IGLYO Grants 2026 | Call for EU-based Members

Introduction

You can also download the Full Call and the Terms & Conditions in PDF.

IGLYO — The International LGBTQI Youth & Student Organisation is the world’s largest LGBTQI Youth and Student member-based organisation, counting more than 135 Member Organisations in more than 40 countries across the Council of Europe Region. 

IGLYO’s mission is to advance the rights of LGBTQI youth, fight for equality and inclusion, and empower LGBTQI youth voices through international training and events, thematic research and advocacy campaigns, online tools and resources, networking activities, and more.

IGLYO is excited to announce the opening of the fourth edition of its IGLYO Grants Programme, or “Financial Support to Third Parties”, as funded by the CERV Programme 2021-2027 of the European Commission. 

This grant scheme is open only to IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in European Union Member States. The reason why the IGLYO Grants Programme 2026 is only open to IGLYO Member Organisations based in the EU is because this project is funded by the European Commission. IGLYO acknowledges that a large part of its Membership is based outside of the EU, and we are therefore working to find ways to receive funding from other sources for this programme, and extend the Grants Programme beyond the EU in the future.

🟣 About the Grants Programme

The aim of the IGLYO Grants Programme is to increase IGLYO’s impact by supporting our Members’ activities on the ground, as well as their work directly addressing the needs of local communities. 

IGLYO will provide grants for approximately 10 projects implemented by our Member Organisations in 2026. In addition to providing financial assistance, IGLYO will support the grantees with expertise in the areas of project management, financial management, administration, organisational development, communications, campaigning, research, policy, and advocacy. 

IGLYO aims to build the capacities of grantees in managing and reporting projects funded by donors, thereby enabling them to successfully apply to grants by other funders in the future. As part of the Grants Programme, the project coordinator(s) of each awarded grantee will participate in a seminar in April-May 2026, where they will learn all details of the Grants Programme, increase their skills in project management, grant management, fundraising, reporting and other skills, and share good practices among themselves. 

IGLYO’s support to grantees continues beyond the seminar and throughout the duration of the projects, with the aim of creating more stability in the movement across Europe and allowing our Member Organisations to have a bigger impact in their local and national contexts.

Through this call, IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in the EU are invited to submit proposals for projects contributing to 1 or more of the 4 objectives specified below. The proposals should follow the provided template to present a simple workplan and proposed budget for the project, which can range from 3,000.00 € to 15,000.00 €.

The proposals can be for initiatives or activities complementing other projects that the organisations already implement or programmes boosting or improving the internal processes of the organisation.

🟣 Objectives to be Tackled

Your project proposal must address one of the objectives below. If your project aims to achieve more than one objective, you should choose the most relevant one for the application:

• Promote and protect LGBTQI youth rights at local and national level through: research and monitoring, advocacy, participation in policy and decision-making, policy development;
• Raise awareness of specific stakeholders (e.g. teachers, medical professionals, law enforcement, social services, families, etc) about the rights of LGBTQI youth and enhance their capacity to meaningfully include them in their operations.
• Strengthen the resilience of the LGBTQI youth movement through internal capacity-building and organisational development.
• Develop and deliver local community services for LGBTQI youth.

For all of these objectives, we will prioritise projects in the areas specified below. If your project focuses on more than one area, you should choose the most relevant or important one for the application:

• Combating conversion practices
• Combating anti-gender discourse
• Trans-specific healthcare
• Online hate speech and bullying
• Youth empowerment and children’s rights*
• Homelessness

*Projects that wish to tackle an issue related to children’s rights should attach their child safeguarding policy as part of their application. Organisations wishing to involve children in their projects should comply with the Keeping Children Safe: The International Child Safeguarding Standards in their policies, practices and recruitment processes.

🟣 Type of activities eligible for funding

Within each of the objectives and interest areas described above, your project should include a number of activities among the ones listed below.

The IGLYO Grants Programme aims to support the work of Members in the most effective and efficient way possible. This also means giving you flexibility and ownership in designing activities that work for your own context. This list of eligible activities does not aim to limit your creativity but rather wants to give you some guidelines on how to build your proposal.

Capacity-building

• Training for staff and volunteers
• Training for external stakeholders
• Workshops and seminars
• Retreats
• Development of capacity-building assets (e.g. manual for training, resources…)

Policy and advocacy

• Research
• Documentation and monitoring activities
• Development of advocacy assets (e.g. open letters, policy briefs…)
• Participation in policy and decision-making processes, establishment of dialogue with political parties, groups of parliamentarians or legislative bodies
• Promotion of the implementation of adopted laws and regulations
• Advocacy for the revision of existing legislation and adoption of new legislation in accordance with EU standards and requirements
• Organisation of conferences and roundtables

Campaigning, awareness raising, communications

• Communication and information activities
• Social media campaigns
• In-person awareness raising activities (e.g. workshops, public speaking, interventions…)
• Development of communication assets (e.g. brochures, posters, websites…)
• Media outreach

Organisational development

• Organisational assessment
• Consultancy projects
• Network building, facilitation of exchange and collaboration with other NGOs and stakeholders

Community support

• Setting up supportive services
• Setting up community projects

🟣 Important practicalities before applying

More detailed information is provided in the Terms and Conditions, which all applicants are required to read carefully and agree to. Nonetheless, here are some elements to already consider:

Eligible organisations

The Programme is open to IGLYO’s Member Organisations which cumulatively meet the following criteria:

1. be a ratified IGLYO Member Organisation. Organisations that were pre-approved by the Board but who have not yet been ratified at an IGLYO General Assembly are not eligible. If you are unsure whether your organisation is a Member or whether you are ratified, please refer to our full Members’ list here.
2. be a legal entity, private non-profit organisation (private body);
3. be established in a Member State of the European Union (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs);
4. be active at the local, regional or national levels (EU-wide networks or umbrella organisations are not eligible);
5. commit to having all your membership dues and fees paid before IGLYO and the MO sign the grant agreement;
6. have an organisational bank account;
7. can designate a Project Coordinator who will maintain communication with IGLYO’s team (in English) and who will work to timely and effectively design, implement and report on the project as reflected by the approved proposal;
8. respect EU values as laid down in Art.2 of the Treaty on European Union and the EU Charter of fundamental rights.

Budget

This year, we wish to give more flexibility in terms of the size of projects and organisations that we will be supporting through the Grants Programme. We will therefore allow organisations to propose projects of different scopes with minimal budgets of €3,000.00 and a max limit of €15,000.00.  

The Grants programme has a total €60,000.00 to distribute this year among an indicative number of 10 grantees. We encourage applicants to consider their organisation’s capacity and their scope and aspirations for their project when proposing their indicative budget. 

Applicants need to provide as part of their application an indicative budget. Based on the evaluation of the project submitted, IGLYO will decide on the amount to grant for the implementation of the project. If the budget of the project needs to be reduced, IGLYO will enter into a dialogue with the grantee to revise the project plan accordingly, so that no co-funding is required from the grantee.

Timeline

1. 10/02/2026: publication of the call, start of the application process.
2. 25/02/2026: online info session for prospective applicants.
3. 10/03/2026: closing of the application process.
4. 20/03/2026: notification of the results of the selection process to selected applicants.
5. 27/03/2026: notification of the results of the selection process to all applicants.
6. 03/04/2026: public announcement of the results.‍
7. 01/04/2026 - 01/12/2026: project implementation period

🟣 Previous editions

You can have a look at the projects funded by the previous editions of the Grants Programme for inspiration.

🟣 How to Apply? 

Please carefully read the Terms and Conditions and submit a proposal by filling in this Project Proposal Form and attaching the Budget Estimation (using the provided template), before 10 March 2026 at 23:59 CET.

🟣 Info Session

On the 25th of February 2026 at 12:30 -13:30 CET, IGLYO is organising an info session with Members based in the EU to explain in detail how the Grants Programme works, what we expect to review during the selection process, and to answer all your questions and doubts. You can register for the session on this page.

🟣 Questions and contact 

If you have any questions, please write an email to the IGLYO’s Programmes Team, at programmes@iglyo.org.

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Funded by

This grant scheme is open only to IGLYO’s Member Organisations registered in European Union Member States and is funded by the CERV Programme 2021-2027 of the European Union.