Equality Fund · Global Programs Connect · May 2026

Funding
without
security
is exposure.

"Visibility without protection is violence.
C4AC was built on the belief that safe communications
is the foundation of any movement that wants to survive."

Comms for a Cause is a trans-led feminist communications and digital security organisation based in India. We are proposing to lead the Equality Fund's Global Programs Connect Consultancy — bringing movement-rooted, philanthropy-literate, and security-informed perspectives to the design of cross-movement collective action.

Explore Our Approach Download Full Proposal
Our Working Hypothesis

The Connect Stream needs to ask a different question.

Not "how do we fund coalitions?" but rather — what conditions need to exist before coalitions can safely form?

"Cross-movement collective action in Asia will not be achieved through convenings and coalition grants alone. It requires a prior investment in the safety infrastructure that makes it possible for movements to find each other, trust each other, and organize together without putting each other at risk."
Trans-Led Organisation Digital Security Infrastructure Cross-Movement Collective Action Feminist Grantmaking South & Southeast Asia Accompaniment-Informed Trauma-Aware Research Movement Infrastructure Trans-Led Organisation Digital Security Infrastructure Cross-Movement Collective Action Feminist Grantmaking South & Southeast Asia Accompaniment-Informed Trauma-Aware Research Movement Infrastructure
01 —

The Structural
Trap We're
Naming

Across Asia, trans-led feminist movements are not absent from the landscape of collective action. They are structurally pushed out of it — not because they lack power, strategy, or political clarity, but because the infrastructure that would make them safely visible does not yet exist at scale.

In countries across the region, from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar, trans activists and queer organizers face state surveillance, coordinated disinformation, digital repression, doxxing, and legal criminalization. Being seen by a funder can simultaneously mean being seen by the state.

10+
Years of feminist advocacy & communications experience
7yrs
Feminist grantmaking at OSF & CRD
—

The Cycle Funders Rarely Name

01 Movements stay invisible to survive — visibility is a threat, not an asset.
02 Invisibility cuts them off from funding — they cannot be found by funders.
03 Underfunding means no resources for secure communications infrastructure.
04 Without secure infrastructure, coalition-building becomes an active security risk.
05 Movements fragment. Coalitions collapse. The connective tissue never forms.

This is not a gap in movement will or capacity. It is a gap in funder imagination, and in the infrastructure that funders have been willing to resource.

02 —

Our Hypothesis
for Connect

"Cross-movement collective action in Asia will not be achieved through convenings and coalition grants alone. It requires a prior investment in the safety infrastructure that makes it possible for movements to find each other, trust each other, and organize together without putting each other at risk."
The Old Question

How do we fund coalitions and bring movements together?

↓
The New Question

What conditions need to exist before coalitions can safely form? What infrastructure makes connection possible without endangering the people connecting?

The Implication

Digital security and narrative infrastructure must be treated as foundational movement investments — not add-ons or afterthoughts in grantmaking design.

03 —

Three-Phase
Approach

A 10–12 week consultancy structured around the Equality Fund's research questions and deliverables. Each phase builds on the last, grounded in feminist, security-informed, and accompaniment-led methodologies.

01
Weeks 1–3

Research Design & Landscape Mapping

  • Feminist, security-informed research plan & methodology
  • Cross-movement landscape mapping: Asia trans & queer orgs
  • Typology of collective structures through a security lens
  • Key informant interview design and interviewee list
  • Digital threat landscape: Asia trans movement security risks
02
Weeks 4–8

Deep Consultation & Case Study Development

  • Key informant interviews with movement actors and funders
  • Case studies of cross-movement collective action in Asia
  • Funder landscape analysis and consultations
  • Identification of structurally invisible actors who could lead cross-movement mobilizing
  • Secure consultation infrastructure and anonymisation protocols
03
Weeks 9–12

Recommendations & Connect Stream Design

  • Living recommendations roadmap for Connect stream evolution
  • Security-informed grantmaking framework and open call design
  • Accessible framework for trans-led, queer, and structurally invisible movements
  • Partnership typologies and funding duration recommendations
  • Measurement and learning framework capturing depth, safety, and sustainability
04 —

The Team
Behind C4AC

We offer the Equality Fund a team that is simultaneously movement-rooted, philanthropy-literate, and security-informed. Together we bring frontline knowledge with deep philanthropic expertise — a combination most consultancies cannot offer.

Suman Saurav
SS
Suman Saurav
Co-Founder, C4AC

Over a decade of strategic communications and feminist advocacy, with a track record of leading global campaigns and building cross-movement alliances from within trans-led and queer movement ecosystems. Oversees internal team coordination and workstream management throughout the engagement.

Strategic Comms Feminist Advocacy Cross-Movement
Download CV
Kabir Patil
KP
Kabir Patil
Co-Founder, C4AC

Eight-plus years of digital security and web infrastructure expertise, designing privacy-first, trauma-aware systems specifically for at-risk communities including trans and queer organizations across Asia. Leads secure consultation infrastructure, encrypted platform design, and anonymisation protocols.

Digital Security Privacy-First Systems At-Risk Communities
Download CV
Hafsa Bhat
HB
Hafsa Bhat
Head of Programmes & Advocacy · Consultancy Coordinator

Over a decade of human rights research, advocacy, and programme implementation across gender, SRHR, disability rights, and Islam and human rights — with particular expertise in designing safe, empathetic, and creative spaces for vulnerable communities. Serves as primary point of contact with the Equality Fund throughout the engagement.

Human Rights SRHR Programme Design Facilitation
Download CV
Anuja Gopalan
AG
Anuja Gopalan
Consultant, C4AC

Ten plus years of expertise in feminist grantmaking, with deep experience in South Asia programming, anti-discrimination portfolios, and resourcing movements under politically restrictive conditions. Brings direct access to a broad global funder network and experience designing multi-year program strategies and theories of change.

Feminist Grantmaking OSF Alumni South Asia Program Design
Download CV
05 —

Skills &
Expertise

🔗
Cross-Movement Collaboration

C4AC's entire model is built on facilitating connections across feminist, queer, trans, Dalit, disabled, and Indigenous movements. Our FHR3 accompaniment includes a dedicated Linking, Learning and Lobbying pillar.

🌐
Broad Philanthropic Network

Anuja Gopalan's ten-plus years at OSF and CRD — spanning South Asia programming, anti-discrimination grantmaking, and learning and impact design — gives the team direct access to funders supporting collective action globally.

📋
Philanthropic Program Design

Anuja has designed multi-year program strategies, theories of change, and grantmaking tools for one of the world's most recognized foundations. Hafsa brings programme implementation expertise across human rights and SRHR portfolios.

🌏
Deep Knowledge of Asia

C4AC is based in India and works extensively across South and Southeast Asia, with direct relationships with trans-led and queer grassroots organizations across the region — many invisible to traditional funder databases.

🔍
Research & Facilitation

The team brings strong research, writing, and facilitation backgrounds. Hafsa has designed and delivered workshops for vulnerable communities. Anuja has led learning-focused consultations across OSF's grantee base.

♀️
Feminist Methodologies

C4AC's entire practice is rooted in feminist, trauma-informed, and participatory methodologies. Every consultation uses secure communications channels, informed consent processes, and where necessary, anonymization protocols.

06 —

Mission
Alignment

C4AC is a trans-led organization. Our leadership, including our Co-Founders, identify as trans, non-binary, Dalit, queer, and neurodivergent. Our entire organizational existence is a response to the structural exclusion of marginalized communities from funding, visibility, and safety.

We do not advance gender equality as a strategic objective. We live it as an organizational reality.

👥

Leadership

Our Co-Founders and senior team are trans, non-binary, Dalit, queer, disabled, and neurodivergent.

⚖️

Equal Pay & Flexible Work

We operate on feminist organizational principles including transparent pay and flexible, care-centered working arrangements.

🤝

External Impact

Through our pro bono accompaniment work, we directly resource trans-led and queer grassroots organizations excluded from traditional funding pipelines.

📢

Advocacy

We actively advocate for communications and digital security to be recognized as core movement infrastructure in philanthropic spaces.

07 —

Read Our
Proposal

Our full proposal for the Global Programs Connect Consultancy includes our complete three-phase methodology, team credentials, references, and approach to research design — structured around the Equality Fund's research questions and deliverables.

For questions or to connect with our team directly, reach Hafsa Bhat at hafsa@commsforacause.org

📄
Full Consultancy Proposal
C4AC × Equality Fund · May 2026 · PDF
↓
✉️
Get In Touch
team@commsforacause.org
→
🌐
Visit Our Website
www.commsforacause.org
↗