The Funding Committee of the City Bridge Foundation Board met on 9 June 2025 to discuss a range of funding and strategic issues, including the election of a Deputy Chair, a review of delegated authority for funding decisions, and updates on various strategic initiatives and grant funding activities. The committee was also scheduled to discuss a strategic grant to the King's Trust and a strategic initiative related to Migration Exchange.

Here are the key topics that were scheduled to be discussed:

Delegated Authority Policy Review

The Funding Committee was scheduled to review the City Bridge Foundation's (CBF) delegated authority policy and framework regarding funding application decisions. The report pack notes that there has been a long-standing practice of delegating authority for funding decisions to officers to support the efficient delivery of CBF's objectives.

The proposal included an amendment to the framework concerning application recommendations for rejection. The Funding Committee was to discuss whether the rejection of all applications over £500,001 should be decided by the Funding Committee, without needing to refer applications over £1,000,001 to the CBF Board. The report pack states that this change is intended to:

streamline the process by which rejections are agreed, so that timelier decisions can be provided to the applying funded organisation, and is on the basis that consideration by the Funding Committee constitutes sufficient Member scrutiny of a recommendation from the Chief Funding Director or Managing Director of CBF that an application should be rejected.

Strategic Initiative: King's Trust

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the outcomes of the 10-year strategic grant to the King's Trust (formerly Prince's Trust). The report provided background information on the partnership, a summary of research related to young people, and outcomes achieved over the years. According to the report pack, 16,800 young people directly benefited from this funding.

The strategic grant was awarded to enable the King's Trust to impact socially deprived and hard-to-reach areas of London, and to assist young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. CBF's funding was used towards the King's Trust's community-based outreach teams and core range of Education, Personal Development and Employability programmes.

Strategic Initiative: Migration Exchange

The Funding Committee was scheduled to consider a recommendation to award Migration Exchange (Global Dialogue) £300,000 over three years. According to the report pack, this funding would contribute towards the End NRPF (No Recourse to Public Funds) Partnership. The grant would support convening, facilitation and learning, participation for different working groups, communication costs, and capacity building and leadership development for the organisations involved in this Partnership.

The report pack outlined that No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is a condition attached to work, study and family visas that denies people access to most of the welfare safety net in the UK. The report pack stated that there are approximately 1.3 million people in the UK with an imposed NRPF condition, and an additional one million people in the UK who do not have a regular immigration status and access to any public funds¹.

Chief Funding Director's Update Report

The Funding Committee was scheduled to receive an update report from the Chief Funding Director. The report included details on funding updates on Bridging Divides, including the Anchor, Propel/Collaboration Circle and Suicide Prevention programmes, CBF's Trans Inclusion in Funding Policy, updates on the Enterprise Development Pilot and social investment, the recruitment of a Director of EDI, Equity Partners Forum, strategy & governance updates on the CBF Board, a CBF Board and Committee Member Portal, Arkwright Scholarship and Smallpeice Trust - Bridge Challenge STEM day, Impact & Learning updates on Welcome Sessions, 'Lunch and Learn' and Spotlight Talks Series, plus updates on Finance and Media Coverage.

The report pack noted that City Bridge Foundation closed its open and responsive funding programmes to new applications for one year from 8 October 2024, following an earlier partial closure in July. The decision was prompted by a sharp increase in applications that exceeded available funding, alongside the need to focus on strategic priorities such as the Future Funding Policy (FFP), the Suicide Prevention Programme and the Anchor Programme.

Grant Funding Activity

The Funding Committee was scheduled to receive a report providing details of funds approved and rejected under delegated authority since the last meeting in February 2025. The report also included the remaining 2024/25 grants budget, grants spend to date, and grant variations that have been approved under delegated authority.