What are some of the key categories/areas you fund?
Children and young people matter – their voices, their experiences, their futures. Our mission is to champion and strengthen London’s youth organisations, so young people have the opportunities and skills they need to succeed.
As a charity, we raise funds and direct our own resources to build the capacity of London’s youth sector and expand opportunities for young people. Through our funding and partnerships last year, we gave grants to 257 youth organisations that supported over 10,700 young people. Through our role as an infrastructure body, we support a network of around 600 youth organisations that collectively reached 710,000 young Londoners last year, with a shared commitment to helping children and young people who need it most.
We work with our member youth organisations and invest in programmes that support young people around employability, mental health and wellbeing, arts, culture and sports, while also offering life-changing outdoor learning and residential programmes through our outdoor learning centres, Woodrow and Hindleap. In 2023-24, over 75% of young people on our programmes were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
We also invest in frontline youth work, supporting young Londoners affected by violence, and deliver networks and training sessions that help keep London’s youth sector strong, skilled and connected. Across all these areas, our role is to work collaboratively to create meaningful, positive opportunities that help young Londoners thrive.
We’re continually working to deepen our understanding of London’s youth sector, to help shape the support we offer, and push for better services and long-term sustainability across the capital.
What’s something exciting/innovative that you’re currently working on?
We’re continually working to deepen our understanding of London’s youth sector, to help shape the support we offer, and push for better services and long-term sustainability across the capital.
Right now, we’re excited about our data work. Each year, we collect extensive information from our member youth organisations through their membership renewal process, and we’ve been able to feed this back to the sector in meaningful ways through our VCS data tool, now in its third update.
This year marked a major milestone. In partnership with Superhighways, we launched London’s first youth work mapping tool using public data. With the help of volunteers, Youth Board members, and datasets shared by several London Funders, we reviewed thousands of records to create the first comprehensive, interactive map of youth organisations across the capital.
Together, these tools are starting to provide a clearer picture of youth work in London. We’re sharing emerging insights through blogs and preparing qualitative research to explore what the data means on the ground. We’d love to collaborate with others who are interested in shaping and building on this work.
What’s one piece of learning/insight that you’d like to share with other London Funders’ members?
While we’re still refining the data, our latest estimates suggest there are around 1,800 voluntary and community youth organisations delivering youth work across the capital. Around a third of these are connected through the London Youth membership network.
What’s becoming increasingly clear from our data is the scale of pressure these organisations are under. Many youth organisations are struggling to keep up with rising demand while also working hard to stay open. Financial pressures remain a major concern: in our most recent member survey, nearly 80% reported increased operational costs, alongside growing demands on both their services and their workforce.
As we continue to build a more accurate and comprehensive picture of London’s youth sector, one of the strongest messages emerging is the need for sustained, long-term investment – especially core and unrestricted funding – to ensure that these vital organisations can continue to support young Londoners.
What do you value most about being a part of London Funders?
At London Youth, we value opportunities to learn alongside peers who share a commitment to strengthening London’s communities and championing the potential of young people. The network gives us access to rich insights into the funding landscape and collaborations that help us tackle emerging challenges. The space to connect and exchange ideas helps us refine our own work and explore opportunities for collective impact for youth organisations across the capital.
Looking ahead, share one thing that is on your radar. What should we prioritise as a network of funders?
A clear message from our members is the urgent need for long-term, flexible core funding. Too many youth organisations in London are at risk because their essential running costs aren’t being covered. These organisations are trusted in their community and know best how to deliver for young people, but are constrained by short-term, partial or innovation-only funding models, often with match-funding requirements they cannot meet.
Our Needs and Impact survey earlier this year reinforced this: our members called for multi-year core funding and lighter reporting expectations. The time spent navigating varied and extensive MEL requirements is stretching their limited capacity.
We’ve seen how effective flexibility can be through our Summer Skills grants, where we trust members to use small pots of funding for summer provision – some of which they are already delivering – in ways that genuinely meet young people’s needs. As a network, prioritising sustained core funding and streamlined reporting would make a transformative difference to the stability of London’s youth sector.
What’s an issue or area you’d like to discuss with other members?
We’d welcome a shared conversation on how, together, we can shift towards more consistent, long-term core funding for youth organisations working with young people, and how to reduce the reporting burden that currently holds many of them back.
Collective action around core funding and MEL alignment could have a powerful impact on the sustainability of youth organisations across London, and we’re keen to connect with others interested in moving this forward.
Connect with London Youth about:
- Data and insight to better understand the youth sector’s needs and learn more about youth organisations across London.
- Championing the benefits of outdoor education and learning and increasing access for more young people to have trips away from home.
- Embedding youth voice and participation into your work to build meaningful, long-lasting youth involvement.
Partnering and collaboration to positively impact a diverse network of youth organisations.
The Member Spotlight is taken from our monthly member-exclusive newsletter, the Member Memo. The newsletter contains targeted information about upcoming events and updates from across the membership, with opportunities to connect and collaborate with other members. If you are a London Funders' member and would like to sign up, please email [email protected].