Related
What are some of the key areas you fund?
We are a London-based family foundation that combines grant-making and impact investing to support social mobility and inclusion. Our focus areas include education, employability, and mental health, with an emphasis on funding solutions that empower communities and drive meaningful change.
What’s something exciting that you’re currently working on?
We love piloting new ideas and challenging the way things have always been done. Right now, we’re testing match trading grants, an initiative through which we match new revenue generated by our charity partners with a grant, encouraging them to explore new income streams and diversify their funding.
Another exciting initiative is our Integration Challenge, which funds collaborations between our charity partners and portfolio companies. They co-design and deliver a project together, with our only requirement being that they share their learnings with us. By offering both a blueprint and financial incentive, we aim to spark innovation and foster cross-sector partnerships that drive lasting impact.
What’s one insight that you’d like to share with other London Funders members?
How can philanthropy become less about institutions and more about people? We believe that investing in social leaders is key to strengthening their organisations. Yet, many community leaders we work with are overstretched and close to burnout. When was the last time you asked one of your grantees when they last had time off?
As funders, we have a responsibility to support not just programmes, but the people driving them - because their well-being is crucial to the impact we seek to achieve.
What do you value most about being a part of London Funders?
London Funders is a space for open, honest conversations. It’s about funding challenges, equity, and what we can do better. We value the collaborative approach and appreciate the opportunity to learn from and alongside other funders.
Looking ahead: what should we prioritise as a network of funders?
Racial justice and trustee remuneration are some of the key issues on our radar. At Lightbulb Trust, we’re working to bring in trustees with lived experience, but the lack of pay remains a major barrier, excluding those without financial privilege.
The Charity Commission’s guidelines are outdated and risk-averse, reinforcing an elitist system. As funders, we have a responsibility to challenge this norm, advocating for change and leading by example to create a more inclusive and representative sector.
What’s an area you’d like to discuss with other members?
We’ve noticed that very few small foundations in the UK are doing direct impact investments, and when they do, they tend to focus on low-tech, place-based investments, like community businesses and services linked to a physical space.
At Lightbulb Trust, most of our impact investments are in tech-based, highly disruptive companies - an approach that complements our grant-making, which follows a more traditional, place-based strategy. That said, as a place-based funder, we’d also be open to investing in low-tech companies in West London.
We’d love to connect with other funders who also focus on high-tech impact companies, as insights from peers in this space would be incredibly valuable.
Connect with us about:
- Trustee remuneration
- Monitoring, learning & evaluation of impact investments for small foundations
- Embedding racial justice into grant-making and impact investing
- How to better support and train our community leaders
- Enhancing collaboration, efficiency, and knowledge-sharing among partners (grantees) as part of a place-based giving strategy
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 ora.ataguba@londonfunders.org.uk.