Advice and Support

What we want to achieve:

At City Bridge Trust we want to address inequalities in London by funding good quality advice and support. We believe such services should be informed by the voice and experience of those who are impacted by those inequalities.

What we want to change:

By awarding Advice and Support grants we want to achieve the following outcomes:

• More Londoners have improved economic circumstances.
• Fewer Londoners experience food poverty.
• More Londoners access debt and legal services for support before they hit crisis point

1. Provision of advice and support to disadvantaged individuals

We want to fund advice and support for disadvantaged individuals in the following areas: benefits; debt; money; fuel poverty; employment problems; housing; or immigration status.

Organisations must hold or be seeking a recognised management qualification and/or advice quality standard, e.g. Advice Quality Standard; Specialist Quality Mark; Lexcel Practice Management Standard. We can help you cover accreditation costs as part of your award. Please note that we can only fund debt advice delivered by FCA regulated firms.

We particularly want to fund agencies able to demonstrate inclusion of marginalised communities in the design and delivery of services and supporting people with multiple and/or complex problems.

Based on grants made to date, we have awarded between £36,000 and £320,000 for work under this strand. The average award size has been £113,000. Please note that these figures are illustrative only, and that we can award more or less than these amounts depending on the applications we receive.

2. Food poverty

We want to tackle issues related to hardship and crisis by funding the infrastructure needed to support the distribution of donated food. We are particularly keen to hear from organisations who work to ensure that clients receive culturally appropriate food. Please note that we are not able to directly fund the purchase of food for distribution.

Based on grants made to date, we have awarded between £36,000 and £377,000 for work under this strand. The average award size has been £145,000. Please note that these figures are illustrative only, and that we can award more or less than these amounts depending on the applications we receive.

What we will fund:

Applications must be for one of the Trust’s Advice and Support priority areas, listed below. These priorities will be subject to review throughout the lifetime of Bridging Divides to ensure we best achieve our outcomes.

We welcome applications for up to five years of funding, and core funding will be considered. We have no minimum or maximum revenue grant. Capital funding is generally restricted to access improvements to community buildings.