the Foundation released its latest research paper: Roots – A Conceptual Framework for the Involvement of Parents and Families in Advocacy for LGBTI Equality and Freedom in Southern Africa, which affirms the role that families can play in advocating for LGBTI equality, freedom, and social inclusion in southern Africa. Roots explores the experiences of LGBTI people and their families in Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, with the title of the paper reflecting comments from some of the parents of LGBTI people that their LGBTI children are “from the same tree branch” as them, and because families enable LGBTI people to find an authentic “sense of belonging that is true to their roots.” The publication of Roots follows the release of Under Wraps, a nationally representative survey of public attitudes about homosexuality and gender non-conformity in Malawi that was released at the end of 2019.

We continue to work hard to improve our practices and gear-up to implement our next five-year strategic plan. Our team has spent much time over the year reflecting, debating, and planning for how we can deepen the practice of our values and identity as a community foundation.

The work of the Other Foundation would not be possible without the generous support and solidarity of our donors. We wish to thank Sello Nzama for recently hosting a successful A Million Ones dinner. The Other Foundation is grateful for all your support.

AARON SCHWINDT – AGNES NYGREN – ALAN ROBERTS – ALBERT LOUW – ALEX ZIMPER – AMANDA GEYER – ANDILE MZINYATI – ANDREA MAHARAJ – ANDREW HOWARD – ANN-MARIE GOLIATH – ANNIEMIEK RECOURT – ANTOINE PAPAYYA – ASHLEY GREEN-THOMPSON – AYANDA BALLENSIEFEN – BARBARA BOHLE – BATANANA VUNDLA – BERNETT KOOPMAN – BLANCHE TING – BOKANG MAROBA – BONGANI BINGWA – BONGANI KHUMALO – BONGILE LECOGE – BONGINKOSI MAHALA – BRADLEY FORTUIN – BRENDA YENI – BRETT PYPER – BRIAN HLONGWA – BRIAN OLSON – BRIAN SIBEKO – CARINA CAPITINE – CARL WOCKE – CARLA SUTHERLANDS – CAROLINA SHIELDS – CAROLINA SHIELDS – CATHERINE TSHABANGU – CHESLIN TWIGG – CHRIS NESSLING – CHRIS TAUTE – COBUS BENADE – CONRAD VAN BREDA – CRAIG ABRAHAMS – CRAIN SOUDIEN – DANA GAMPEL – DANIEL VAN WYK – DARRYL HOWARD – DAVID DAVIDS – DEAN EBDEN – DEBORAH BAILEY – DEON GROENEWALD – DIMITRI MARTINS – DONALD NXUMALO – EBEN LASSEN – ELIDJA SITOE – EMMA KAYE – EUSEBIUS MCKAISER – EVANS MOJANAGA – FANNEY TSHIMONG – FEISAL ISRAEL – GARTH FRENCH – GAYLENE PETERS – GEORGE MURUMBA – GLENDA NOEMDOE – HARRIET TOLPUTT – HAZEL DE WET – HEINE VAN WYK – HELOISE SMITH – ISABEL GOODMAN – ISRAEL MQINGWANA – ITAI MUNYARADZI – ITUMELENG MAMABOLO – JACKIE HLONGWANE – JEAN MAKOLA – JEAN MAKOLA – JODY JACOBS – JOE MABILO – JOELINE HLONGWA – JOHAN FOURIE – JOHAN MING – JOHN FRENCH – JORG HASSENBACH – JOSEPH ROCK – JP POTGIETER – JULIANE HIESGEN – JUNIOR SIDZUMO – JUSTIN GOODMAN – KAITLIN DAVID – KARABO NOINYANE – KATLEGO CHIBAMBA – KEITH MUKAMI – KEVIN CHANG – KGOMOTSO KGASI – KHOLEKILE NDAMASE – KOBUS BOOYSEN – KONOSOANG KAY – LALI MOLEYA – LEBO MOTHIBE – LEE-ANN CHAIN – LERATO MOLEFE – LESEGO NGOBENI – LINDA JACOBS – LIOPELO MAPHATHE – LOUIS FOURIE – LUCAS MOSUWE – LUCKYBOY MKHONDWANE – LUIZ DE BARROS – MAKGANO MAMABOLO – MAMOHALE DIMEMA – MARC VAN BERGEN – MARINUS TERBLANCHE – MARION GREEN-THOMPSON – MARTIN ZULU – MARY SIMONS – MDU QWABE – MELODY MEMELA – MELUSI TSHABALALA – MICHAEL THEMBA – MICHAEL EDDY – MIGUEL DE BRITO – MPHO THULARE – MPHO MATSIPA – MPHO KUNGOANE – NDUDUZO NYANDA – NEIL MAYER – NEO MODISAKENG – NEVILLE MOUNTJOY – NEVILLE GABRIEL – NHLANHLA NDABA – NKULULEKO NZIMANDE – NOLAN VAN ROOY – NONTOKOZO MADONSELA – NORMAN MEKGOE – NTOMBI KUNENE – ODETTE RAMSIGHN – ODWA ABRAHAM – OGAGA UDJO – OLWETHU MLAWU – OLWETHU MLAWU – OUMA TEMA – OWEN MOKOENA – PATRICIA WATSON – PATRICK DE BREE – PEDRO RAMOS – PETER GEYER – PETROS ABRAHAM – PHILLIP MOEPYA – PHILLIP KATEMBO – PHUMI MASHIGO – PIERRE BUCKLEY – PIETER BASSON – RESHOKETSWE MOSUWE – RINALDO BOTHA – RUAN GOURLEY – RYAN VOLKYN – SAKKIE PRETORIUS – SANDRA SIANE – SANDY MOUNTJOY – SEBENZILE NKAMBUHLE – SEGABE DITODI – SELLO NZAMA – SELLO NZAMA – SHAKA SISULU – SHAUN VILJOEN – SHAUN BOOTH – SHEKESHE MOKGOSI – SHEREEN JAMES – SIBUSISO MALUNGA – SIBUSISO MALUNGA – SIMO MVINJELWA – SIPHO MTHATHI – SIPHOKAZI NOMBANDE – SISANDA MSEKELE – SIYA NTSALUBA – SPENCER ECKSTEIN – STEFAN RIEKERT – STIAN LUDIK – SUE SOAL – SUPRIYA KALIDAS – TAKALANI MADZHADZHI – TEBOHO KLASS – TEMBA KALI – TERRENCE THONDHLANA – THABISA HANISE – THABISO RATALANE – THAMI O’BRIAN – THAPELO SEKOMA – THATO DIKGALE – THATO LETLAPE – THULI MAHONGA – THULI METHULA – TINASHE ZIGOMO – TOM MKHWANAZI – TOM MKWANAZI – TUMELO KADIKA – TUMELO PHAMANE – TUMI MOHALE – TYRON POULTER – VIRGINIA MAGWAZA – VISTA KALIPA – VIVA LILES-WILKIN – WAYNE MEE – WELISWA RADEBE – WINSTON BECKFORD – WYNAND ENGELBRECHT – XHANTI PAYI – XOLELWA MSHUBEKI – YOLISWA MAKHASI – ZACK BOTHA – ZAI LOURENSE – ZAMO ZONDI – ZANELE MABENA – ZINGAPHI NGEWU – ZINI GODDEN – ZINTLE NWABISE – ZIYANDA MAJOZI

T1087/2013G | 168-094NPO | PBO930056168
Miguel DE BRITO [Mozambique] | Nalumino LIKWASI [Zambia]
Isabella MATAMBANADZO [Zimbabwe] | Alice MOGWE [Botswana] | Alan MSOSA [Malawi]
Xhanti PAYI [South Africa] | Paula SEBASTIAO [Angola] | Neville GABRIEL (CEO)