LHF Grant Application Guidelines

The Lesbian Health Fund (LHF), a program of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, was established in 1992 to define, study, and educate lesbians and sexual minority women (SMW), as well as their healthcare providers, about health issues facing SMW. LHF’s mission is to improve the health of SMW and their families through investigation and research and is the only US research fund dedicated solely to the unique health needs of SMW.

Eligibility

Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty interested in pursuing a research career focused on sexual and/or gender minority women, or gender diverse people AFAB are invited to apply. Senior scholars, faculty, and non-profit organizations interested in expanding their program of research into this population are also welcome to apply. Applicants’ organization or institution must have a US tax ID. Grant award checks will be made to the primary institution or organization identified on the application cover page. Proposed research may not begin until you have received funding from LHF. Grant money is NOT awarded for completed research or for projects in progress. Current LHF grantees may not participate in a new grant as PI or Co-Investigator until LHF receives the written Final Report for their current grant.

2021 Research Areas

For the 2021 grant cycle, we plan to fund three to eight grants in the range of $1,000 to $10,000 each. The LHF Grant Committee welcomes all proposals that identify or address health disparities among sexual and/or gender minority women, or gender diverse people AFAB; however, special consideration will be given to proposals that focus on the following:

• Research that generates pilot data for subsequent training or early-stage
  investigator grants
• Subpopulations that are often underrepresented in sexual and gender minority
  (SGM) research, including but not limited to:
  • BIPOC people
  • Intersex individuals or individuals with differences or disorders of sex development (DSD)
  • Bisexual people
  • Individuals whose gender identity falls within the full spectrum of gender
  • Older adults
  • Adolescents
• Methods & frameworks
  • Qualitative research
  • Measurement & methods of SGM people
  • Community-informed/community-based participatory research
  • Trauma-informed research
  • Social & behavioral research
  • Intersectionality
• Sexual and reproductive health, including family & parenting issues

Click here for a list of previously funded LHF grants.

Evaluation

LHF will give a higher ranking to proposals that test hypotheses or evaluate research questions justified by the scientific literature.

Applications will be evaluated using the following 100-point scale:

• Research plan - 40 Points
• Investigators’ qualifications and/or training potential - 20 Points
• Significance to the SGM community - 20 Points
• Feasibility of accomplishing the project - 10 Points
• Budget justification - 10 Points

Reporting Responsibilities

Interim and final reports are to be submitted by the principal investigator. Upon completion of the project the investigator will be expected to present the results at the GLMA Annual Conference on LGBTQ Health in 2022 for one-year grants, and 2023 for two-year grants. Within six months of project completion, the investigator is expected to submit a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. A copy of the manuscript is to be sent simultaneously to the LHF Program Manager at lhf@glma.org. All publications resulting from the research conducted from the award must acknowledge that the project was funded by the Lesbian Health Fund of GLMA. The grant abstract will be publicized with the names of the Principal and Co Investigator(s) if the grant is funded.

Important Dates

The deadline for receipt of the 2021 application cycle is July 16th, 2021 at 11:59 pm ET. Funding decisions will be announced approximately two months from the application deadline.

Final IRB Approval/Exemption should be submitted no later than November 1st , 2021 at 11:59 pm ET. For those of you applying from institutions or as an international applicant without an Institutional Review Board, arrangements must be made for you to seek IRB approval from another investigator or institution OR you must propose a valid and legal process that would serve as an alternative. If you are unsure how to proceed, please send an email to lhf@glma.org. If you have any questions regarding this process, please email the LHF Program Manager at lhf@glma.org.

Proposal Submission Guidelines

In addition to asking you to provide some contact information and demographic data for the primary investigator and, if applicable, the co-investigator,please review the proposal submission guidelines for further details of proposal requirements.

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