London funder awards over £2m to 19 charities tackling inequality across the capital

The awards ranged from language classes for refugees, support for older people with dementia and their families, and advice for people with debt and financial issues.

Grants include:

• £79,800 to food distribution charity City Harvest. The grant will expand its service collecting surplus food, delivering it to organisations providing food, preparing meals for vulnerable Londoners and those experiencing food poverty.
• £254,600 to eating disorder charity Beat, for a project to improve young Londoners’ mental health by supporting them into specialist eating disorder treatment in the early stages. The funding will also deliver a London-wide promotion campaign to highlight the early stages of eating disorders, the importance of prompt treatment, and where to get help.
• £105,000 to Clink Charity, which aims to reduce re-offending by providing prisoners with training in catering, hospitality and horticulture. This award will fund a Support Worker based in High Down Prison, providing advice and mentoring to help clients find and maintain long-term employment after they are released.

An additional grant of £20,000 was awarded to Charity Tax Group Ltd towards research on the value of VAT reliefs for charities in the context of Brexit. 

Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said: 

“It is inspiring to see so many initiatives making a real impact. There is a consistently high quality of work being done by charities across the board.

“Our latest round of funding shows the huge range of charities that we support. We’ve funded a food distribution organisation, a charity supporting people with eating disorders, we’ve given grants to two charities supporting people living with dementia and funded an organisation supporting ex-offenders to build careers.

“We’re backing work that aims to tackle inequality in London, work which will change thousands of lives.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage across the capital and making London a fairer and better place to live.”

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates. It is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.  The Trust has awarded around 7,900 grants totalling over £380 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.