Evolution of our Amplify Pride Fund for 2027
From: Our CEO, Em Scott
Rainbow Giving Australia is please to announce our 2027 annual collaborative grant round, including Ignite Pride Grants, Queer Futures Fund and Amplify Pride Fund. Read more here.
This year, we are making some changes to Amplify Pride to better support long-term, systems change work in the LGBTQIA+ sector. For 2027, Amplify Pride will move to a targeted, by invitation process, while Ignite Pride and Queer Futures Fund remains fully open for applications.
Below we explain why we’re making this change, what this means for the LGBTQIA+ sector, and how to stay connected.
Background to Amplify Pride
Amplify Pride is a national collaborative fund founded in 2022 by Rainbow Giving Australia (then GiveOUT and Aurora) with significant support from the Snow Foundation and a cohort of community donors.
It was established to fill a critical gap in the ecosystem: resourcing LGBTQIA+ organisations across Australia with larger, more flexible funding than many had previously been able to access.
From the beginning, Amplify Pride has prioritised LGBTQIA+ organisations tackling systemic issues—particularly those led by and working with communities who are uniquely marginalised or underserved, and who often struggle to access mainstream funding sources. In addition to funding, we work closely with grant partners, providing extra support, connections, and opportunities to help them grow and succeed.
Over the first four years of Amplify Pride we have mobilised and distributed a total of $1.5 million to 15 organisations. Each year, we have granted an average of $300,000 to seven grant partners, often selecting from up to 150 expressions of interest. More than 50% of our partners have been funded more than once across those four years, and around 30% have been funded in more than two years. You can read more about past partners here.
What’s changing this year
After four years of delivering Amplify Pride, we’re taking a moment to reflect on what we’ve learned, what we’re hearing from the sector, and how we can be a better funding partner to organisations leading systems change work in our community. That means examining our funding practice, our relationships, and whether the way we operate is truly meeting the needs of queer organisations and leaders doing this work—alongside the unique objectives of the Amplify Pride Fund.
After careful consideration, we have decided to move to a targeted, ‘by invitation’ process for Amplify Pride for the 2027 program year.
We are testing this approach this year, and we will continue to invite feedback and share learnings from the sector as we evolve.
Importantly, this change does not reflect a decrease in funding available—in fact, we continue to expand our granting pool year-on-year. It reflects a shift in how we will deliver the program, so we can be a more effective and aligned funding partner.
Why we’re making this change
This shift is an opportunity to reflect on our role in the rainbow sector - not just as a grant maker, but as a partner, champion and connector for the community. Amplify Pride is an important part of how we show up in that role, supporting the organisations doing the most complex, long-term systems change work. We want to take this moment to engage more deeply with our existing Amplify Pride partners and the sector more broadly, listening to what's needed, and ensuring that how we fund, and how we show up beyond funding, is genuinely aligned with the goals and needs of the people doing this work.
We also want to ensure our funding practice is aligned with what the evidence is telling us, including implementing findings from our CEO’s recent Churchill Fellowship report on global philanthropy strategies to improve outcomes for LGBTIQ+ Australians, and broader movements in philanthropic practice around trust-based and unrestricted funding, paying what it takes, and funding systems change and ecosystems rather than isolated projects. The way we fund matters as much as what and how much we fund.
For Amplify Pride, this points to some shifts we already know we want to make, and which are driving our move to a targeted, by invitation process for 2027:
Systems change takes time. To genuinely support it, we want to move toward larger, multi-year commitments, giving organisations the stability and certainty they need to plan ahead and deliver meaningful impact.
We want to reduce the burden on LGBTQIA+ organisations. Competitive grant processes require significant investment of time and resources. By working more closely with a defined cohort, we can reduce this burden and let organisations focus their energy where it matters most.
We want to go deeper, not wider. Sustained partnerships with organisations allow us to understand their work more fully, advocate for them more effectively, and connect them with other funders and opportunities.
We want to reduce competition within the sector. A ‘by invitation’ model allows us to be thoughtful and deliberate in how we deploy resources across the community.
What this means for the sector and how to stay connected
Amplify Pride will not be open for public applications for the 2027 program. Organisations will be contacted directly by end of September 2026 if they are being considered.
Ignite Pride remains fully open. We warmly encourage applications from organisations whose work aligns with our Ignite criteria.
We may reopen Amplify to public applications in future as our program evolves.
Moving to a targeted ‘by invitation’ process doesn't mean closing ourselves off from the sector. Our role is to know the LGBTQIA+ community and its organisations well, and we're committed to staying connected.
There are a number of ways to make sure we know about your work:
List your organisation in ThePrideGuide: Our national directory of LGBTQIA+ organisations, and one of the key ways we keep across the sector. Check out the guide here and get in touch if you would like to be added.
Participate in GiveOUT Day: Australia's national day of giving for LGBTQIA+ organisations, and a great opportunity to get on our radar. Find out more and register your interest here.
Apply for Ignite Pride: If you have a project that aligns with our criteria, we'd love to see an application. Ignite is also a meaningful way for us to get to know your organisation and your work over time.
Share your work with us directly: If you have something you'd like us to be aware of or promote, we're always open to hearing from you. Simply fill in this form.
