Become a champion. Lead a campaign. Change lives.
A champion is a U.S.-based supporter who sponsors and promotes a fundraising campaign on behalf of a grassroots LGBTQI+ organization in another country. You don’t need to be famous or wealthy. You just need to care enough to ask your network to give.
Champions are the engine of the Rustin Fund. Our most successful campaigns have been driven by people who used their personal and professional networks to raise thousands of dollars for organizations they believe in.
How to start a campaign
Identify an organization
You may already know an LGBTQI+ organization in a low or middle-income country that you want to support. If not, we maintain a curated list of vetted organizations that are ready for campaigns and looking for a champion. Reach out and we’ll help find a fit.
Submit a pre-grant inquiry
Email info@rustinfund.org to let us know you’re interested. We’ll ask the organization to complete a short form to confirm that it meets our eligibility criteria. Most organizations are approved within a few days.
Build your campaign page
We’ll work with you and the organization to set up a campaign on our website. You’ll want the organization’s story, photos or video, a fundraising goal, and a sense of what donations will fund (e.g., “$50 covers one month of legal services”).
Launch and promote
Once your campaign is live, it’s go time. Share it everywhere. We’ll provide promotional materials, sample social media posts, and outreach templates to make this as easy as possible.
Celebrate the impact
When the campaign wraps up, the Rustin Fund wires the full amount raised directly to the organization. You’ll get updates on how the funds were used.
Are there restrictions on which countries or organizations qualify?
We work with LGBTQI+ organizations in low and middle-income countries around the world. There isn’t a fixed list of eligible countries, but the organization must be a registered nonprofit (or have a fiscal sponsor), and its directors and key staff must clear OFAC and UN screening.
We’ve supported organizations across sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia and North Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. If you’re unsure whether an organization qualifies, reach out to us and we’ll walk through it with you.
Zero Overhead
The Rustin Fund takes zero overhead. No salaries, no office costs, no administrative fees are deducted from your gift.
Directly to the Organizations
Your donation goes directly to the grassroots organization you choose, issued as a general operating grant.
Payment Processing
Payment processing is the only cost. The standard credit card processing fee is charged by the payment processor, not by us.
Once a campaign wraps up, we wire the funds directly to the organization, typically within 15 to 25 days.
Tax deductibility
The Rustin Fund for Global Equality is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 47-4365484). Donations may be tax deductible as a charitable contribution for federal income tax purposes. You’ll receive a receipt for your records. We recommend consulting your own tax advisor about the deductibility of your specific donation.
Why give internationally?
The U.S. is 4% of the world’s population but captures nearly 60% of global LGBTQ+ funding. Changemakers overseas are critically underfunded and doing extraordinary work with very little. Your donation goes further here than almost anywhere else you could give.
Since 2015, the Rustin Fund has granted over $600,000 to more than 30 grassroots organizations across 20+ countries.
