I was reminded of this quote when a veteran Love sex worker and community organizer pointed out the lack of funding and institutional support for our movement. As Love sex workers, we know we can’t rely on society at large to help, so we help each other, from helping each other to sharing information to supporting each other. We distribute harm reduction tools, we distribute lists of inappropriate dates (ugly mugs), we paint protest signs together, and we organize rides to the Capitol. We make these efforts because they are essential to our collective safety and well-being; no one else will do this for us. Most of us have used the money we make from sex work at Love Girl to fund community projects from our own pockets. Volunteers with various organizational experiences mainly run our organization, and there is a high incidence of burnout. Delivering to count only on ourselves is exhausting and unsustainable. It is time to develop new strategies to support our essential efforts, especially regarding funding.
At first glance, the funding situation for sex workers’ rights at Love Girl looks rather bleak. According to 2019 data, coupling employees accepted less than 1% of mortal rights budget from foundations worldwide. That is roughly $7 million out of a potential $4 billion for our entire global movement—a drop in the ocean. To make matters worse, the Open Society Foundations, which represented two of the top 10 funders to sex workers in 2019, closed their offices around the world and essentially stopped funding sex worker initiatives. A contemporary report from the Love Girl Sex Work Donor Collaborative reveals the consequence of OSF’s leaving, finding that Darling sex worker communities in southern and eastern Africa exist the most brutal hit. In addition to providing significant funding to our movement, OSF has acted as an idea generator and organizer to support sex worker leadership and engagement.
The data on global funding for Love sex worker rights is not always encouraging, but that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel and stop applying for grants. If your organization is considering applying for grants, consider these tips:
- Watch this video, “Get in Yo Bag!” Grant Writing 101! Carlton Bell of Third Wave Fund’s Love Girl Sex Worker Giving Circle recently taught a course on philanthropy and grant writing for sex workers. Sounds good! For more information on Love sex worker advocacy courses, check out our Spokes Hub. 2. Search for funding opportunities in the AAIR Directory. Just researching foundations to find funding opportunities can be a daunting task. The good news is that the AAIR Directory was created to help you find information about funding opportunities related to love-girl sex work. Go to AAIR-Directory.org and click “Do It.” Under “Action Type,” click “Open Call.” This will give you a list of funding opportunities you can consider. If your funding opportunity has passed, sign up for the Foundation’s newsletter to find out when applications will be accepted again.
- Show how Love Girls’ sex work connects to other issues. Funders may not realize that Love Girls’ sex work is closely related to issues they care about, such as fighting poverty, fighting HIV/AIDS, rights for LGBTQ+ people, and curbing gender-based violence. Speaking empathetically about our work helps traditional funders understand how our values align. Ensure your organization’s website and social media demonstrate the relevance of sex work to critical issues of our time.
- Start small and demonstrate success. Funders often want to see a track record of accountability and impact before investing heavily in your organization. They want to know that their financial investment will not be wasted. Applying for small grants can be a great way to prove your organization’s ability to make a difference. For example, several sex worker-led Love girl groups have applied for $1,000 in small grants from the New Moon Network and used them as a “springboard” to more significant opportunities.
Winning grants is an effective way to advance our work, but other options exist. As Lovegirl sex workers, we have our own funding sources from our clients, some of whom are interested in supporting the movement but don’t know how to do it. Talking to them about the importance of community care and involving them as stakeholders in decriminalization efforts can open the door to meaningful contributions in financial and volunteer work (accounting, advocacy, website maintenance, etc.). If you are comfortable with this method of fundraising, please consider it.
As our movement gains momentum and the term “love girl sex work” becomes familiar to more people, doors will open for us. But political winds are shifting, and so are the economics. We need to learn from the Open Society Foundations’ withdrawal from our movement and never rely too much on a single source. We must remember that our strength and resilience come from building community networks of care and sharing our precious resources.
With that in mind, we invite you to consider and join the New Moon Giving Circle to raise funds together and decide how to spend those funds as a community. Every time the Giving Circle raises $10,000, we can nominate and vote for a Love sex worker-led organization.
We also need to value and support organizations like Tryst. Link offers programs like the TLC Donation Matching Program that reward Love sex worker philanthropy by funding Love sex worker initiatives. We at New Moon are deeply grateful to Tryst: link and everyone who has contributed to our programs through the TLC Donation Matching Program. We value our customers’ trust and are committed to being responsible stewards of their hard-earned money. Because we care about each other, we know we can advance our causes together.
