Strategic Partnership Funding

We want to fund four partnerships, which will work strategically to achieve systemic change in the area of suicide prevention in London, over a period of seven years.

We would like to fund one strategic partnership grant in each of the following areas:

• Embedding the expertise of people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and behaviour into the design and evaluation of suicide prevention services in London
• Capacity building and support for staff working in suicide prevention services in London
• Improving the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector’s access to consistent and high-quality data around suicide, suicide attempts and self-harm in London
• Services which help people to access the right support for them and/​or their challenges. Such services could include technological platforms, phone lines and text messaging services

Wherever possible, we will seek to support projects and organisations that involve the communities the project or organisation serves in the shaping of its services, or that are directly led by those communities.

This fund has been designed to promote collaboration and partnership in the area of suicide prevention. We are particularly interested in applications which promote cross-sector working and show consideration of how they can work with public and private organisations or bodies.

We want to see organisations engaging in meaningful partnership working where partner organisations strengthen each other and are able to achieve more through collaboration.

Partnerships should consider how they plan to work together to functionally and address potential power imbalances.

The application form for this programme opened on Monday, 3 June 2024 and closed at 5pm on Friday, 2 August 2024.

We held two pre-application webinars during May to answer questions on the programme. These are no longer available but you can view the slides using the link below.

For organisations which would like to apply to this fund, we will offer pre-application support calls. These will be available throughout June and bookable after the pre-application webinars have taken place.

When we have received your online application and all supporting documents, your application will be reviewed by our team. Applications will go through a detailed assessment and will go to the City Bridge Foundation Funding Committee and Board for decision in December 2024.

The assessment process will be informed by a group of people with lived experience of suicidal thoughts and behaviour, or bereavement by suicide.

As part of your application, you will need to submit a 2–4 page proposal covering the following:

• Which organisations are applying as part of the proposed partnership
• The applying organisations’ track record in the area of suicide prevention and the strategic area they are applying for
• How you propose to work together as a partnership
• What activities or services you are proposing to deliver as a partnership and how
• What difference you expect the project to make
• How you plan to reach underserved communities through this project – what steps will you take to make your services accessible?
• How you will ensure that your project/​partnership hears and represents the views and needs of disadvantaged people in its decision making

The lead organisation will also need to submit:

• Its constitution or governing document
• A copy of its most recently signed annual accounts
• Its safeguarding policy
• A draft budget that shows the total funding requested (up to seven years), using the template link below
• An impact measurement framework detailing what activities you would like to deliver with our funding (outputs) and what differences (outcomes) you hope to achieve as a result. The impact measurement framework should also show how you plan track progress against your target outcomes and what tools you plan to use

For applications which progress past initial shortlisting, we will ask for:

• A copy of the lead organisation’s most recent management accounts, draft annual accounts, or equivalent
• A copy of the lead organisation’s budget to its current financial year-end
• The safeguarding policies of all partner organisations
• The job descriptions and person specifications for any roles which will be funded as part of the project for over 17.5 hours per week

These do not need to be submitted with your initial application.

Shortlisting of applications will be based on:

• How far organisations understand the London-specific context of the work
• How far organisations have a track record in their proposed area of work and are evidence-led
• How far organisations will involve and support underserved communities in a meaningful way – particularly racialised communities, neurodiverse people and those who are digitally excluded
• How far organisations will work together in a collaborative and meaningful way
• How far proposals have the potential to lead to systems change
• How far your organisation understands and prioritises safeguarding

This Strategic Partnership Funding is part of City Bridge Foundation’s Suicide Prevention funding programme. The programme has two strands:

1. Making London More Liveable – closed to new applications at 5pm on Friday, 31 May 2024

2. Strategic Partnership Funding – closed to new applications at 5pm on Friday, 2 August 2024