From survival to systemic change: FDPN Community Voices for Funders Breakfast
Last month, Rainbow Giving Australia partnered with Pride Foundation Australia and King & Wood Mallesons to support Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN)’s Community Voices for Funders breakfast in Naarm/Melbourne.
Rainbow Giving Australia was proud to partner with Pride Foundation Australia and King & Wood Mallesons to support Forcibly Displaced People Network's ‘Community Voices for Funders’ breakfast event in Naarm/Melbourne last month.
The event highlighted critical funding gaps facing communities navigating intersecting challenges of displacement, persecution, and settlement, with speakers emphasising that sustainable change requires authentic partnerships built on trust and shared power.
It has been incredible to partner with FDPN, Australia's first LGBTIQA+ organisation led by and for LGBTIQA+ people with lived experience of forced displacement, and support their growth through our Amplify Pride grants program over the last three years. To witness their evolution from survival mode to creating systemic change through evidence-based advocacy has been remarkable, here’s why:
Their 2022 publication "Inhabiting Two Worlds At Once" delivered Australia's first comprehensive national survey of LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people's settlement experiences. This research exposed critical gaps in support systems and provided the evidence base that government and service providers previously lacked.
The Queer Displacements Conference remains the Asia-Pacific's only forum dedicated to LGBTIQA+ displacement issues. By centring lived experience in policy development, FDPN creates solutions that actually work for the communities they serve.
At the UN, FDPN advocates to close protection gaps and ensure inclusive resettlement and complementary pathways for our community.
FDPN's Roadmap for Action for LGBTIQA+ Asylum and Migration Justice represents Australia's first national strategy co-designed by lived experience leaders and peak bodies - ensuring policy reflects community needs rather than assumptions.
These results show the impact of funding when it supports community-led organisations with lived expertise. FDPN’s next phase is to strengthen its role as a peak body, driving policy, advocacy, and capacity building across services and communities to close systemic gaps in protection, resettlement, and inclusion.
Organisations like FDPN - with proven track records and clear expansion plans - remain chronically underfunded in Australia. Rainbow Giving Australia invites funders and partners to develop inclusive giving strategies that recognise these communities' resilience and expertise. By working together, we can build systems ensuring safety, dignity and opportunity for all LGBTIQA+ people seeking refuge.
Are you ready to back proven, evidence-based solutions that deliver systemic change? Contact our team at
