Philanthropy is the common thread that links our past, present and future. Like our historical benefactors, we believe in creating positive change so that everyone has the chance to lead a fulfilling life.
Today, we coordinate our Philanthropy Framework, collaborating with the Charities of which we are a trustee, to help people facing disadvantage to reach their potential.
Approximately £10 million is distributed each year across our programmes to charitable causes – focused on relieving disadvantage in London, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and the North East of England. We expect to support 180 individual charities annually to improve lives, strengthen organisations and contribute to societal change. Over the past five years we have awarded £49.7 million to over 400 organisations across our people-focused programmes and priority funding areas.
Our people-focused programmes are Young People & Education, Older People & Housing, Church & Communities and recently launched Heritage & Arts.
We also provide high quality accommodation to over 200 residents in six almshouses, work closely with our Associated Schools & Colleges which educate c.18,000 pupils; appoint 88 charity trustees and school governors; and support churches in eight Church of England benefices, to which we are patrons.
Creating positive change so that everyone has the chance to lead a fulfilling life.
Approximately £10 million p.a. funded to support c.180 charities to:
- Improve people’s lives
- Strengthen organisations
- Contribute to societal change
Funding organisations that advocate for disadvantaged people and communities:
- Greater London,
- Norfolk/Lincolnshire
- Northeast of England
Communities
Funding Priorities: We fund community and faith-based organisations that:
- Build stronger communities (disadvantaged communities, support for refugees and homeless)
- Deliver better outcomes for families and carers
Where we Fund: Greater London, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and the Northeast of England.
Housing
Funding Priorities: We fund not for profit organisations that support older people faced with:
- Loneliness
- Poverty
Where we Fund: London and Norfolk.
Education
Funding Priorities: Help young people achieve a good start in life, have strong mental health and feel supported through challenging transitions:
- Early Years, Literacy and Transitions from Secondary School
- Young people's Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Associated Schools & Colleges/ School Leadership
Where we Fund: Greater London.
Over the past five years (1 April 2018 - 31 March 2023) we have achieved:
Our funding data
We believe in open data and transparency. We publish information on our grants, to provide details of who we fund, how much we funded and what the funding was for.
We have published all our grants made since 2018, when we established a Philanthropy Framework. See our funding data here.
We have also published grants awarded over £10,000 from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, across our four main funding programmes here.
Our Approach
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, a Philanthropy Framework review is undertaken every five years to evaluate our progress against objectives and shape our philanthropic work in line with our guiding principles – to put our independence and longevity to proactive use and deliver measured outputs leading to clear outcomes.
For our 2023-2028 Philanthropy Framework, we have developed consistent impact measures for all our grantmaking programmes, which aim to:
- Improve people’s lives
- Strengthen organisations of the people supported
- Contribute to societal change
As a funder, impact measures allow us to see the progress made and what is adding value in different sectors and communities across our programmes. We report on our impact annually in our Annual Review.
Funder Plus
Our Philanthropy Framework goes beyond supporting our grantholders financially. We also support the organisations we fund to become stronger and more resilient by providing access to training and support. We work with a number of strategic partners across our programmes to achieve this, including the Media Trust and the Cranfield Trust.
Evaluation and Research
We work with leading evaluation, research and learning partners across our funding programmes to inform our Insights & Learnings and future funding priorities.
Relational networking
We build value added relationships and trust-based relationships with our grantees during application and grant duration, through a high-engagement formal and informal approach that provides additional support to organisations and their teams.
We are also engaged on a peer and industry level, collaboratively working to build networks that can best support our grantees and inform our grantmaking.
We also support our historic links with the Company’s Associated Schools and Colleges, Almshouses and Sheltered Housing and church livings.
IVAR
We are committed to open and trusting grantmaking and being a flexible funder for the organisations we support.
We are delighted to join a community of funders and are proud to have signed a pledge to open and trusting grantmaking, a campaign coordinated by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR).
Our 8 commitments to open and trusting grantmaking
Living wage
We are proud to be a living wage employer, paying employees the real living wage, and a Living Wage Funder.
Answers to some of the most common queries.
We are corporate trustee to nine charities.
View our grants data and research findings.