City Bridge Foundation (formerly City Bridge Trust) is one of London’s largest independent grant-making foundations. In response to evidence that funding structures systemically disadvantage Black, Asian, and minority ethnic-led organisations, the foundation committed to an active programme of equitable grant making reform, with self-auditing as the entry point.
As a founding member of the Funders Alliance for Race Equality (FREA), City Bridge Foundation undertook a Race Equality Audit: a statistically significant sample review of its grants designed to map how its funding reaches Black, Asian, and minority ethnic-led groups and contributes to race equality outcomes. The findings directly informed changes to its funding processes, enabling the foundation to identify structural barriers and take targeted action.
Alongside the audit, the foundation developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan with specific commitments, named leads, and clear timeframes. Commitments included funding more organisations led by people with lived experience, and adopting funding principles that explicitly recognise the value of user-led organisations. The foundation also introduced a network of equity partners, drawn from led-by-and-for communities, to bring diverse perspectives into governance.
The Trust for London and City Bridge Foundation subsequently introduced a £4 million racial justice fund to increase economic empowerment among London’s Black and minoritised communities. City Bridge Foundation’s Anchor Programme, launched in 2023, provides long-term core funding of up to ten years to equity-led infrastructure organisations, co-designed with civil society.
What practitioners can take from this
City Bridge Foundation demonstrates how self-auditing can be a practical and honest entry point for funders at any stage of their equity journey. The willingness to look clearly at one’s own data, and then act on what it reveals, is both straightforward and rare.