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Building equity through infrastructure: reflections from my time at London Funders

By Patience OtooThis summer, I had the opportunity to join London Funders through the 10,000 Black Interns programme. Over six weeks, I was able to work closely with the team, contribute to projects at the heart of London’s funding landscape, and learn more about the role funders play in strengthening communities across the city. My time at London Funders has been filled with a balance of research, team meetings, and sector-wide events, and I leave with both practical experience and deeper insight into how equity and collaboration can drive meaningful change.

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From Hong Kong to London: five things we’ve learned this week

This week’s AVPN conference brought together hundreds of philanthropic, impact investment, civil society, government and corporate bodies from across the world. Our CEO James Banks shares some of his reflections from a packed three days in Hong Kong and asks what this means for funders across our network

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Q&A with Runnymede Trust: Power, place and building community ecosystems

As part of our learning programme on place, we spoke with Erel Onojobi from the Runnymede Trust about their Power to Prosper programme, which is rooted in four areas across England that are challenging the racialised nature of poverty and debt, while supporting grassroots organisations to build power through community organising and asset ownership.Erel shared her reflections on why relationships matter more than data when working in place, why funding ecosystems over partnerships can unlock deeper collaboration in local areas and more.

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Equity in Every Step: our new project to embed equitable funding practice

We’re excited to share a new development project that will help shape a more just, equitable approach to grantmaking across the entire grant lifecycle — from outreach and application to decision-making, grant management, learning, and closure.

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What our latest member audit tells about the state of funding in London

Alongside our work with UKGrantmaking, our bi-annual Member Audit helps us build a picture of London’s dynamic funding landscape. Through this survey, we ask members to share their funding activities and reflections on how their funding help to build a fairer, greener, and more equitable city.

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Mapping Equity and Justice Infrastructure: the UK-wide phase

Last year, we embarked on a project to map the current state of funding for equity and justice infrastructure. While some efforts have been made to better evidence the scale and funding of more generic forms of infrastructure support, we still lack understanding about the specialist infrastructure sector specifically for equity and justice organisations. This project will improve our understanding of the current funding position of the sector and the needs they are seeking to address. 

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What does it take to fund systems change?

Over the last six months, London Funders’ learning programme has focused on what it takes to fund and support systemic change. This followed our 2024 annual Festival of Learning where over 900 people from across London Funders’ membership came together to share, challenge, and be inspired by colleagues and changemakers from across the capital and beyond. What emerged from the Festival was a strong desire from funders to support real change for London’s communities.

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Mapping funding equity and justice infrastructure: what we've learnt so far

Last year, London Funders embarked on a new piece of work with funders and equity partners to map the current state of funding for equity and justice infrastructure. Over the past six months, we have reviewed existing literature, analysed existing datasets, and talked to a range of stakeholders.

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What Propel is teaching us about funding change and changing funding

As part of our ongoing learning programme on what it takes to fund and support systems change, we’re reflecting on what Propel – the long term funder collaboration coordinated by London Funders – is teaching us about funding change as well as changing the funding system.

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Communities in the driving seat: London Funders’ new Chair reflects on our autumn conference

London Funders’ new Chair, Jenny North, Director of The Clothworkers’ Foundation, shares her reflections from London Funders’ annual autumn conference where over 100 people from across our membership came together to explore how we can work in solidarity with the communities we support.

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Q&A with Letícia Ishibashi: Practising anti-racism and exploring alternatives systems for the future

As part of our ongoing learning focus on what it takes to fund and drive systemic change, we recently spoke to Letícia Ishibashi, Head of Programmes (Migration) at Paul Hamlyn Foundation about the new vision for their Migration Fund, which envisions a radical alternative to the existing hostile immigration system – one where “everyone is free to move and no one is forced to move”. We spoke with Letícia about how Paul Hamlyn developed this vision together with those working in migration and related fields, how their funding processes changed as a result and where she sees the Foundation’s role in the fight for an immigration system rooted in justice, solidarity and freedom.

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Demand for Equity & Justice Infrastructure

Earlier this year, we embarked on a project to map the current state of funding for equity and justice infrastructure. While some efforts have been made to better evidence the scale and funding of more generic forms of infrastructure support, we still lack understanding about the infrastructure sector specifically for equity and justice organisations. This project will improve our understanding of the current funding position of the sector and the needs they are seeking to address.  

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