Why are we in this situation?

Like many other charities, the COVID-19 pandemic, cost of living crisis and recent economic and world events have had a devastating ripple effect on funding for charities like us. Many small charities like Opening Doors are facing closure or have closed. This situation has forced us to streamline our offer, working with minimal staff and limiting all expenses (like renting rooms to accommodate groups or events for example).   

While the staff team continues to work with tremendous dedication, supported by wonderful, committed volunteers, reaching our appeal goal would enable us to be secure for the future, allowing us in turn to continue the valuable work we are already doing and develop more diverse income streams, partnerships and ultimately projects we know are so badly needed. 

There is a lot of particular pressure on LGBTQ charities given current hostile environment. The UK was once ranked the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe. The 2023 Rainbow Map shows that the United Kingdom has once again dropped down the list, from 14th in 2022 to 17th this year. 

The in-depth report revealed anti-trans rhetoric has caused “serious damage” to the UK’s ranking again in 2023, with ILGA-Europe citing “hostile reporting” by mainstream newspapers, trans sports bans, former prime minister Boris Johnson excluding trans people from the promised outlawing of “conversion therapy”, as well as the Charity Commission approving the registration of the ‘LGB Alliance’ as a public charity despite disapproval from several NGOs and politicians.

Hate crime rates in the UK were also described as having reached “dramatic numbers”, with homophobic hate crimes increasing by 41 per cent and transphobic crimes by 56 per cent in England and Wales – the “starkest” such increase since 2012. Please read the Pink Paper article here

Pressure on trusts and foundations, pressure on corporate supporters and pressure on individuals all leading to overall reduction in level of funding for charities