Trust for London

This fund aims to support charitable work to reduce inequality across London by supporting organisations that are fighting for economic and social injustice across the city.

The Trust will support work in economic justice to ensure that all Londoners have enough money to achieve a decent standard of living, focussing on increasing incomes and reducing costs for people living in poverty.

The Trust will support work in social justice to create a city where everyone can thrive by tackling injustices that lead to some Londoners being disproportionately affected by poverty, focussing on ending migrant destitution and fighting for both disability and racial justice.

The following types of funding are available:

• Project funding for discrete and time-bound pieces of work.
• Unrestricted funding for registered charities working solely to tackle poverty in London.

Grants typically range from £40,000 to £80,000 per year for up to five years.

Groups can apply on their own or as part of a collaboration with others. The Trust typically only considers one grant at a time but may consider a second application from organisations as part of a partnership.

Strategic grants for work that tackles social and economic injustices that fall outside of the Trust's priority areas may sometimes be considered in exceptional circumstances. Organisations must explain clearly how the proposed work is exceptional, or how it will make a strategic contribution to the Trust's overall aims.

Social investment loans for businesses with a social purpose to grow and deliver social impact may also be considered.

The following can apply:

• Registered charities.
• Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs).
• Community interest companies (CICs).
• Companies that are limited by guarantee.
• Trusts.
• Unincorporated associations.
• Cooperative societies.
• Trade unions.

Applicants must have the following:

• A bank account with two unrelated signatories.
• At least three trustees or directors who are independent of the senior management of the organisation.
• A written constitution.
• Be paying at least the London Living Wage.

The Trust supports projects across the following key aims:

Economic Justice

• Decent Work:
  • Improving access to rights for all workers.
  • Increasing jobs that provide decent pay and conditions.
  • Ensuring that worker experiences inform technological advancements.
• Improving Social Security:
  • Improving social security to guarantee that Londoners, including children, never have to go without essentials such as housing, food, clothing, or heating.
  • Increasing benefits take up.
• Tackling the housing crisis:
  • Ensuring that more Londoners can advocate for their housing rights, and significantly more low-income people are accessing legal and community-legal advice on housing.
  • Ensuring that there is a comprehensive government strategy to solve the housing crisis, informed by the experiences of low-income Londoners.
  • Ensuring that there is a shared commitment to end temporary accommodation for Londoners by 2035 by a movement of Londoners with experience in temporary accommodation and organisations working with them is making a case for change.
• Ending the poverty premium:
  • Reducing the amount of extra money paid by Londoner because of the poverty premium.

Social Justice

• Ending migrant destitution:
  • Significantly more people in London are supported out of the destitution caused by their immigration status.
  • The immigration system shifts its focus away from the hostie environment, to support people's settlement.
• Disability justice:
  • Deaf and disabled people's organisations have the capacity to campaign for the rights of deaf and disabled Londoners.
  • Funders increase their investment in deaf and disabled people's organisations.
• Racial justice:
  • An increase in household income in Black and minoritised communities.
  • An increase in the amount of household and community wealth in Black and minoritised communities.

For project funding, eligible costs include:

• Salary costs of staff.
• Direct costs of the project.
• Access costs, such as travel, venue hire, support costs, interpreters, or childcare.
• Staff training.
• A reasonable proportion of overheads.

Priority will be given to work with:

• Meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in the leadership of the organisation, and the delivery of work and campaigns.
• Organisations whose staff teams and governing boards reflect the diverse range of people affected by economic and social injustice in London.
• Strong awareness of the interconnected causes of economic and social injustice, and that takes an intersectional approach to addressing them. An intersectional approach means that people with a range of identities - particularly those who face multiple types of discrimination or disadvantage - are included in work so that their voices are heard.
• A collaborative approach.
• Alliances and capacity-building efforts. This might look like work that builds opportunities to work across sectors with ‘unusual suspects’, new allies and creative partners. It may mean work between specialists and non-specialists, for example, the delivery of specialist advice in community settings.
• A clear plan to campaign for policy change, locally or nationally.
• Long-term impact.
  

How To Apply

There is a multi-stage application process:

• Groups must complete an online first-stage application.
• Shortlisted groups will then be invited to complete a full application.

Applications can be submitted at any time and are considered on a rolling basis.