London’s biggest independent funder is closing its grants programmes for a year – due to “an unprecedented surge in demand”, as it prepares for a major funding review.

City Bridge Foundation says the closure will enable it to process hundreds of outstanding applications as an extra £200 million funding made available five years ago comes to an end.

Current grant holders will not be affected, while new applications received by noon on Tuesday, October 8 will still be considered against the current criteria.

The funder told Charity Times that the pause comes ahead of a new 10-year funding policy, due to launch next year, aimed at offering a more focused approach, targeting funding where it’s needed most.

The 900-year-old charity, which also looks after Tower Bridge and four other Thames crossings, will continue to award over £30 million a year to charities across the capital.

City Bridge Foundation chairman Giles Shilson said: “This is not a decision we take lightly and we don’t underestimate the impact it will have on some charities who may miss out on funding.

“However, the unprecedented demand we’re facing means that we already have more applications than we’re able to fund, and we don’t want charities to spend time on applications unlikely to be successful.

“The extra £200 million we’ve been able to provide over the last five years played a vital role during Covid, the cost-of-living crisis and the many other challenges the sector has faced, but this funding is now coming to an end.

“Closing our programmes for a year means we can clear the backlog of applications and allocate funding where it’s most needed, before we launch our new funding policy.”

The additional £200 million was approved in 2019 following a review of the charity’s reserves and resulted in a 75 to 90 per cent success rate in grant applications, depending on grant programme.

Extra funding from this ‘uplift’ will gradually reduce over the next two years, with grant funding returning to normal levels of around £30 million a year in 2026-27.

The closure won’t impact the foundation’s strategic programmes such as its suicide prevention work.

Meanwhile, collaborative, cross-sector funding programmes including the Anchor and Propel programmes, which provide strategic funding for umbrella charities, will also be unaffected.

The charity’s new 10-year-funding policy is due to launch in autumn 2025.

The Foundation's funding director has written an exclusive blog for Charity Times that can be read here

More information about the funding programme closures is available at www.citybridgefoundation.org.uk/closures

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