Grants

Grants Programme Guidelines

Working with Londoners

Our criteria and priorities
We receive many more applications than we are able to fund. We usually only support work which most closely measures up to our published priorities. In all cases priority is given to projects which tackle the greatest deprivation or disadvantage.

Download our programme guidelines brochure.

Our current grant programmes are:
Accessible London
Bridging Communities
Improving Londoners’ Mental Health
London’s Environment
Older Londoners
Positive Transitions to Independent Living
Strengthening the Third Sector

There are no closing dates for applications for the above.

Greening the Third Sector, provides advice, training and an eco-audit and is additional to any grant which you may hold on any of our grants programmes.

Special editions
Occasionally we run ‘special edition’, time-limited programmes with a specific closing date.

Exceptional grants
Very occasionally we make grants outside our published priorities.

These can include organisations which show that they are:

responding to new needs and circumstances which may have arisen since the Trust fixed its priorities, such as a major catastrophe impacting upon London, or
for example projects requiring short-term assistance to cope with unforeseen circumstances enabling them to adapt to change and move forward. Need arising from poor planning will not be considered.

Only a small number of grants are likely to be made in this category.

Strategic work
As well as responding to applications sent to us, we are also involved in a number of strategic initiatives where we work proactively. We believe a charitable trust can add value by disseminating widely the knowledge it has gained through its grant-making, to the third sector, other funders and policy makers.

Current strategic initiatives include working with partners to

reduce knife crime among young people
improve the quality of impact measurement in the third sector
improve communications skills in the third sector
improve access advice for developing buildings
reduce the third sector’s carbon footprint.

Who can we fund?

We fund third sector organisations, predominantly registered charities and only for charitable activity.

How much will we fund?

We have no minimum or maximum grant.
Grants over £500,000 need the approval of the City of London Corporation’s Court of Common Council and are very exceptional.
Applications over £25,000 need to be accompanied by a detailed proposal. Large grants to small organisations are unlikely to be made.
Grants to large charities will not usually be more than 50% of the total project costs.
Grants for large capital projects will usually not exceed £50,000.
Capital grants in excess of £50,000 may be awarded occasionally to small organisations or local projects.

Other funding
We expect organisations to have secured some other source of revenue funding and to have a track record, including accounts which comply with Charity Commission requirements. We are unlikely to award a grant if we will become an organisation’s largest single revenue funder.

We cannot fund

political parties
political lobbying
non charitable activities
work which does not benefit the inhabitants of Greater London.

We do not fund

individuals
grant-making bodies to make grants on our behalf
schools, PTAs, universities or other educational establishments
medical or academic research
churches or other religious bodies where the monies will be used for religious purposes
hospitals
projects which have already taken place or building work which has already been completed
statutory bodies, such as local authorities
profit making organisations, except social enterprises
charities established outside the UK.

Grants will not usually be given to

work where there is statutory responsibility to provide funding
organisations seeking funding to replace cuts by statutory bodies, except where that funding was explicitly time-limited and for a discretionary purpose
organisations seeking funding to top up on under-priced contracts
work where there is significant public funding available, including funding from sports governing bodies.

How to apply

You must complete our application form, using our format only, available in hard copy or downloadable from this website. It is also available on disk, on tape, in Braille or large print formats.
Our online application system will be available later this year.
Applications sent by fax or conventional e-mail will not be considered.
Please read our guidelines and consult our website before submitting an application. If you need further clarification, please contact a grants officer.

The process

Your application will be considered by the Trust’s committee and your form may be included in the papers for a public committee meeting. You should ensure that the completed form provides a sufficient summary of what is proposed.
All applications will be acknowledged. Before the application is considered by the committee it will have been assessed – and we may need to visit you.
Any grant agreed by the Trust will be subject to certain terms and conditions and monitoring requirements.
We will undertake various checks to establish the authenticity of your organisation and application.

What type of grants do we give?

We give grants for either running costs or capital costs. Grants for running costs can be for one to three years.
A tapering funding approach, if appropriate, may be applied when awarding revenue grants.
Projects of an exceptionally strategic nature may make an application for a further two years, a maximum of five years in all. Please discuss this with us before applying.
Grants of up to £5,000 may be awarded for disability access audits and disability equalities training or consultancy to help organisations obtain the best advice to develop their proposed projects.

Organisations may usually hold only one grant at a time

except

charities with branches or running discrete activities in different parts of London, which can hold up to three grants; you are advised to speak to us if you think this might apply to your organisation. In such cases the national or regional office of the applicant charity should co-ordinate applications.
if you hold a grant on any of our programmes and if environment work is not your main focus you can apply for an additional grant on our environment programme.

Core costs

We recognise that core costs are incurred in the delivery of good services and are willing to consider supporting such costs providing the work supported meets the Trust’s stated funding criteria.

Policy on reserves

We do not apply rigid criteria on what constitutes a reasonable level of reserves. Applicants must justify their level of reserves in relation to their obligations.

Exit strategy

Organisations must identify how they see the work being funded, if continuing, after the lifetime of the Trust’s grant.

Timetable

The trustees meet regularly and applications are accepted throughout the year. It usually takes about four months from receiving your complete application until a final decision is reached. Please take this into account when planning your project.

When can you re-apply?

At the end of your revenue grant you may apply for a further grant for a different purpose one year after the ending of that grant period and subject to the receipt of satisfactory monitoring and evaluation reports.
If you wish to apply for the same purpose, you can do so three years after the project end date.
In the case of capital grants a year must have elapsed since payment of that grant and receipt of a satisfactory monitoring and evaluation report.

Re-applications

Our staff and Grants Committee give careful consideration to all applications. Unfortunately demands for assistance always exceed funds available. This means that some good applications, whilst meeting our criteria, still have to be rejected. You can re-apply one year after the date that a rejected application was submitted.