The Funding Committee of the City Bridge Foundation Board met to discuss budget monitoring, grant funding activity, and the progress of LocalMotion, as well as to receive updates from the Chief Funding Director. The committee was also scheduled to discuss the implementation of the Standing with Londoners funding policy, principles of funding emergency in the sector, and social investments. Some of these discussions were expected to take place after the public was excluded from the meeting.

LocalMotion Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on LocalMotion, a collaborative effort by five UK foundations to address structural injustices in towns and cities by promoting place-based change and community empowerment. The City Bridge Foundation (CBF) has allocated £5 million to LocalMotion over seven years, specifically supporting work in Enfield.

The report outlined LocalMotion's four key principles:

• Relationship building
• Resource shifting
• Power sharing
• Collective learning

The report noted that LocalMotion acts as a bridge between national policy and lived experience, and that in Enfield a project called Enfield LX uses the voices of people with lived experience of mental health issues to drive systems change in mental health provision.

The report also noted that care experienced young people in Enfield would be meeting with the Children's Minister Josh McAllister to share their experiences.

The report stated that LocalMotion has invested in a learning infrastructure to support people's capability to run impactful change processes.

The report concluded that LocalMotion demonstrates that meaningful systems change is possible when power and resources are shifted closer to communities.

Grant Funding Activity

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing details of funds approved and rejected under delegated authority since the last meeting, the remaining 2025/26 grants budget, grants spend to date, and any grant variations that have been approved under delegated authority.

According to the report, 144 grants have been awarded from the main grants programmes to date in 2025/26, with a net grant spend of £36.1 million. The remaining budget for grant spend for 2025/26 was reported as £7.1 million.

The report included a list of all rejections approved in line with the current delegated authority procedure, and details of grant variations agreed by the Acting Managing Director of CBF, the Chief Funding Director or a Funding Director.

The report also included details of funds approved under delegated authority and urgency procedures from 18 August 2025 to 10 November 2025. These included:

• £157,200 to Action Breaks Silence for their VAWG programme.
• £100,000 to Action for Race Equality to extend their Routes2Success programme.
• £264,751 to Active Successful Engagement (ASÉ) CIC towards the i MATTER: Voices of Strength Programme.
• £198,220 to African Women's Care towards the salary of a Specialist Mental Health Advocate.
• £149,936 to Alford House to contribute to capital works to enhance accessibility and the environmental sustainability of its facilities.
• £120,000 to Centre for Justice Innovation to contribute to the running of the charity's Community Advice service at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court.
• £298,900 to Claudia Jones Organisation towards their VAWG Service.
• £124,392 to Deafblind UK Disability Advice towards their 'Getting on, not Getting By' initiative.
• £276,961 to Service Lambeth to cover the staff costs of a full-time welfare benefits caseworker.
• £281,080 to Freightliners Farm Limited towards the Farm Manager salary and other associated costs.
• £131,189 to Hillingdon Foodbank for the salary of the project co ordinator, and contribution towards overheads, running and volunteer costs.
• £20,000 to Impact Investing Institute for their programme championing investment for racial justice outcomes.
• £112,330 to InterAct Stroke Support towards their work with stroke survivors in London.
• £206,144 to Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) for a contribution towards salaries, direct costs, project costs and operational overheads, to provide legal advice and holistic support to people in London most marginalised by the immigration system.
• £112,000 to Justice and Care to contribute to the costs of a Women and Girls Victim Navigator role.
• £171,278 to KCAH towards the salary and management costs of a specialist housing adviser post.
• £14,000 as a development grant to Locality to understand how best to deliver a programme of enterprise support to CBF's funded organisations and for Locality to put forward a proposal for this.
• £230,000 to Money A+E UK Community Interest Company towards the third year of the Grow Your Own Advice programme.
• £169,100 to Place At My Table for a Propel Expand grant to strengthen and expand the Where Rivers Meet Network (WRMN).
• £268,000 to Plumstead Community Law Centre for a Senior Immigration Solicitor to provide free legal advice services in Greenwich.
• £248,940 to Rights of Women towards their work to increase access to justice for women in London.
• £3,200 to Surplus To Supper CIO to provide an eco audit.
• £110,230 to Synergy Theatre Project towards core costs including contributions towards salaries, admin and overheads.
• £60,000 to Together Arts Productions CIC towards the salary of the 'Participation Producer' overseeing the work and participation of both the 'Sing for Freedom Choir' and 'Mixed Up Chorus'.
• £297,500 to User Voice towards the User Voice Hub.
• £281,749 to Voyage towards the appointment of a Head of Programmes to coordinate key activities alongside materials and resources to facilitate the launch, iterative improvement and scaling of the HyPE program.
• £461,900 to West London Equality Centre towards a Hate Crime project across outer West London.
• £116,000 to Young Ladies Club towards the recruitment, salary and oncosts of a full-time Domestic Abuse Officer.
• £16,160,015 to Collaboration Circle.

Budget Monitoring Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing a financial update on CBF Funding activities for the period 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025, and an updated forecast for the financial year ending 31 March 2026.

CBF Funding's approved expenditure budget is £46.7 million, comprising £42.2 million allocated to grant commitments, £4.2 million to operational costs, and £0.3 million to central recharges. The revised grants commitments forecast for the year is £50.1 million.

At the end of September 2025, grant commitments were £15.2 million against the year-to-date budget of £17.2 million. The variance of £2 million is due to Bridging Divides.

The report stated that the Funding team restructure is complete and that year to date, there is an underspend of £131,000, primarily due to recruitment timing, with two posts remaining vacant since the start of the year.

Chief Funding Director's Update Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing an update on key areas of activity, including funding updates about Access to Justice, Communities for Children, Strategic Transition Awards, the transition portfolio, Propel/Collaboration Circle, Anchor, social investment and social enterprise development. There were also scheduled to be EDI updates on racially equitable investment, the racial justice community of practice, and the racial justice audit of grants, as well as impact and learning updates covering the progress of the service design and end-to-end review, the learning programme for the team and operations.

The report noted that the first round of the Access to Justice programme was soft launched on CBF's website in late October, followed by formal launch on 10 November. It is expected that CBF will make 20-25 awards in this initial round, with awards being made in early 26/27.

The report also noted that the December 2023 Funding Committee and March 2024 Board approved a £1.09 million award over four years to BBC Children in Need to support the London delivery of Communities for Children.

The September 2025 Funding Committee agreed to reserve up to £10 million for a programme of Strategic Transition Awards (STAs) supporting the sector for the period between the closure of Bridging Divides and the full opening of Standing with Londoners.

As of September 2025, CBF has committed approximately £7.07 million, representing 32% of its social investment allocation, with a portion of this capital still subject to legal completion.

The £2 million pilot programme of enterprise grants and support approved at September's Board and Funding Committee meetings and being delivered by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, remains open for applications to London VCSEs until mid-December.

CBF agreed a £20,000 contribution towards the costs of work done by the Impact Investing Institute on racially equitable investment.

This year, CBF joined the Ten Years' Time Racial Justice Community of Practice.

The first round of the Access to Justice programme is serving as a live test of new streamlined processes, embedding End-to-End review recommendations.

The Funding team continue to participate in structured learning activities, including sessions led by external facilitators to support participatory learning and professional development.

Outstanding Actions

The committee was scheduled to receive a report of the Town Clerk, providing a list of outstanding actions and noting the updates in respect of the items listed.

The report included one outstanding action from 10 September 2025, which was that guidance on the exclusions of the new Funding policy be reported to December Funding Committee Meeting. The officer responsible was Sacha Rose, CBF Chief Funding Director, and the target completion date was 2 December 2025. The progress update stated that funding Guidance has been developed and is available for review within the Chief Funding Directors report, and that a briefing note on the new policy and it's first program have also been circulated ahead of the committee.