Inspiring London through Culture
New applications
This programme is accepting new applications.
The deadline is 28 October 2024 at noon.
Who we are
The City of London Corporation aims to keep the Square Mile as the creative heart of a world-leading city of culture. It also wishes to fulfil its historic role as a steward of unique heritage of international importance. The City is one of the great cultural hubs of London, much visited from all around the world, with a wealth of things to see and do and a vibrant mix of artistic activity.
The City Corporation is one of the UK’s major funders of culture and heritage and directly supports institutions and activities in these fields. It also recognises and welcomes the wide range of organisations, large and small, who further enrich the Square Mile’s cultural offer and who may benefit from additional support or sponsorship to help initiatives to develop.
Where we fund
Grants issued through the ‘Inspiring London through Culture’ (ILTC) theme will be awarded to projects that are being delivered for the benefit of communities or beneficiaries within the City of London (the Square Mile).
Projects must either have some or all benefits delivered within the City of London or engage with the City’s resident and/or worker communities (at any location). Applicants may be based outside the City.
Please make sure that you meet the geographical eligibility criteria before applying. If you are unsure, please get in touch with the Central Funding and Charity Management Team (CFCMT) to confirm your eligibility.
What we fund
The scheme deliberately seeks to be open-minded and imaginative in defining the kinds of activities or projects which can be supported. However, proposals must deliver some (or all) of their benefits within the Square Mile or amongst communities from the Square Mile (at any location), as well as meet at least one of the following core criteria:
- Promote access for all to participate in the City of London’s cultural offer
- Enhance London’s creative future through championing excellence in the development of innovative practice and/or skills;
- Deliver positive social impact through culture and/or heritage in the City of London; and/or
- Support the development of the City of London’s Destination City.
In addition, we positively welcome and will prioritise proposals that:
- Engage with people living or working in the Square Mile;
- Engage with new audiences, attracting people from a wide variety of backgrounds and locations to participate in the City’s cultural offer;
- Animate places and spaces within the Square Mile;
- Encourage access to local buildings and local heritage within the Square Mile;
- Improve health and wellbeing;
- Use technology to deliver cultural excellence;
- Highlight environmental issues and promote sustainability;
- Build organisational capacity;
- Support entrepreneurialism;
- Build innovative partnerships (especially with one or more of the cultural/heritage providers already operating within the City); and/or
- Demonstrate some level of match-funding, noting we value opportunities where City funding can help to lever in funding from other sources
Proposals will be considered and decided by a group of expert officers from across the City, with decisions reported to the Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee.
How much you can apply for
The minimum grant that an organisation can apply for is £500 and the maximum grant is £10,000.
Please see Inspiring London Through Culture - Approved Grants for previously funded projects.
Your organisation must be one of the following:
- Registered charity
- Registered community interest company
- Registered charitable incorporated organisation
- Charitable company (incorporated as a not-for-profit)
- Exempt or excepted charity
- Registered charitable industrial and provident society or charitable cooperative (bencom)
- Constituted voluntary organisation
Applicants may be based outside the City. However, your project must either have some or all benefits delivered within the City of London or engage with the City’s resident and/or worker communities (at any location).
ILTC is unable to pay for:
- Activities that do not have the relevant licensing/permissions
- Activities that have already taken place or start before we confirm our grant
- Any costs organisations incur when putting together an application
- Fundraising activities for an organisation or others
- Items that are purchased on behalf of another organisation
- Loans or interest payments
- Projects that actively promote religious or political activities
- Purchase of alcohol
- Refurbishment of buildings/capital works
Online applications can be submitted until the closing deadline in October. You should expect to get your decision in early February, approximately 12 weeks from the closing date.
To apply for a grant, you will need to complete an online application form by the corresponding deadline and submit this electronically with your supporting documents.
We will only consider one application from your organisation at any one time.
All application forms should be completed through the City Corporation's online grants portal. Application forms in large print, Braille or audio would be offered to applicants by special request.
We actively encourage potential applicants to contact the CFCMT for an informal discussion of your proposal in advance of submitting an application. We do not consider draft applications but are able to talk through whether your organisation is eligible for funding and our priorities for funding. To arrange a pre-application discussion please email the CFCMT.
As part of your application we ask for a number of supporting documents. We require the following documents as part of your application:
- Organisation’s governing document. Depending on your legal status this may be a Constitution, Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association or Trust Deed. If you are part of the Church of England we do not need this document and you should attach a note stating that this is the case.
- Funding required spreadsheet.
- Most recent signed, audited or independently examined accounts.
- Relevant Job Description/s and Person specification/s. These should be submitted for any funded posts where the post holder will work more than 17.5 hours per week. Documentation should include the hours of work and pay rate or salary. The City of London is an accredited Living Wage employer. Any post paid for by a grant must be paid at least the London Living Wage.
- Safeguarding policy. We expect all organisations applying to the Enjoying Green Spaces and the Natural Environment strand to have considered their safeguarding responsibilities and to have suitable policies, procedures, reporting mechanisms and training in place to protect from harm all those who come into contact with the organisation including beneficiaries, staff and volunteers. Application organisations seeking funding for activities with or for young people and vulnerable adults must have a robust safeguarding policy in place. For more information see ‘What do you mean by safeguarding policy and procedures?’ in Community Infrastructure Levy Neighbourhood Fund – FAQ.
Once we have received your online application and all supporting documents, it will be passed to one of the City Corporation’s Grants Officers for assessment. As part of this process a member of the CFCM Team may contact you for more information.
We will acknowledge receipt of your application within 10 working days of it being received. If your application is not complete it will be returned to you and you will have a further 10 working days to send us the missing information.
We may also arrange to visit your organisation as part of the assessment process.
All applications that satisfy the eligibility criteria will be presented to internal officers and external experts for approval/rejection at an officer panel in January.
Once a full assessment has been completed, approved applications will be referred to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Culture Heritage and Libraries Committee for decision.
The timescale to process your application will vary; however, we will endeavour to ensure your application is assessed within 12 weeks of the closing date, with the panel in January. You should take account of this when planning your project.
If your application is successful, an initial offer letter detailing the level of grant awarded will be issued. This may contain special conditions relating to the grant award or pre-agreement grant conditions. All applications will need the relevant permissions/licensing in advance of any funding being released.
Grant acceptance terms and conditions will be subsequently issued which should be signed and returned within 20 working days. Grantees will also be required to complete an online payment confirmation form via the portal, which includes attaching a recent bank statement.
Once all documentation has been received and approved you would be asked to formally request payment of your grant award.
Note: You cannot start your project until we have received, checked and approved all information that we have requested.
Revenue payments are usually released on a quarterly basis, while capital elements will be released when the CFCMT receive invoices for the relevant work.
If we fund your project, we will need you to complete an end-of-grant monitoring report to confirm how the grant has been spent and what you achieved. Please make sure that you keep receipts for all the items or services you buy with the grant and that you keep them somewhere safe as we may ask you to provide them.
We may also visit you to check how the grant has been spent.
Please keep us up to date if your project or any of your contact details change at any stage during the period of your grant.
Due to the limited budget available and the number of applications for funding we receive, we unfortunately cannot provide funding to every applicant that applies for a grant. Grants are therefore issued on a discretionary basis; the decision of the City Corporation is final.
We encourage applicants to request feedback from your assessing officer on why your application was unsuccessful by emailing the CFCMT.
You may reapply for funding to deliver a continuation of the same project. However, organisations cannot hold more than one of our grants at any one time.
If you are a current grant holder, you will need to have satisfactorily met all our grant monitoring requirements before applying again.
Don't match the criteria?
If you don't match the criteria for the Central Grants Programme, visit the City Bridge Foundation, the Community Infrastructure Levy Neighbourhood Fund or the Trusts and charities pages to see if you are eligible to apply for other projects.