2025-2026 Impact Report
2024-2025 Impact Report Cover Page
Coalition in Action
Open for Business is a coalition of global businesses who believe in a world where LGBTQ+ people are treated fairly and equally.
Purpose, Mission and Strategic Priorities
The economic case for LGBTQ+ inclusion is at the heart of Open for Business’s mission. Our reports and studies equip leaders globally across business, government, and civil society with robust, databacked and real-world case studies that demonstrate a direct link between LGBTQ+ inclusion and stronger performance for economies, businesses and individuals.
The Economic Case for Inclusion
Open for Business was founded in 2015 with a clear evidence-backed conviction: that inclusive societies are not just better for individuals, but for businesses and economies too. Our purpose is to make that case.
Strategic priorities
Deploy evidence: to shift and change policy.
Bridge the right rooms: convene leaders in business, policy, and civil society so data becomes policy and practice.
Stand up when it counts: coordinate business response to harmful laws with rapid, practical tools for confident action.
“Silence is not a strategy.
Evidence is our strongest response.”
A message from our CEO
Welcome to the 2025–26 Open for Business Impact Report. Across much of the world this year, LGBTQ+ equality has come under increasing strain. Hostile laws have spread. LGBTQ+ non-profit funding is under unprecedented pressure. And the gains of a generation have felt, at times, genuinely at risk.
This is the context in which I stepped into the role of CEO at Open for Business in September 2025 and it is precisely why this organisation matters more than ever. Because silence is not a strategy. And evidence is our strongest response.
The “Meeting the Moment” section of this report explores that context in more detail. But this report also tells a story of momentum.
Over the past year, our research was viewed more than 92,000 times, cited or covered in 116 media pieces, and discussed through 76 events across 17 countries. We delivered evidence across four regional programmes covering 14 countries, while laying the foundations for a new East Asia programme.
Behind those numbers is the real work of change. In Central and Eastern Europe, our evidence helped civil society partners reach businesses previously out of reach. In East Africa, we brought business, civil society, and policymakers into the same room. In Southeast Asia, we launched new research, convened senior leadership dinners, and contributed to a regional strategy on equal marriage. Beyond our core programmes, our work reached investors in Switzerland, policymakers in Uruguay, and business leaders in Brazil.
Our evidence also travelled onto some of the world’s most influential stages: from New York and Geneva, to Brussels and Davos. In each setting, the economic case helped open doors, shape conversations and give leaders a practical way to keep moving.
What I am proudest of from this year is not any single event or report. It is the fact that, under intense scrutiny, our coalition of 26 global businesses did not waver. They know that LGBTQ+ inclusion is part of how organisations attract talent, build trust, strengthen innovation, and contribute to more competitive economies.
Looking ahead, we will take this evidence further: into more markets, more policy discussions and more civil society spaces. In the year ahead, we will expand our research to Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, South Africa, India and the Philippines. We will convene leaders across more than 40 moments around the world. And we will continue to help companies replace simplicity with clarity: stronger data, sharper country insight, better peer exchange and more space for candid discussion about what works.
I am deeply grateful to my predecessor, Dominic Arnall, for all he built. To our exceptional team, spread across London, Bangkok, Nairobi, Mexico City and Geneva, I am proud to work alongside you. And to our coalition partners: thank you for your steadiness, your resolve and your belief that inclusion is not just right. It is economically decisive.
Ken Janssens
CEO, Open for Business
