Sex Worker Giving Circle Grant

Sex Worker Giving Circle Grant is sponsored by Third Wave Fund. The Sex Worker Giving Circle Grant prioritizes funding for grassroots movements led by individuals directly impacted by gender oppression, especially within the sex work community.

Sex Worker Giving Circle at Third Wave Fund The Sex Worker Giving Circle at Third Wave Fund launched in 2018 to resource sex worker-led movements and bring current and former sex workers into philanthropic decision-making. Fellows—people with current or past experience in the sex trade—receive grantmaking education and make all high-level funding recommendations and decisions.

Learn about the Fellowship Learn about the Fellowship Prospective Grantee Interviews Decisions and Notifications Approvals and Disbursements Grant size for 2026: At least $350,000 dollars total in new two-year grants of $35,000 dollars per year. Use of funds: General operating support, unrestricted funding for your mission and day- to-day work.

Location : Based in the United States or U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands. Leadership : Led by and for people with current or previous sex work or sex trade experience. Budget size : Annual budget under $500,000 dollars.

Tax status : 501(c)3 organization, fiscally sponsored project, or willing to secure fiscal sponsorship before funds are disbursed. We can share a primer on fiscal sponsorship. We prioritize work by and for sex worker communities most impacted by oppression and with the least access to funding.

Eligible strategies include but are not limited to: Direct Services & Healthcare Direct services such as case management or traditional healthcare services Work that frames all sex work or sex trade involvement as coercion or trafficking Work that contributes to criminalization of sex workers or people in the sex trade Accessibility first. We use a screen reader compatible online portal for English applications.

If you have feedback, need an accommodation, or want to submit in another way, please email swgivingcircle@thirdwavefund. org . Part One: Application in Fluxx Portal Returning applicants and grantees: If you have applied to Third Wave Fund or Proteus Fund before but have not used this system, select Forgot Password to reset access.

New applicants: Select Register to create your account. After logging in, select Apply for Funding → Apply for Third Wave Fund → Apply for Sex Worker Giving Circle . Complete eligibility and narrative questions.

If you have applied before, Fluxx will auto populate your organizational information. Update anything that has changed. To update your mailing address, go to My Org .

Before submitting, make sure you have completed or uploaded: Fiscal sponsorship contact information if applicable Grant signatory contact information 501 c 3 letter yours or your fiscal sponsor’s Fiscal sponsorship agreement, if applicable Current fiscal year organizational budget Fiscal sponsor budget, if applicable Demographic information father You will receive a confirmation email from Fluxx, and your application will appear under Submitted Requests .

If we need anything else, you will get an email and your application will move to Requests to Edit , where you can see what is needed and make changes. Interview selections are typically made about five weeks after the deadline. You will receive an email either way.

Applicants invited past the first review will meet virtually with current Fellows. You will receive the interview questions in advance. Applicants who interview but are not approved for funding receive $500 dollars in recognition of your labor and knowledge sharing.

Launched in 2018, the Sex Worker Giving Circle is the first sex worker-led fund housed at a U.S.-based foundation. Fellows who are current and former sex workers lead the grantmaking process, awarding multi-year, general support grants to sex worker-led organizations nationwide. We adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic with virtual and national Fellow cohorts, and continued to grow.

By 2025, guided by a team and advisory board of former Fellows, the Sex Worker Giving Circle has awarded more than $3. 9 million dollars to new and returning grantee partners. How much are the Sex Worker Giving Circle grants?

In 2026, the SWGC plans to make a total of at least $350,000 in new two-year grants of $35,000 per year. Is my organization eligible for this grant? All applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for funding: Location: Applicants must be based in the United States and/or U.S. territories, including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Leadership: Your work must be led by the communities you work with; only work led by and for people with current or previous sex work or sex trade experience is eligible for funding. Budget Size: Grantee applicants must have a budget of less than $500,000 Tax Status: Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) organization, a fiscally sponsored project, or be willing to become fiscally sponsored prior to receiving this grant.

For more information on fiscal sponsorship, see this article from Non-Profit Quarterly. What other criteria should my organization have to be eligible for this grant?

Youth Leadership & Gender Justice Focus: Applicants specifically work toward gender justice that address patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, gender inequity, and/or gender-based violence as well as the ways that gender oppression intersects with racism, ableism, classism, and criminalization. Applicants are led by and accountable to the communities they work with and work to develop youth leadership within those communities.

‍ Sex Worker Movement Strategies: Applicants’ proposed work contributes to a range of strategies to build sex workers’ community power to achieve structural change. What can my organization use these funds for? SWGC grants fund general operating support, meaning the grants are unrestricted and given to organizations to support their general mission and day-to-day operations.

What strategies does the SWGC support? This fund is interested in supporting work done by and for sex worker communities most impacted by oppression and who have the least access to funding. We will prioritize a diverse range of strategies including: Harm Reduction & Healing Justice Legal Support & Rights Education Research & Data Collection What is this fund not for?

This project will not fund lobbying, capital campaigns or direct services such as case management or traditional healthcare services. In addition, we will not fund any organizational work that views all sex work or sex trade involvement as coercion or trafficking. We will not fund any work that contributes to the criminalization of sex workers or people in the sex trade.

Why a Sex Worker Giving Circle? Over twenty years of funding sex worker-led organizing has taught us that sex workers are best positioned to transform the oppressive conditions that affect their own lives. However, sex worker-led movements remain critically under-resourced.

At a time of mounting political attacks against sex workers, we created the SWGC as a space for sex workers to strengthen their relationships, engage in grantmaking, and bring their voices and leadership into philanthropy. A giving circle is a group of people that come together to pool and raise money in support of a cause.

Under the leadership of current and former sex workers, we launched a cross-class, multi-racial, intergenerational giving circle for women, queer, and trans folks with current or past experience in the sex trade. Can I donate to the SWGC? Yes!

We count on community support to make this work happen. You can donate here and ​please contact us at fundraising@thirdwavefund. org with any questions!

I'm a funder/donor and I want to resource the sex worker movement in the U.S. How can I learn more about how the SWGC got started? Great! We created this report, Creating Community is a Threat to Power: Three Years of Resourcing Revolution and Liberation at the Sex Worker Giving Circle to share some of the brilliance of our SWGC, and to document the SWGC’s model of participatory sex worker grantmaking along the way.

Who can I contact for further questions? You can send your questions to swgivingcircle@thirdwavefund. org.

This work is built by many hands. We are deeply grateful to seven cohorts of Fellows whose brilliance and care have shaped the program, to advisors and allies who shared strategy and insight, to guest facilitators and language justice partners, and to more than a thousand donors and funders who invested in sex worker-led movements.

Best Practices Policy Project Coalition for Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo Empowering Transgender Services, Inc. Oregon Sex Worker Committee Red Light District by TW! O Rio Grande Valley Harm Reduction Trans Women of Color Collective Portland Sex Worker Resource Project Unspoken Treasure Society Whose Corner Is It Anyway?

Best Practices Policy Project Black Sex Workers of Colorado Coalition for Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade OLTT (Organización Latina Trans in Texas) Support Ho(s)e Collective BIPOC Adult Industry Collective Black & Pink National (Sex Worker Liberation Project) Black Sex Worker Collective Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo Kua'ana Project at Hawai'i Health & Harm Reduction Center Trans Sistas of Color Project Coalition for Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade Collective Action for Safe Spaces OLTT (Organización Latina Trans in Texas) Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SNaP Co) Support Ho(s)e Collective Bay Area Worker Support (BAWS) Best Practices Policy Project Black Sex Worker Collective Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance Trans Sistas of Color Project Whose Corner Is It Anyway?

Coalition for Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade Collective Action for Safe Spaces Support Ho(s)e Collective Trans Women of Color Collective More Policing Never Keeps Us Safe: Third Wave Fund's Statement on Atlanta Shooting New Report: Creating Community is a Threat to Power Giving Big is Trusting Big — Supporting Sex Workers Now and Always Want to join the groundswell of donors that make our grantmaking possible?

Make a donation today so we can continue to fund the critical work of youth-led gender justice movements. Grant size for 2026: At least $350,000 dollars total in new two-year grants of $35,000 dollars per year. Use of funds: General operating support, unrestricted funding for your mission and day- to-day work.

Location : Based in the United States or U.S. territories: American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands. Leadership : Led by and for people with current or previous sex work or sex trade experience. ‍ Budget size : Annual budget under $500,000 dollars.

‍ Tax status : 501(c)3 organization, fiscally sponsored project, or willing to secure fiscal sponsorship before funds are disbursed. We can share a primer on fiscal sponsorship. We prioritize work by and for sex worker communities most impacted by oppression and with the least access to funding.

Eligible strategies include but are not limited to: Direct Services & Healthcare Direct services such as case management or traditional healthcare services Work that frames all sex work or sex trade involvement as coercion or trafficking