FAQs
About Trust for London
Funding
- When is your next closing date for funding applications?
- What kind of work do you fund?
- Do you only fund work related to London?
- We're not sure if our work fits with your funding priorities. What do we do?
- Our work doesn't fit your funding priorities. Should we still apply?
- How many groups do you fund each year?
- How much do you give out in grants each year?
- How many years funding can we apply for?
- We have had funding from you before. Can we reapply?
- Do you only fund registered charities?
- Do you fund individuals?
- When is your next closing date for funding applications?
- I want to send in a funding application. Who do I send it to?
- What happens after we send in our application?
- Do you have a funding application form we can fill in?
- Can we fax or e-mail you our funding proposal?
- Do you fund larger organisations?
- We're not happy with your decision? Can we appeal?
- Our funding proposal was rejected. When can we next reapply?
- Do you provide feedback on why our proposal was rejected?
- I've read that you fund special initiatives. What are these and how can I apply?
- We already have funding to deliver a government-funded contract, but it did not include enough funding to deliver all of the outputs in the contract. Will you fund the difference?
- The local authority recently funded us. But this funding has come to an end. Will you fund it instead?
Funding aims
Specific questions relating to our funding aims
Employment
Advice
Social Justice
Violence
Small Groups
Groups already in receipt of funding
- What are your monitoring requirements?
- How do I claim my grant?
- I have sent in my instalment claim, but it hasn't been paid yet. What do I do?
- I want to use your logo on our printed materials. Where can I find it?
- We have had funding from you before. Can we reapply?
- Our grant was a final grant. What does this mean and when can I reapply?
Media
What's happened to City Parochial Foundation?
In 2010 City Parochial Foundation changed its name as it amalgamated with its sister charity, Trust for London. Our new name is Trust for London, which we hope better reflects what we are about. We continue to do the same work we did before, which is to fund work tackling poverty and inequality in the capital.
Where does your money come from?
Our assets derive from the philanthropy of the people of London. Around 1,400 separate charitable gifts and bequests, some of them 400 years old, were held by the 112 parishes within the City of London, their income to be used for the benefit of the church communities or, more often, the poor of those parishes.
During the 19th century, the City grew to be a world financial centre but the number of poor beneficiaries fell; some parishes had no residents at all. In 1878, a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate the parochial charities of the City of London and this led to our creation. We were then known as the London Parochial Charities and later on as City Parochial Foundation.
In 1986, following the abolition of the Greater London Council the Government provided us with an endowment of £10 million to continue supporting the capital's small community groups. This was set up as a separate charity and was called Trust for London.
Our staff and Trustees managed both City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London.
In July 2010 the two organisations were amalgamated to form a single organisation called Trust for London.
When is your next closing date for funding applications?
8th October 2012. Please note that we will only accept applications which have been received in the office by 5pm.
What kind of work do you fund?
Our mission is to tackle poverty and inequality in London. There are many ways this can be achieved, however we do not have sufficient resources to support all work related to these significant issues. We have therefore focussed on four areas: Employment, Advice, Social justice (policy change and campaigning work) and Violence. We also have a specific programme for small groups.
These are explained in more detail in our funding guidelines.
Do you only fund work related to London?
Yes, generally this is the case. However, some of the activities we fund have a wider national, and sometimes international significance. If this is the case we will contribute towards the London element of the work, as long as a significant proportion of the beneficiaries are living and working in London.
For example, if you were proposing to change national policy in relation to migrants' rights, we would consider this, as a substantial proportion of the UK's migrant population reside in London. We could therefore consider around half of the costs of this work. However, if you are campaigning for change on a national policy that affects people across the UK (such as domestic violence) we could consider funding a specific element of the work which focussed on London.
Our legal remit is London because our funds came from a large number of legacies and donations, which were solely for the benefit of Londoners living in poverty.
We're not sure if our work fits with your funding priorities. What do we do?
Please read our funding guidelines first, to check whether your proposal fits our priorities and criteria.
If, after reading these guidelines, you are in doubt about whether your work fits then please telephone us so that we can discuss your proposal. We welcome such telephone calls as it can save you and us time and resources.
Our work doesn't fit your funding priorities. Should we still apply?
If it does not fit please do not apply. This is not a good use of your time or ours.
However, we occasionally fund work to tackle poverty and inequality which falls outside our priorities, where the work is exceptional or addressing a new and emerging need. This may be unique work which no one else is undertaking; or work with a new issue/community; or developing a new innovative model of dealing with an issue. You will need to speak to us if you wish to apply under this heading. Generally we will only make a few grants under this category each year.
How many groups do you fund each year?
We fund approximately 130 groups each year. Because many of our grants are for more than one year, we are normally supporting over 400 groups at any one time. Details of the groups we fund can be found in our annual review and in regular updates we post on our website.
How much do you give out in grants each year?
Currently we give out approximately £7 million each year. The vast majority of this is in grants, but some are contracts.
How much can I apply for?
There is no minimum or maximum size of grant and the amount you request should be the amount you need. However, the average grant (not including funding we award under our small groups priority) will be around £75,000 in total, although a number of grants will be for a lesser amount, while some will be for more.
The amounts may be spread over one, two or three years. For example, if you are awarded a grant of £75,000, this could be £25,000 over three years, or £40,000 in the first year and £35,000 in the second.
We will not normally make grants that exceed £100,000. You may therefore need to apply to other funders to fund your proposed work jointly with us and we encourage you to do this, as we cannot always provide the total costs that you require.
Grants made under our small groups priority will not normally exceed £30,000 with an average grant being £20,000 in total, although many grants will be less than this. You may apply over one, two or three years.
How many years funding can we apply for?
The amounts may be spread over one, two or three years and in some cases over longer periods, if there is a good reason to do so.
We have had funding from you before. Can we reapply?
We support long-term strategies for dealing with poverty and inequality. Therefore organisations that have already received funding from us may apply again for work which is particularly effective and continues to meet our criteria and priorities. However, you should not assume we will award further funding and should also apply to other funders. If you wish to apply again for the same or different work, you should contact your relevant officer at least eight months before your current funding expires. Generally we do not provide more than one grant at a time.
Do you only fund registered charities?
We fund voluntary and community and other not-for-profit organisations undertaking charitable activities. We will also consider proposals from Community Interest Companies. You do not need to be a registered charity, though many of the organisations we fund are. If you are unsure about whether you are eligible to apply please telephone us.
Do you fund individuals?
No. Neither do we fund organisations applying for grants on behalf of individuals. Although this is very important work, we only have limited resources.
When is your next closing date for funding applications?
You can send your application to us at any time but we will only assess your application after the next closing date has passed. Deadlines for applications are as follows:
• 4 February by 5pm for our June Grants Committee.
• 28 May by 5pm for our October Grants Committee.
• 8 October by 5pm for our February Grants Committee.
Please note that if you send in your application in December for example, we won't consider it until our next closing date of 4 February has passed. This is so we can look at all of the applications together and compare what we have received. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered until the next closing date.
I want to send in a funding application. Who do I send it to?
Please send us your application form and any the additional documents we have requested such as your constitution and annual accounts. Once we have received it, we will pass it onto the relevant member of staff to assess.
What happens after we send in our application?
We will acknowledge your proposal within five working days of receiving it, usually by e-mail. It is then passed to a relevant member of our grants staff who will read and assess it. Our grants team then meet and discuss all of the proposals received and decide which ones have the closest fit with our funding priorities and shortlisting criteria (listed on page 12 of our funding guidelines). We will let you know whether we have shortlisted your application within six weeks of the relevant closing date.
Do you have a funding application form we can fill in?
Yes we now have an application form. This is available to download from our website.
Can we fax or e-mail you our funding proposal?
No. Currently we only accept applications, that are submitted by post or hand delivered.
Do you fund larger organisations?
Our priority is support for smaller and medium-sized organisations with an income of under £1 million. Approximately 80% of our funds go to groups with an income under this amount. We may fund larger organisations where they have a very strong fit with our funding aims and priorities; where the organisation plays a unique and distinctive role; and where the organisation is developing a highly innovative or strategic project.
We are unlikely to fund large national organisations which enjoy widespread support.
We're not happy with your decision? Can we appeal?
If you have any complaints about how we have handled your proposal, you should in the first instance contact the member of staff who has been dealing with your organisation. If you are still not satisfied you should write to our Chief Executive who is responsible for the management of the Trust. If the complaint is regarding our Chief Executive you should write to the Chair of our Trustees.
However, please note that you cannot appeal any decision made by our Trustees about whether or not we fund your organisation.
Our funding proposal was rejected. When can we next reapply?
You have to wait 12 months from receiving your rejection letter before you can reapply.
Do you provide feedback on why our proposal was rejected?
We provide this in the rejection letter we send to you. If this is unclear or you require more detail please contact us and we'll aim to provide further feedback.
I've read that you fund special initiatives. What are these and how can I apply?
Special initiatives are where we want to make a more strategic impact and, where appropriate, influence the work of others. These are one-off, time-limited programmes of work and the ideas for them are developed by us.
In some instances, we will commission an organisation to deliver a piece of work and in others we will invite applications from agencies working in the field we have decided to focus on. When new special initiatives are open for applications we post details on our website and inform groups through our e-bulletin, which you can sign up to.
Details of our current special initiatives are available on our website.
We already have funding to deliver a government-funded contract, but it did not include enough funding to deliver all of the outputs in the contract. Will you fund the difference?
No. We do not subsidise contracts. These should be fully funded by whoever is purchasing the service and you should think carefully about all of the costs of delivering any contract before signing it.
The local authority recently funded us. But this funding has come to an end. Will you fund it instead?
We do not pick up any funding cuts made by a local authority or any other public body. However, often the funding from the public body is time limited and not an ongoing grant/contract. We may consider continuation funding in these cases, but this is rare. Generally where a public body has provided funding we would expect it to provide some continuation funding, otherwise it is unlikely that such a project could have any medium/long-term sustainability.
We do not consider funding from the lottery as funding from a public body and are therefore more likely to consider continuation funding for projects previously funded by the lottery or which have been funded by independent charitable trusts.
What are your monitoring requirements?
We believe that monitoring and evaluation is a useful way of helping organisations to assess the difference their work has made to their beneficiaries and the lessons that have been learned. Details of our requirements can be found here.
How do I claim my grant?
When we award you a grant we send you a pack which includes your grant conditions, a copy of which you need to sign and return to us. The pack also contains a quarterly instalment claim. You need to send this to us when you are ready to claim your grant. However, do not send this to us until you have met your grant conditions.
For example, if our funding is for a new post, you need to recruit the individual and send us details of who this is before we can release your first instalment.
Or if you need to secure match funding, this needs to be in place before we can release your first instalment.
When all the conditions have been met please send in your signed instalment claim. We pay quarterly in advance.
I have sent in my instalment claim, but it hasn't been paid yet. What do I do?
It usually takes us two to three weeks to arrange payment so please bear with us. Sometimes you may have sent in your instalment claim early and it cannot be paid until the next quarter is due. If you have not been paid after three weeks please contact us and we will sort out your payment, or explain why it has been delayed.
Please also check that you your interim evaluation report is not due - this will be stated clearly on your last instalment letter. Your interim evaluation report has to be submitted mid-way through your grant, and we hold the subsequent payment until this has been submitted. If this is problematic, please ring us to discuss your situation.
I want to use your logo on our printed materials. Where can I find it?
This is available to download from our website and we ask that you read our logo guidelines on how it is to be used. If you have any difficulties please contact us.
We have had funding from you before. Can we reapply?
We support long-term strategies for dealing with poverty and inequality. Therefore organisations that have already received funding from us may apply again for work which is particularly effective and continues to meet our criteria and priorities.
However, our current priorities for 2012-17 have changed from our previous priorities. You should not assume that work we have supported in the past fits with our new funding priorities. Neither should you assume that we will award further funding so we recommend you apply to other funders. If you wish to apply again for the same or different work, you should apply at least eight months before your current funding expires and make sure its fits with our current funding priorities. Generally we do not provide more than one grant at a time.
If you were awarded a 'final grant', this means you cannot re-apply until two years after the last payment of your previous grant.
I have a media enquiry who should I contact?
If you are responding to a press release please contact the relevant individual listed on it. If you are not sure who to contact, please e-mail us at press@trustforlondon.org.uk, or contact our Communications Manager, Navprit Rai who can be reached on 020 7606 6145 or 07912 177 197.
Our grant was a final grant. What does this mean and when can I reapply?
In general, a final grant means that you will need to wait two years from the date of the final instalment of your last grant before you can reapply.