City Bridge Foundation Awards £10m to support London’s communities through funding transition
City Bridge Foundation has awarded £10 million through its Strategic Transition Awards, supporting 62 organisations across London until 2032
City Bridge Foundation marks 30 years of funding Londoners as Mayor of London joins anniversary event
City Bridge Foundation has marked 30 years as a charitable funder, using its annual board dinner on Tower Bridge to reaffirm its long-standing commitment to social justice, partnership and investing in London’s future.
Sir Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, and Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice (centre), joined by Simon Latham, Acting Managing Director (back row left), and members of the City Bridge Foundation board (from left to right: Nighat Qureishi, Simon Duckworth OBE DL, Deborah Oliver TD, James Thomson, Paul Martinelli (Chair), and Alison Gowman CBE).
- Published: 15 May 2026
Our anniversary event, held on Thursday, 14 May in the iconic walkways of Tower Bridge brought together, funded organisations, public sector partners, leaders from across civil society and City of London Corporation Members. The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, attended as guest speaker.
Addressing the dinner, Paul Martinelli, Chair of the City Bridge Foundation Board, reflected on the charity’s unique history — established almost 900 years ago to maintain London’s bridges — and how its role has evolved over the past three decades to support communities across the capital.
City Bridge Foundation remains responsible for maintaining five Thames crossings – Tower, London, Southwark, Millennium and Blackfriars bridges. Since 1995, surplus funds from the charity’s £1.5 billion endowment have also been used to support civil society across Greater London.
Over the past 30 years, City Bridge Foundation has awarded more than £895 million to over 9,000 organisations, making more than 1,200 grants to tackle inequality and injustice across London. This includes £200 million of additional funding during the Covid-19 pandemic, supporting communities through unprecedented pressures.
“London is a city of immense power, diversity and possibility – yet inequality and poverty remain stark. That contradiction is unacceptable. For 30 years, City Bridge Foundation has worked alongside communities, charities and partners to respond to these challenges.
“Today, we are increasingly focused on how we can help change the systems that keep people marginalised, while continuing to respond to the urgent issues communities face right now.
“Every funding policy we have developed has been shaped through extensive consultation with charities and communities across London. Our new funding policy, Standing with Londoners, builds on that tradition – ensuring our funding is of, and for, the communities we exist to support.”
Paul Martinelli, Chair of City Bridge Foundation Board
Mr Martinelli highlighted the Foundation’s growing role in partnership led systems change, including over £10 million committed to suicide prevention – one of the largest such investments in London.
This includes a flagship collaboration with Samaritans, bringing together 14 local branches alongside partners such as Missing People and Network Rail, to build a more coordinated and locally embedded prevention system.
Other partnership work includes Making London Work for All, launched on the same day as the Board Dinner, an initiative led by Citizens UK and Living Wage Foundation and funded by City Bridge Foundation, Trust for London and the Greater London Authority.
The Making London Work for All initiative seeks to address insecure employment through the Living Wage, Living Hours and Living Pension accreditations. The project focuses on key sectors including health and social care, sport, the creative and cultural industries, and planning and construction.
Mr Martinelli added: “If we want a better future for London, then we have to create it together. By using our voices, our resources and our networks collectively, we can build change that is lasting – for all Londoners and all our communities.”
“For the last 30 years the City Bridge Foundation has made an enormously positive difference to life in our city and communities. By distributing hundreds of millions of pounds across independent and grassroots charities, the Foundation has touched the lives of countless Londoners.
I’m proud to stand alongside them to tackle inequality and disadvantage, and by working together we can help the communities that need support the most, and build a fairer London for everyone.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan