Funder collaborations
Working collaboratively with other funders and partners allows us to increase the reach and impact of our grant-making and philanthropic work
In addition to our traditional grant making, we collaborate, fund and support larger organisations with the the joint ambition of strengthening the sector. This includes collaborative funding programmes, research, feasibility studies and conferences, and are often undertaken in partnership with other bodies and organisations.
Our current funder collaborations:
Collaborative programmes
Propel
Propel is a partnership funding programme focused on enabling civil society groups and organisations to explore, develop and lead collaborative approaches to tackle some of London’s biggest challenges.
Status: Please note that applications for the first round of funding have now closed. If you want to stay up to date with news about future funding rounds, please sign up to the Propel newsletter.
Moving on Up
Moving On Up is a programme funded by ourselves, Trust For London and delivered by Action for Race Equality (previously known as Black Training & Employment Group) as a strategic partner.
Moving on Up (MoU) is a ground-breaking employment initiative which aims to improve employment outcomes for London’s young Black men aged 16–24.
Cornerstone
The Cornerstone Fund is a funder collaboration involving City Bridge Foundation, the GLA, the National Lottery Community Fund, Trust for London and the John Lyons Charity. The Cornerstone Fund is not open to new applications.
The Cornerstone Fund aims to bring about systemic change, enabling civil society support organisations to work in partnership with others to achieve the goal of:
“a thriving civil society that is adaptable, resilient, collaborative, sustainable and driven by communities, with a focus on tackling deep seated structural inequalities to improve outcomes for Londoners.”
Strategic initiatives
LocalMotion
LocalMotion is building a social, economic and environmental justice movement, by communities, for communities. It is a collaboration between six funders (including ourselves) to work in a place-led way, incorporating learning from participatory grant-making models and place-based initiatives.
LocalMotion focusses on six locations across the UK: Carmarthen, Enfield, Lincoln, Middlesbrough, Oldham and Torbay.
London’s Giving
London’s Giving is a programme delivered by London Funders and supported by funding from ourselves. It supports the development of place-based giving schemes in each of London’s 32 boroughs, bringing together the voluntary sectors, it acknowledges that everyone has something to give — time, skills or money.
Alliance partnerships
The Rise Fund
We provided £500k over two years to Rosa, a grant-making charity that funds grassroots women’s organisations and works to make the UK a fairer, safer place for women and girls. The Rise Fund invests in the future of Black and minoritised-led women’s and girls’ organisations, providing grants to strengthen the sector.
Status: Closed to new applications
Civil Society Roots 3
We contributed £720k to an alliance partnership coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA). Funding is for groups that are led by and for communities impacted by structural inequalities, with the aim of strengthening networks, capacity and voice. Distribution of grants are across 10 London boroughs.
Status: Closed to new applications
Racial Justice Fund
We provided £2m to Trust for London’s (TFL) Racial Justice Fund, which aims to tackle racial injustice by increasing economic empowerment among London’s Black and minoritised communities
Status: Closed to new applications
Disability Justice Fund
We provided £1.5m to Trust For London’s Disability Justice Fund which will supply grants to strengthen the disability movement in London by supporting organisations led by Deaf and Disabled people, enabling growth in effectiveness, power, and influence.
Status: Closed to new applications
Media Trust
We work in partnership with the Media Trust, a charity that supports folks in front-line organisations to raise their voice and share their work with their key audiences. This is via two programmes: Strengthening Voices, and Telling Stores. people from under-represented communities to create, learn and develop their craft in filmmaking.
Closed programmes
Working together to support Londoners
The London Community Response was coordinated by London Funders and supported by ourselves and 66 others. It launched on 27th March 2020, shortly after the start of the first national lockdown as a collaborative funder response to COVID-19.
We worked together to provide coordinated funding to support groups responding to the needs of communities in the capital affected by the pandemic.
The London Community Response was anchored in trusting and equitable grant-making, and drew on learning from previous joint-funder emergency collaborations. It offered a common application form to allow civil society organisations to make applications for emergency support.
The Fund distributed over £57m in grants.
Status: Applications are now closed but Propel launched in 2022 and builds on the London Community Response Fund.
The London Community Response Fund was established to enable donors (including independent and public sector funders, livery companies, and city businesses) to donate to a single fund as part of the response to the pandemic, rather than having to individually assess grants themselves.
In contrast, funders which contributed to the London Community Response (above) were required to assess applications.
The London Community Response Fund was administered by City Bridge Foundation, and a total of 20 funders contributed over the course of the London Community Response’s five waves of funding.
The London Community Response Fund was responsible for distributing £31.4m via 1,685 grants. This represents 54.4% of the total £57m funding distributed via the London Community Response.