Standing with Londoners: our journey and what’s next

Over the past year, we’ve taken bold steps to reshape how we fund, ensuring our approach tackles the root causes of inequality while supporting vital services today. As we open our first programme, Access to Justice, we want to share what’s next and reaffirm our commitment to standing shoulder to shoulder with Londoners throughout this journey.

In March 2025, we launched our new funding policy Standing with Londoners, which sets the direction of our funding over the next decade. It marked a critical step forward in City Bridge Foundation’s journey as a social justice funder. 

This means we are firmly focused on changing the systems that keep people marginalised, while also addressing the issues communities face right now. To do this, we are prioritising the empowerment of people and communities directly affected by inequality and injustice, to play a central role in shaping the future we all want to see.

With the launch of Standing with Londoners we have also introduced major changes to our funding processes and practices, to ensure we are responsive to the needs of those whose work we seek to support. 

This includes offering long-term, flexible and core funding; increasing accessibility through programme webinars and pre-application calls; and introducing a two stage application process requiring one application form, to reduce the burden on applicants.

We have started developing the four programme areas that are core to the vision of Standing with Londoners: Climate and Environmental Justice, Economic Justice, Racial Justice and Access to Justice.

The first of these four programmes to open will be Access to Justice, on Monday, 10 November 2025. This programme will support ​‘led by and for’ community organisations that provide social welfare advice and that drive social action towards systems change around housing, benefits, debt, employment and immigration.

An initial £6.5m of flexible and core funding is available under the Access to Justice programme, from the remainder of this year’s budget (awards to be made in May), with further funding to come in 2026/7. The programme has two funding streams:

• Development Grants of £75,000 over 3 years — for organisations who provide free social welfare advice to the most marginalised Londoners, AND have the ambition to start using frontline experience and insights to engage in social action and drive systems change.
   
• Transformation Grants of £200k–£450k over 5 years — for organisations who provide free social welfare advice to the most marginalised Londoners, AND apply frontline experience and community insights in their social action work, and contribute to systems change.

We are currently developing our remaining three programmes:

• Climate and environmental justice aims to empower people hardest hit by climate change, environmental hazards and pollution, to organise and champion a fair, inclusive transition as London works towards its net-zero goals.
   
• Economic justice works towards the fair and equitable distribution of economic benefits in society, ensuring that all Londoners can thrive — including approaches to tackling poverty, reducing income gaps and wealth inequalities.
   
• Racial justice will focus on action to address and transform inequalities based on ​‘race’ in areas such as employment, housing, education, mental health, immigration and the criminal justice system.

We’re excited to share that funding will be awarded under each of these justice areas in 2026/27.

We recognise how important it is that the sector continues to receive support during the period between the closure of Bridging Divides and new funding opening under Standing with Londoners. To this end, we will be releasing £10m through a programme of Strategic Transition Awards (STAs).

STAs comprise one-off strategic investments in sectors where we have been a long-term funder and where ongoing support will help retain momentum, knowledge, and capacity. These awards acknowledge that City Bridge Foundation is still in a period of strategic development and wants to safeguard progress in the meantime. 

Our first award from this fund was for £1.1m to Support the Samaritans’ work in London, providing a 24/7 helpline, services that target and reach the most vulnerable and at-risk of suicide, a transformational outreach programme and influencing systems change. We look forward to announcing subsequent awards once they have been agreed.

Apart from strategic transitional funding, our support to existing funded organisations under our previous policy remains substantial, with over 800 live grants totalling £133m. 

We have also continued our support for Alliance Partnerships — where we pool or align our funding with other funders. This enables us to be more flexible and strategic, and means our funds can have an even greater impact. 

One such collaboration is the Propel Long Term Grants Programme, which is held by London Funders’ Collaboration Circle on behalf of The National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Foundation. It will see £34m awarded in 2025 and 2026 (in 7 year grants), to ​’led by and for’ organisations across London working for systemic change.

Alliance Partnerships also includes the Communities for Children fund, through which we have recently awarded £1.09m to BBC Children in Need. Communities for Children has grown into a £15m plus multi-funder initiative, tackling child poverty through place-based, systemic change. It is the first initiative of its kind in the UK.

As well as grant funding, our Social Investment Fund has committed £3.6m over the past year supporting a wide range of work across London, including community energy schemes, local regeneration, black-led enterprise, and employment opportunities for migrants.

Lastly, our Enterprise Development Fund, a £2m partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, is a funded opportunity for charities, not-for-profits, and community organisations to start or increase trading, earning income and building financial resilience.

We very much hope that all of these measures combined provide some stability and much needed support to the sector during this time of change.

The opening of our Access to Justice programme is an exciting first step in our mission to support organisations and communities working on the frontlines of social justice in London. But it is just the first step.

As we plan the roll out of further funding next year, we will work closely with partners to refine the focus of our offer under each justice area, always ensuring equity and impact is a priority.

We have bold ambitions as a social justice funder and will continue to learn and adapt over the next ten years to serve London and Londoners. Together we will help realise our vision of a fairer, more sustainable capital.

Sacha Rose, Chief Funding Director