London’s biggest independent charity funder has revamped its small grants programme – opening up funding to hundreds more organisations across the capital.
City Bridge Foundation, previously City Bridge Trust, has reopened the programme after a five-month hiatus and an extensive review, and is now taking applications from constituted voluntary organisations as well as registered charities.
Grants are now on offer not just for environmental projects and those benefitting older people and disabled people, but also for projects aimed at LGBTQIA+ communities and refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.
Finally, the foundation has raised the bar for small organisations to those with an income of up to £200,000 a year, rather than £100,000, while the maximum grant limit has doubled to £20,000, or up to 50% of an organisation’s income.
The review launched in December 2022, and included extensive consultation with existing grant recipients, other charities and voluntary organisations, infrastructure organisations and funders.
Paul Martinelli, City Bridge Foundation Grant Committee Chairman, said: “One thing we learned during the pandemic was the need to be flexible and adaptive, and to work more closely with our funded organisations, and potential applicants, when devising funding programmes.
“With this review, we wanted to ensure the views of potential grantees were reflected, to remove barriers small, user-led organisations have accessing funding and to offer a small grants programme which more closely matches the needs of London’s communities.
“The changes will enable us to address funding gaps for particular groups, and to reach even more small organisations, including those which are not registered charities but are doing vital work on the ground.”
The revamp follows a more wide-ranging review of the foundation’s funding programmes, carried out during the pandemic. Small grants are available for specific projects and core funding.
