London Funders' Cost of Living Week: Events Programme

The cost of doing: insights from the charities supporting London’s communities

• When: 29 September, 1-2pm 
• Open to all representing a funder/civil society organisation/ charity/ community group

We were delighted to be joined by Charlotte Hill (The Felix Project), Natasha Cutler (Thrive London), Martin Brookes (London Plus), and Sarah McLoughlin (Turn2Us) who shared their insights about how the current crisis is affecting our communities. From providing Londoners with food parcels and mental health support to financial assistance and infrastructure support to the capital’s charity sector, our panelists will share their expertise and insights on what is happening on the ground and the work that is needed to support our communities.

With a squeeze on donations, increases in their own energy bills, and demand for their services continuing to grow, we know that civil society organisations are facing a crisis of their own. In this session, panellists also shared their reflections on what is needed to support the organisations responding on the front line of this crisis.

What is the experience of applying for funding?

• When: 30 September, 10-11am
• For funders only

As the costs of living skyrocket for the capital’s communities, providing flexibility and trust to the organisations on the frontline of supporting those communities will be critical.  For our September insight meeting, we were joined by Emily Dyson-Hawkes and Keeva Rooney from IVAR as well as Laura Atyeo from Open Harmony and Nav Mirza from Dads Unlimited. IVAR shared the findings from their recent survey of 1,200 charities on what they think is needed to improve the experience of applying for and managing grants.

What are funders doing to respond to the crisis?

• When: 3 October, 10-11am
• For funders only 

To understand how funders are responding to crisis – both in terms of their own grant making as well as wider funding practices, strategies, and approaches – we have been interviewing and surveying our members over recent weeks to gain a more complete picture. At this session, our Associate Director for Research, Chris French, presented the findings from these interviews along with the responses to our survey.

We were joined by Thrisha Haldar (The Indigo Trust and The Alan and Babette Sainsbury Charitable Fund), Tim Wilson (City Bridge Trust), and other funders to reflect on the findings, as well as share their insights on what they’re doing to respond to the crisis. 

Learning from others: Giving grants to individuals

• When: 3 October, 12-1pm
• For funders only

With living costs reaching unbearable levels, some funders are looking at support for individuals and families.

This session was an opportunity to hear from those doing work in this space – Donal Watkin (Association of Charitable Organisations), Ren Hooi (Lightning Reach), Anne Shewring (Cripplegate Foundation) and Tania Cohen (360Giving) shared their experience and expertise of how grants to individuals can be made effectively, what the data tells us, and what funders interested in providing grants to individuals can learn from their work.

How did we get here in the first place & what is needed to create structural change?  

• When: 4 October, 10-11am
• Open to all 

While the rising costs of living will affect every one of us, it won’t be felt equally across London's communities. Those with health problems and disabilities are more likely to struggle with increasing energy bills, women are being hit harder by inflation and increased debt and loss of income is impacting ethnic minority groups more acutely.  

While there is a clear need to deal with the immediate challenges of this crisis, finding solutions to the root causes is equally important. During this session attendees joined us for a conversation with experts across different fields (debt, food poverty, racial inequality, housing and homelessness) to discuss how we got here in the first place and what is needed to tackle the inequalities that this crisis has escalated for so many of our communities. We heard reflections from:  

• Sophia Moreau (Campaigner)

• Mandeer Kataria (Runnymede Trust)

• Matt Dronfield (Toynbee Hall) 

• Rick Henderson (Homeless Link)  

• Ruth Koch (Trussell Trust)  

Using data to identify needs across the capital  

• When: 4 October, 2-3pm
• For funders only 

We know from the funders’ response to the pandemic how important data and intelligence sharing is to identify where the need for support is the greatest. Building on this learning, we invited data experts Oliver Carrington (Imperial Health Charity), Josh Cottell (Centre for London), Jasmine Birmingham (New Philanthropy Capital) who are all doing work to capture how living costs in the capital is impacting different areas and communities to share their insights and expertise.  

Working together: how can we collaborate to support London’s communities through the crisis?

• When: 6 October, 10-11am
• Open to all 

We know we can’t fund our way out of this crisis. It will require government action to tackle the scale of what people are facing now. But if there is one thing we’ve learnt from the pandemic, it’s that collaboration, across sectors, is critical to provide the urgent support London’s communities need. We also know that by working together to share insights, ideas, and intelligence, we can start moving towards the long-term, structural solutions we need to tackle the deeply entrenched inequalities facing our capital.

In this session, we heard from Nezahat Cihan (London Legal Support Trust), Manny Hothi (Trust for London), Yolande Burgess (London Councils), BBC Children in Need, and London Community Foundation about how we, as funders, can work together to support London’s communities and civil society as living costs and the cost of delivering work are reaching record levels.