Agenda item

Report of the Chief Funding Director

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Funding Director informing the Funding Committee of progress to date at the nine-year mark of the 10-year strategic grant to the Prince’s Trust and the outcomes achieved, as well as outlining the planned activities for the final year and the proposed allocation of resources in support of this activity. The Chief Funding Director introduced the report before the Committee received a presentation from Prince’s Trust, who highlighted the work undertaken to ensure the strategic grant reached as wide an audience as possible, maintained a user-led approach to represent the voices of young people, and improve data collection. The Prince’s Trust further outlined how they had focussed on disadvantaged boroughs and reach their target groups, and highlighted the success of their employability programmes. The Prince’s Trust added that they felt the partnership with CBF had been successful, having made a real difference to the lives of young people in London, and affirmed their appreciation for CBF’s support over the course of the grant.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Prince’s Trust advised that they had begun to facilitate larger-scale events, tailored around conversations with young people. They had also increased collection of data around attendance and activity, and looked specifically at themes such as mental health and other issues relevant to young people. The Committee noted that some of the current Prince’s Trust programmes were exceeding their targets and demonstrating long-term effectiveness.

The Chief Funding Director then advised the Committee that the strength of the partnership between CBF and the Prince’s Trust had been evident in the number of introductions made and the discussion of possible synergies for future events, as well as the possibility for the Prince’s Trust to establish relationships with other City Corporation departments.

The Prince’s Trust summarised that they could now demonstrate greater impact than had been possible previously and would hope to do so through their further reporting, including a legacy report which was under development. The Committee noted that the Prince’s Trust would engage with CBF to discuss their experience and gather lessons learned as part of this work.

The Chair noted the importance of securing maximum value for funding in investing in young people and commended the strength of the relationship between CBF and the Prince’s Trust. The Chair then thanked the Prince’s Trust for their presentation and for their work over the course of the strategic grant.

RESOLVED – That the Funding Committee of the City Bridge Foundation Board, in discharge of functions for the City Corporation as Trustee of City Bridge Foundation (charity reg. no. 1035628) and solely in the charity’s best interests:

i)     Agree that satisfactory results have been achieved by the Prince’s Trust in the third three-year period (years seven to nine) of this strategic initiative;

ii)    Agree the outline of planned activities for the final one-year period, with the agreement of the detail delegated to the Managing Director of CBF, in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Funding Committee; and

iii)   Approve the commitment of the next allocation of £1m funding from the £10m approved by the Court of Common Council, as outlined in Table 1.