Stonewall is in financial difficulty

The most the US government ever gave Stonewall was £233,583 in the 2023-24 financial year.

Compare that with its total turnover of £6.9 million in the same year.

How does that compute to losing 50% of its staff? Well, it doesn't. The drop in income is because of organisations no longer paying to get gold stars, sorry, awards, and fundraising and donations falling.

Oh dear how sad never mind.

As predicted last year (2025) but the staff cuts are happening now that the new CEO is in place (my guess).

I wonder where 50% of their staff will find their next jobs?

Just to say, I found this while searching for something else, and I know nothing about London Daily. I thought this deserved its own thread, although there really are so many threads where this would be relevant.

https://londondaily.com/stonewall-faces-staff-cuts-amid-us-foreign-aid-freeze

LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall indicates potential layoffs as it navigates funding challenges resulting from US President Trump's aid policy.
Stonewall, a prominent LGBTQ+ charity based in the UK, has announced that it may have to reduce its workforce by up to 50% due to financial constraints linked to a recent freeze on overseas aid initiated by the Trump administration.
^^
The charity confirmed that it has commenced an organisation-wide consultation process as it seeks to adapt to what it describes as a new political era.
^^
According to the charity's CEO, Simon Blake, only roles with dedicated funding will be safeguarded under the current circumstances.
^^
The organisation employs 114 individuals, as per records from the UK charity commission.
edited: archive link https://archive.ph/AAyJa

Lesbians are actual women. They don't count.

I cannot say I am really sorry to hear this. There are better organizations for gays and lesbians now. Stonewall made themselves into a fringe movement and a big corporate cost. Corporations do not need their special badges.

A big part of their demise was their non respectful attitude to lesbians. They did nothing about that issue for years.

When even the fox killer turns against you, you know you're done:

‪Jolyon Maugham KC‬ ‪@goodlawproject.org‬
· 1d
The Stonewall story is complicated - it had to retrench, ideologically and financially, to survive. But, having retrenched, what is it now for? 'Fighting' battles already won? Laundering a Government that has no real interest in the dignity of LGBT+ people? Do LGBT+ people benefit from it existing?

‪Jolyon Maugham KC‬ ‪@goodlawproject.org‬
· 1d
I don't say this to throw shade. I say it because I think it speaks to how hard it is, for progressive not for profits, and especially Charities, to have impact sitting outside an Overton window that has moved, and is moving, rapidly to the right.

From the Guardian article, it’s clearly never occurred to them to think whether they are to blame, has it? No, it’s the Big Bad Americans. Except that that’ll be a small part of it, the rest is people baulking at the charities’ behaviour - who wants their corporate logo behind some bloke in a gimp mask and leather straps leering down at a small child at a Pride event?

I agree that it is not just Stonewall as the only charity to have lost income. An organisation that in its early years did a lot of good campaigning and helped to change attitudes (remember clause 28?) has completely lost its way. With all the resources and information available nowadays, companies can support lesbians and gay men and find out the issues they uniquely face without joining Stonewall or any other group.

Sad times all round:

UK LGBTQ+ charities are in ‘hostile environment’ amid falling donations, experts warn

Stonewall’s corporate funding halves against backdrop of US attacks on DEI and freezing of aid for LGBTQ+ causes

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/07/uk-lgbtq-charities-are-in-hostile-environment-amid-falling-donations-experts-warn

I’m afraid that it’s pretty much across the
board.

I work in the sector and hear this first hand every day.

also see the reports from NCVO and the Charity Commission on the enormous challenges facing the sector.

again please note Im not pro stonewall. Am GC.

All those far right American evangelist donations

The pro-women charities and orgs seem to be doing OK.

That’s wonderful to hear that you are bucking the trend that is affecting so many in the sector.

2025 has seen the largest number of charities close - ever.

PS I’m not a supporter of stonewall. Just pointing out that it’s shit for charities out there just now and that stonewall are finding it tough isn’t unusual

Stonewall have done some terrible things, so I cannot say I would be adverse to their demise.

The UK is no longer a leader in LGBTQ+ rights because the government, the public and foreign governments are no longer giving us as much money as they used to. This is not fair. The world is changing for the worst as we can't buy as many new flags and intimidate as many people as we'd like. Therefore we are drawing attention to the bigotry of everyone giving to Cat Charities instead of us by stamping our feet loudly, wailing lots and waiving some old tatty flags outside them in protest. Our rights and freedom to feel persecuted is being undermined by a rise in the number of moggies dumped this Christmas. These Cat Charities have no respect for the LGBTQ+ community and persist in transphobic rhetoric to this day by continuing to call cats 'pussies' and we demand changes to the law to reflect this and ban its use.

But wait!! There is a new attempt at a grift!!

Proud Employers

The leading programme to unlock the power of LGBTQ+ inclusion in your workplace

Why work with Stonewall?

As a leading LGBTQ+ rights charity we have over three decades of experience advocating for inclusion and over twenty years’ experience supporting workplace inclusion.

As a member of the programme, you’ll be part of a network of hundreds of organisations in the UK and around the globe. This means you’ll be able to combine Stonewall’s extensive expertise on LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace with practical ideas from other leading workplaces representing a wide range of sectors and industries.

The programme supports all the key players in your organisation including senior leaders, LGBTQ+ network groups and those working in HR and EDI with a holistic package of benefits that can be tailored to your needs.
Our inclusion experts have a wide range of specialisms equipping them to work with a wide variety of clients across the public, private and third sector in the UK and around the globe. We understand the importance of social and political context and our team are based across the UK so we’re able to be responsive to your work.

Proud Employers | Stonewall

Oh dear, it's all very sad times over at Stonewall:

The UK used to be a world leader in LGBTQ+ rights. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Whilst as a community we continue to enjoy progress that must be celebrated, the UK and wider world is changing. Globally, the LGBTQ+ movement, along with a whole range of other social justice and human rights issues, is experiencing a period of significant turbulence, with rights and freedoms being contested – particularly for the trans and non-binary communities. There have been significant reductions, in the UK and around the world, in funding for the movement.

Stonewall Annual Report 2024/25 | Stonewall

From the article:

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are committed to supporting LGBTQI+ people, including through funding for Stonewall to advance equality for this group. This is particularly important at a time when we are seeing a rise in attacks against the LGBTQI+ community.”

What ‘rise in attacks’? Court cases with legal bills attached perchance?

What are TransActual and Translucent if they’re not charities? And is LGBTYS able to have such large reserves because it’s funded by the Scottish govt?

Just looked up LGBTYS and note that in 2023/2024 it had an income over £2m! You’d expect them to be in a better financial position. Though the income of Schools and higher education institutions pay fees ranging from £850 to £2,000 for training, assessments, and accreditation, depending on the number of pupils or staff and the award level (Bronze, Silver, or Gold) might have gone down as what schools have spare cash to waste on this ‘accreditation’ fgs?

Edited to add that if I lived in Scotland with poor public services I’d be enraged my taxpayer money was going to an organisation encouraging children to take harmful medication.

Lordy, don't say that @fanOfBen , they already think we're a load of far right Christo nutters!!

It can't possibly be that we are women, and they are not. No, there must be something else going on 🙄

Mind you, I'd love some of that supposed dark money from the US, I've got bills coming up 💰

Lol, are we sure p-t-d isn't one of us? Someone asks where to put some money given this dire situation, and this is his response:

The GLP. We are at a crisis point atm- we need to win binding cases in the courts in the immediate future. Just be a bit wary because they have a history of dropping cases and exaggeration.
Trans supportive unions are also a good shout for the same reason.
Once we have some protection in caselaw we can start pushing advocacy groups to change the statutes.

I mean, great, let them - but isn't this utterly backward? If I were advising them, I wouldn't be pushing for caselaw even with a competent legal organisation, never mind with GLP, because given FWS's clarity I'd expect to lose every case eventually. I'd be doing whatever I could to advocate for changing the law (expecting it to take a while, but look at how the anti-abortionists worked in the US, over the long term).

Yes, you are correct, an important point. Paying lots of money for poor advice that costs you more money in legal fees in the long run.

Previously Stonewall would have then offered to help with those legal cases, for a fee of course. Get you into trouble for a fee, then offer to try and get you out of the trouble they got you into (and fail) for another fee. That’s the pyramid of the scheme!

It’s amazing how they got away with it for so long.

I'm a trustee of a small local charity. We're currently thriving. I suspect we will see cuts in our government funding in the years to come, which will make things difficult, but currently we are financially solid.

ETA no redundancies, no cuts to services, pressure on us to expand.

Agreed, @NotBadConsidering . Also, Stonewall's dodgy advice and ideology started to be a financial and legal liability to companies and organisations.

Sad times all round.
Poor them.