The City Bridge Trust is to increase its annual giving to around £20m in each of the next three years, from around £15m a year at present.
The decision was made by the elected Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. The funding will go to London charities that work in areas such as disability, inclusion, youth employment and mental health.
Announcing the move, the trust said that disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than their non-disabled counterparts, and helping disabled people into work is a key priority for CBT.
Bridge House Estates, whose sole trustee is the City of London Corporation, owns and maintains the five bridges crossing the Thames into the City - the ‘Square Mile’ business district around St Paul’s. London’s largest independent grant-maker to charities, CBT makes use of surplus income from the Bridge House Estates not required to maintain the five bridges to the benefit of the whole of London.
City Bridge Trust chair Jeremy Mayhew said: “In our 20th year, we are underlining our long-term commitment to London by providing extra funds to help disadvantaged Londoners, to strengthen charities, and to encourage increased collaboration between the public, private and charitable sectors.”
