Other funding priorities and programmes

As London’s largest independent charity funder, City Bridge Foundation continues to manage a range of established programmes and partnerships alongside our new funding priorities.

You can read more about how we fund and the different approaches we use to create impact in our approach to funding.

The examples below highlight some of the past and current initiatives and programmes we’ve supported through these approaches. Most are not currently open for new applications.

Our new funding policy sees a focus on social justice funding and systems change, but that doesn’t mean we’re no longer supporting London’s wider charitable sector. 

Our ongoing support to existing funded organisations remains substantial. As our first Access to Justice programme opens we continue to support more than 800 organisations awarded funding under our previous policy, with grants worth over £133m. 

Alongside this financial support, all these organisations are also eligible for our free Funder Plus support. This offers a range of free services and training to increase funded organisations’ capacity, resilience and sustainability. 

City Bridge Foundation’s £10m Strategic Transition Awards fund has been set up to ensure ongoing continuity and stability in certain areas of work we have typically funded. 

As an example, our first £1.1m award from this fund has gone to Samaritans, awarded in October 2025. Over seven years, this funding will help towards the development of Samaritans’ regional approach and partnership working in London. This includes areas of work such as Samaritans’ helpline service, bespoke services for vulnerable groups, a transformational outreach programme, and an influencing engagement programme.

Strategic Transitional Awards are offered to chosen organisations. These grants are not open to wider applications or advertised on our website.

The Anchor programme is providing long-term, core funding to second-tier organisations that provide support to frontline groups, with the aim of catalysing systems change. 

This £26m City Bridge Foundation programme launched in 2023 and will last for ten years. 

By funding organisations rather than projects, the programme is providing long-term financial sustainability. This is allowing organisations to problem solve without the restrictions of short-term funding, giving them space to collaborate, take risks and to create systems change.

In addition, the fund aims to achieve the following:

• Capacity building: improving capacity for civil society organisations to engage in positive structural change and to have the space to develop strong partnerships and collaborative work with other organisations in the sector and beyond
• Wider knowledge sharing within civil society
• More equitable outcomes for London’s marginalised communities
• A rebalanced relationship between funder and funded organisations, with a deeper focus on funded organisations’ learning journeys

The Anchor Programme is not open to new applications.

Learn more about the thinking behind the Anchor Programme in our blog: The story of the Anchor Programme 

In 2024 City Bridge Foundation launched a £10m funding programme to reduce isolation and increase community connection among those most at risk of suicide. Funding was available for up to seven years. 

Funding was shared across two initiatives. We allocated £4.2m as seven-year grants to four strategic partnerships to tackle systemic issues around suicide prevention. The expertise of people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and behaviour was embedded into the design and evaluation of these services.

Meanwhile, £5.8m was offered as five-year, core funding grants to community projects reducing isolation and boosting community connection for those most at risk.

This Suicide Prevention funding is offered in the hope that it will help to drive down the shocking statistic that 10 people in the capital take their own life every week. We want to work with others to make London a zero suicide city.

The programme was devised with input from an advisory group of people who’ve experienced suicidal ideation or bereavement through suicide, and following in-depth research into existing programmes and consultation with key stakeholders.

Both funding streams are closed to applications.

We are proud to be part of Propel, a collaboration of funders powered by London Funders, the membership body for public, private and independent funders in the capital. 

Long-term funding for Propel is pooled through Collaboration Circle, a subsidiary of London Funders, which holds funds on behalf of City Bridge Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund.

The Propel Long-term Grants Programme supports organisations led by and for communities experiencing structural inequality, including young people, women and girls, LGBT+ communities, Deaf and Disabled people, and communities facing racial inequity.

This first collaboration, launched in 2025, will see £34m distributed to London’s communities over the next seven years.

Launched in September 2025, Communities for Children is a £15m funding programme designed to alleviate the impact of child poverty in areas experiencing high levels of need across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. 

The programme is co-funded by BBC Children in Need, The National Lottery Community Fund, City Bridge Foundation, Pears Foundation, and The Hunter Foundation.

As the first major funder collaboration in the UK focused on finding and funding scalable solutions to child poverty, Communities for Children aims to support children living in areas of the highest economic deprivation to thrive and fulfil their potential.

Recognising that funding alone will not tackle systemic issues, the programme will use a place-based approach, targeting ten locations across the UK. It will build local partnerships, convene a community of practitioners, and amplify the voices of children and young people.

The initiative will include building strong local partnerships, engaging community leaders, and elevating the voices of children and young people – particularly those often left unheard. By doing so, the programme aims to challenge stigma, inspire change in local systems, and share learnings across communities.

The London Growth & Resilience Programme is a funded opportunity for charities, not-for-profits and community organisations to start or increase trading, earning income and building financial resilience.

The programme is designed for London-based organisations which are at least three years old, with £50k+ income, and with little or no trading history.

The initiative is being delivered by the School for Social Entrepreneurs and is funded by City Bridge Foundation. It offers an 18-month support package, combining two grants with hands on learning, mentoring and buyer connections.

The London Growth & Resilience Programme is open to expressions of interest until Thursday, 18 December 2025.