Feedback from our funded organisations: November 2023 – January 2024

City Bridge Foundation has a dedicated Impact and Learning team who review feedback from our funded organisations every three months.

This feedback is received through GrantAdvisor, Learning Visits and our Impact & Learning forms, which we ask funded organisations to fill in once a year, and at the end of each grant.

The feedback suggests areas where we’re doing well, and other areas where we can do better, and helps us learn how best to support our funded organisations, and the current challenges facing the charitable sector.

Our latest feedback relates to the months of November 2023 – January 2024, and is shared below.

Along with more than 100 other grant-makers we have signed up to IVAR’s eight commitments to funding organisations in an open and trusting way. This is how our funded organisations are rating us against the eight commitments.

• We don’t waste your time — 99%
• We ask relevant questions — 99%
• We accept our share of the risk — 88%
• We act with urgency — 86%
• We are transparent about decisions — 91%
• We respond flexibly to changes — 93%
• We are clear about our relationship — 98%
• Our reporting is light-touch — 99%

• Funded organisations have let us know that they would like more networking events and opportunities to advertise and share their ongoing work. They would like us to offer more chances to collaborate with other organisations and to share new funding opportunities
  
  
• “They (City Bridge Foundation) ask for things on the application portal which they do not specify in the pre-app guidance or templates they share.” Anonymous feedback

We will be providing another free networking and learning day for our funded organisations later this year. 

Our new online Spotlight Talks (every two months) will also provide opportunities for organisations working in particular spaces or sectors to listen to key speakers and network with other organisations.

We recently switched to a new, improved application portal, but we are aware that on some occasions we may ask for documents or information that may not be mentioned in pre-application guidance. If we’re not getting something right, please talk to your Funding Manager or contact us — all feedback is welcome.

• Some of the biggest challenges funded organisations tell us they currently face include the complexity of client needs, and the hostile operating environments they work in (eg government policies, negative rhetoric) which create uncertainty and insecurity, and impact on mental health
  
  

• There is also the everyday pressure on organisations – the demand for their services, a scarcity of resources, and the difficulty that organisations face when referring their clients to further services provided by the statutory sector
  
  

• “To support the charity sector we believe City Bridge Foundation can play a vital role by providing flexible funding, supporting core capacity building, and initiating programs that prioritise mental wellbeing. These contributions would greatly enhance our ability to navigate the challenges and allow us to continue delivering impactful support to those in need.” Anonymous feedback

Our Anchor Programme will be reopening in May, offering long-term, core funding to infrastructure organisations providing support to London’s frontline groups, with funding available for up to ten years.

Meanwhile, our new Making London More Liveable funding will open in April. This programme aims to reduce isolation and increase community connection among those most at risk of suicide, with funding of up to five years. This is in addition to our ongoing funding for mental health services.

We are also undertaking a major consultation across London’s charity sector and funders, actively exploring how we should develop a new, more effective funding policy that can deliver greater impact for Londoners and support for the sector. 

We know that ongoing conflicts are having far-reaching, global impacts. This includes some of London’s communities, whether that be people who have fled conflict or those experiencing hate crimes here in the capital.

We support the many charitable organisations who are working across London to tackle inequality and make the capital a fairer, more equitable place for all. We have funding available for migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum, tackling hate crime, mental health support, and more.

Feedback from two Learning Visits to funded organisations working in the fields of environmental conservation and specialist injury support.

• One organisation expressed interest in support with marketing and communications. For instance, they want to be able to share job opportunities, and on-site events, more widely and to the right networks.
  
  
• The other organisation said they would really appreciate City Bridge Foundation leveraging its political network to support their advocacy work addressing policy issues.

Our ongoing consultation is actively looking at the support needed by London’s charitable sector, with the research encompassing advocacy and policy work, as well as communications. Our findings will be published later this year.

We are also reviewing our Bridge Programme, which offers a range of free support options to funded organisations (as part of our Funder Plus offer), and are bringing the programme delivery inhouse.

This data relates to the 256 funded organisations who have completed either an end-of-year or an end-of-grant Impact and Learning Report during the feedback period of November 2023 to January 2024. 

The 256 grants represent funding of £39m, of which 231 grants, worth £30m, are from our mainstream funding programme. 

This funding is open to all eligible organisations working in London. A further 11 grants, worth £1.7m, relate to our targeted Strategic Initiatives programme.

The remaining grants relate to funding delivered through our funder collaborations such as Cornerstone, Investing in Londoners & Stepping Stones programmes.

In 2023, we awarded 24% of our grants to organisations that tell us they are​‘led by’ the communities they support. This generally means that at least 75% of their board and at least 50% of their leadership self-identify as being from a specific marginalised community or protected characteristic. In 2022 we awarded 21% of our grants to​‘led by’ organisations.

Between November 2023 and January 2024 the top three ​‘led by’ sectors awarded funding by City Bridge Foundation were: 

• Women & Girls: 23 grants, £3.7m
• Communities experiencing racial inequity: 21 grants, £2.9m
• Older & Younger People: 8 grants, £1.1m
  

We use an internal coding system of 163 Project Tags to help us analyse which areas and communities we are funding. Any one grant can have a range of different Project Tags allocated to it.

In the period November 2023 – January 2024 are top five Project Tags were

• Community
• Advice
• Disabled People
• Older People
• Mental Health