Agenda and minutes

At the start of the meeting, the Chairman welcomed Members and those watching the live broadcast of the meeting via YouTube, before reminding Members of the guidance circulated for the conducting of remote meetings.

Apologies for absence were received from Alderman Bronek Masojada and Jeremy Mayhew.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 12 February 2020.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 12 February 2020 be agreed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

In response to a question from a Member, the CGO advised that an alternative proposal for a new name for the Fund had not yet been agreed, following discussion at the last meeting. However, officers hoped to bring this back to the next meeting of the Board.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust (CGO)

The Board discussed a report of the CGO providing short updates on the Bridge House Estates Governance Review and the development of the Board’s future social investment strategy (City Bridge Invest).

The CGO introduced the report and gave Members some further update on the Bridge House Estates Governance Review. The Board noted that whilst some progress had been made, timescales may be affected by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. A further update on the review would be submitted to Committees in June and July 2020. The Chairman added that a Board strategy meeting would be beneficial once sufficient progress had been made, and noted that this could be scheduled in the Autumn if it was not practical by July.

The CGO then gave an update on the development of the Board’s future social investment strategy, City Bridge Invest. The CGO advised that the outlook had changed somewhat since the Board’s last meeting in February 2020, owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, and focus would change accordingly. The CGO had commissioned further work on strategy development for City Bridge Invest by the two principals at Finance for Sustainability and Impulse, Richard Speak and Elizabeth Corrado. The Board noted that Elizabeth Corrado’s engagement in the exercise had been approved by the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and the City of London Corporation’s Procurement team and would be declared accordingly.

The Board then received a presentation on initial thoughts and some of the key

considerations for the design of City Bridge Invest. Elizabeth Corrado and Richard Speak began by giving some background behind Finance for Sustainability, and their experiences supporting charities and community businesses. Finance for Sustainability had more recently designed more impact funds for charitable trusts and organisations looking to invest endowments in a more innovative way and investing in their missions.

The presentation then reviewed

There were no questions.

There was no other business.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No.                                                                      Exempt Paragraphs

8 - 9                                                                                         3

10 - 11                                                                                     -

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2020.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2020 be agreed as a correct record.

Report of the CGO

The Board considered a report of the CGO.

There were no questions.

There was other business.