[WiLT] City Bridge Trust to launch improved grants plan

[WiL Admin]

City Bridge Trust to launch improved grants plan

The City Bridge Trust, the grant-making arm of the City of London
Corporation, has announced a new raft of programmes that will provide
£15m a year for charities in the capital.

The eight programmes are part of the trust's five-year grant-making
plan, launched yesterday.

Among them is an altered version of the trust's Strengthening the
Third Sector programme, which will focus on giving charities guidance
on strategic and financial management.

Three of the programmes - those focusing on improving Londoners'
mental health, helping people during major life transitions and
enhancing community cohesion - are completely new.

Another three - helping disabled people get better access to
buildings, protecting London from environmental damage and helping
older people - are versions of existing programmes.

The trust is also setting up a 'special edition' project to help young
people and their parents tackle violence in collaboration with the
Mayor of London's drive to cut knife crime.

Clare Thomas, chief grants officer at the trust, said: "We've looked
at what's going to happen in London in the next five years and what
other grant-makers are doing, and taken account of the operating
environment."

Applications to the anti-violence programme close at the end of
October, but charities can apply to the others at any time over the
next five years.

"If you have closing dates, people very often produce hurried
applications," said Thomas. "We take pains to advise people and
explain what we would expect to see in a good application."

Thomas added that the trust would place a strong emphasis on sharing
knowledge. "Grant-making foundations have not necessarily always been
very concerned with recycling or promoting lessons learnt," she said.

The trust will also continue its existing service, Greening the Third
Sector, which provides an audit facility for charities keen to reduce
the impact they have on the environment.

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/831600/City-Bridge-Trust-launch-improved-grants-plan/A0B0F1ED602CD76FBCCBE1E8B6DAA19E/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin