Changes to our funding

Having committed exceptional levels of funding to London’s charitable sector until 2026, we have closed our rolling grants programmes to new applications for one year. This will allow us to manage our existing grants and pre-closure applications, while reviewing and developing our new funding policy, launching in autumn 2025.

The following link will take you to the latest information, and replaces the content below. 

Five of our funding programmes closed to new applications in July 2024. These closures will not affect current grant holders, who will continue to receive their funding as agreed.

On Wednesday, 3 July 2024 at 12pm (noon), we closed the following programmes to new applications:

• Support and Services for Older People
• Support for children and young people
• Mental health services
• Voice and Leadership
• Increasing the quality and scale of giving. This programme includes Increasing the quality and scale of giving and Place-based giving

This does not mean we will not fund in these areas in the future. That will depend on our new funding policy in 2025.

We will support grant holders who are currently receiving funding through one of the closing programmes. If they have received a grant of less than five years, they will have the option to apply for fast-track continuation funding for one year (subject to eligibility, application and assessment).

Due to a review of the Foundation’s reserves position in 2019/20, we were fortunate to have an additional £200m available for grant-funding to be spread over multiple years. This came at a crucial time with the impact of the pandemic and cost of living crisis hitting Londoners. It meant we could do much more to support the sector in extraordinary circumstances. 

We have now committed much of those additional funds and will gradually approve the use of the remainder to return to normal levels of grant spending by 2027. 

With this additional funding winding down, and after careful consideration, we are now closing five of our existing 14 programmes to new applications until a new funding policy is in place towards the end of 2025.

These closures do not affect current grant holders, who will continue to receive their funding as agreed.

In deciding these closures, we have tried to mitigate adverse impacts by considering the data available, the wider funding landscape, and the impact on parts of the voluntary sector where City Bridge Foundation is a significant funder.

We understand the acute need for funding in the sector and continue to provide significant support across nine programme areas, including: environment, Deaf and Disabled people, refugees, asylum seekers, criminal justice, food poverty, suicide prevention and infrastructure.

City Bridge Foundation continues to be London’s largest independent funder. We remain committed to supporting organisations working to tackle inequality and to making London a fairer place.

Nine of our other programmes will remain open, supporting a wide range of areas, including: civil society, environment, disability, refugees, asylum seekers, criminal justice, advice and food poverty, suicide prevention and infrastructure.

Our new funding policy is being developed and will come into effect by the end of 2025. It will be informed by our engagement with the sector, evidence on the needs of Londoners, and an evaluation on the impact of our current funding policy.