Greater Manchester Trans Organisers Fund

Geeks for Social Change administered a pilot funding initiative designed to support trans organizers across Greater Manchester, with financial backing from Lankelly Chase. The program aimed to facilitate “trans healing and justice work” by addressing the severe underfunding and stress experienced by those organizing community activities.

Program Structure

The fund operated through two distinct phases across 2023-2024, with an all-trans and nonbinary steering group guiding decisions. The group included representatives from organizations like Inclusive 11s football, Queers in Manchester, and Trans Mutual Aid Manchester.

First Round: Discovery and Direct Support

Initial funding distributed £1,000 awards to five organizations. The program sought to understand organizers’ goals, barriers, funding challenges, and visions through targeted questions. Key findings included:

Organizer Goals: Respondents pursued systemic change while supporting individuals directly, addressing areas including housing, sports accessibility, sex education, and nightlife provision.

Critical Barriers: Capacity constraints and funding scarcity emerged as primary obstacles. Cost of living increases have meant that many organisers need to spend more time and energy on paid work. Additional challenges included structural discrimination, venue scarcity, and difficulty promoting events to trans communities.

Shared Vision: All respondents emphasized safety—both personal security and meeting fundamental needs like housing and healthcare—alongside desires for celebration and community thriving.

Funding History: Most groups operated entirely through volunteer effort and self-funding, with limited prior grant experience.

Second Round: Accessibility Statements

Building on first-round insights, the program funded 9 organizations to publish accessibility statements, offering £500 each. This focused on documenting venue accessibility and highlighting systemic gaps in adequate community spaces.

Key Findings

Venue Landscape: Most trans organizers relied on temporary or pop-up spaces rather than permanent community hubs. Partisan, previously a stable resource, faced financial collapse and lost its physical location during the study period.

Access Features: Venues reported accessible toilets and level access (with basement exceptions), though climate control and quiet spaces for decompression remained inconsistently available.

Structural Constraints: The accessibility statements revealed that despite organizers’ commitment to inclusion, material resources necessary to make their events as consistently accessible as they would like remained out of reach.

Recommendations

For Landlords:

• Invest in accessibility improvements and air filtration
• Maintain premises adequately for short-term projects
• Offer reduced community rent rates

For Organizer Groups:

• Establish accessibility standards
• Share comprehensive access information proactively
• Build financial reserves to improve stability

For Funders:

• Provide administrative support alongside funding
• Support long-term infrastructural projects
• Share financial management case studies
• Partner with existing trans networks on funding approaches