According to new research by Outright International, 9 in 10 LGBTQ+ organisations around the world have experienced a reduction, suspension or complete loss of funding since January 2025.

The findings, published on September 10, 2026, in Breaking Point: The Urgent Need to Invest in Global LGBTIQ Movements, are based on a survey of 229 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer organisations across 94 countries, alongside 23 in-depth interviews conducted across every region.

The report found that 203 of the organisations surveyed had experienced a loss or reduction in funding. Nearly half, 49%, said they had lost more than half of their total budget, while 75% had lost more than a quarter.

The consequences are increasingly threatening the survival of organisations themselves. 4 in 10 respondents said they were at severe or immediate risk of closure, while just 3% considered their organisation financially stable.

Outright International said the cuts were hitting organisations operating in some of the world’s most difficult environments particularly hard. Groups working in countries with the least impartial criminal justice systems were more than twice as likely to lose LGBTQ+ funding as those operating in countries with the most impartial systems.

The crisis follows the United States’ decision in early 2025 to freeze and then subsequently cut large parts of its foreign assistance. Outright’s February report, Defunding Freedom, documented the immediate impact on organisations providing emergency shelter, legal assistance, HIV testing and treatment, protection from gender-based violence and other essential services.

18 months later, the organisation says the disruption has become a deeper and more permanent restructuring of global LGBTQ+ organisations.

Shelters and safe houses have closed across four continents, while cuts to HIV programmes have weakened community-led services for key populations. Organisations working in conflict and humanitarian settings, including Ukraine, Lebanon and Nigeria, have also lost emergency response capacity.

Examples in the report include an Iraqi advocacy group forced to suspend safety training for activists, an intersex-led organisation in West Africa unable to maintain its office or staff, and an Ecuadorian community centre forced to close after a decade of service.

Despite the financial crisis, Outright says LGBTQ+ organisations continue to adapt and support their communities.

However, it warns that networks, expertise and trust built over decades cannot easily be restored once lost. Without urgent investment, some of the movement’s infrastructure could disappear for a generation or permanently.