Call for Nominations of Trustees

The Other Foundation is southern Africa’s LGBTI community foundation. It advances equality, freedom, and social and economic inclusion of homosexual and bisexual women and men, and transgender and intersex people. It gathers support and it gives support to groups in a smart way that enables them to work effectively for lasting change, recognizing the particular dynamics of race, poverty and inequality, sex, national origin, heritage, and politics in our part of the world. It does this by working as a fundraiser, a grant maker, and a movement builder in southern Africa.

The Foundation wants to renew its governance structure by recruiting two trustees to maintain a diversity of skills, experience, and perspectives in the leadership of the Foundation, in anticipation of the retirement of some current trustees.  Nominations are sought from all sectors in the public, private, and social fields across the southern Africa region such as social movements, sports, the arts, business, religion, the media, government, development agencies and academies.

The Other Foundation invites nominations of suitable candidates from across the southern Africa region to be appointed as trustees for 3-years terms of office.

To nominate a candidate, a letter of motivation along with the curriculum vitae of the nominated candidate and the names and contact details of two referees should be emailed to admin@theotherfoundation.org with NOMINATION OF TRUSTEE written in the email subject line.

The letter of motivation should include a confirmation that the nominated candidate has accepted the nomination.

Candidates may not nominate themselves.

Criteria

To avoid conflicts of interest in grant making and other operations of the Foundation, nominated candidates should not have a direct beneficial association with an individual or organization that has a grant from the Foundation or that intends to apply for a grant or other opportunities from the Foundation.

Nominated candidates must:

• Be in good standing in their professional fields and/or in networks focused on sexual orientation. gender identity, and philanthropy in southern Africa;
• Have a southern Africa regional perspective on human rights, social justice, and philanthropy development;
• Have strong networks related to the advancement of the human rights, wellbeing, and freedom of LGBTI people and/or philanthropy;
• Have a demonstrated track record of leadership in their fields of engagement;
• Be able to dedicate a substantial amount of time to the governance of the Foundation on a voluntary basis;
• Be resident in one of the following countries in the southern Africa region: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, or Zimbabwe;
• Be committed to a collaborative, constructive, ethical approach to the governance of the Foundation that corresponds to the Foundation’s organizational culture and codes of practice; and
• Offer the possibility, through their involvement as a trustee, of expanding the Foundation’s social justice, policy advocacy, and fundraising networks in sectors that have not been engaged.

The competencies and character of the board of trustees

In making final decisions about the candidates to be appointed as new trustees, the Foundation hopes to ensure that the board of trustees, taken as a whole:

• Has a good mix of financial, legal, strategic, research, and fundraising competencies;
• Broadly reflects the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities in the region;
• Has members from several different countries in the region (preference will be given to candidates who are resident in countries in which the Foundation does not already have trustees resident);
• Includes people from different sectors in the public, private, and social fields such as sports, social movements, the arts, business, religion, the media, government, and academies;
• Brings together an inter-generational mix of trustees; and
• Positions the Foundation as a dynamic, innovative, leading activist philanthropic agency in the field.

Decisions about the appointment of candidates will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Trustees of the Other Foundation are not paid for being trustees.

Closing date and interviews

Nominations will be accepted until Friday 12 September 2025. Nominations received after that date will not be considered. Before making a final decision about candidates to be appointed, interviews will be held with short listed candidates.

The Other Foundation reserves the right not to make any appointments of trustees, following this call for nominations.