Agenda item

Report of the Chief Funding Director

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Funding Director providing details of funds approved and rejected under delegated authority since the last meeting of the Funding Committee in December 2023 through to 15 February 2024; the remaining 2023/2024 grants budget; grants spend to date and for this meeting by London Borough compared with the Multiple Index of Deprivation; any grant variations that have been approved under delegated authority; and seeking approval for a grant between £500,000 and £1,000,001.

The Chair introduced the item, commending officers for the volume of funding distributed as well as the inflation support payments to funded organisations. The Committee noted an apparent error in the heat map data, which would be reviewed and corrected if needed. In response to a question from a Member, the Chief Funding Director outlined the process for reclaiming or redistributing funding where an organisation closed.

The Committee then considered the grant recommendation in respect of the ‘The eXceL Project’ (XLP). The Chief Funding Director introduced the report and presented the proposal to the Committee. Members noted the issues of increasing needs, risk of exploitation and higher levels of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), and that while the funding sought to address these through interventions, there were more fundamental root causes on which CBF could reflect to consider funding opportunities. A Member added that this was connected to the Committee’s previous discussion on funding policy and campaigning work with a report to be presented to the next meeting of the Committee.

A Member commented that many funders were working in this space, with youth violence an increasingly prevalent issue, and queried whether there was an opportunity to convene leading funded organisations with a view to improving community practice, with a joined-up approach likely to be more effective. The Chief Funding Director confirmed that Funding Managers sought to do this and in this instance had put the Prince’s Trust in touch with XLP given their mutual aims.

The Chief Funding Director responded that the future funding direction work naturally signified a period of reflection and that due consideration would be given to both responsive funding and strategic funding aimed at tackling the root causes of issues.

The Chair then drew the Committee’s attention to the recommendations, which were agreed.

RESOLVED – That the Funding Committee of the CBF Board, in the discharge of functions for the City Corporation as Trustee of CBF solely in the charity’s best interests:

i)     Receive this report and note its contents; and

ii)    Approve a grant to ‘The eXceL Project’ (XLP) of £614,500 over five years (£112,100, £117,400, £123,000, £128,300, £133,700) towards keeping young people in schools and out of criminal gangs through a Community Bus Project, Mentoring for Girls, Sports Team, and Arts Project.