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Grants for charities

We provide grants and wider support to charities that can deliver innovative, practical skills and employment opportunities for individuals facing barriers to work.

The programmes we fund are often experimental in nature, and help prove that through taking a creative, targeted approach to widening talent pools and supporting harder to reach groups, we can build a better, fairer, more productive society.

We are currently focused on:

  • Helping prisoners gain skills and move into lasting employment on release
  • Removing barriers faced by refugees to develop skills and get meaningful work
  • Supporting people at Critical Transition Points in their lives and careers

The latest Charity partner stories on the City & Guilds Foundation website:

From prison to lockdown: how to make peer-mentoring work in the crisis

From prison to lockdown: how to make peer-mentoring work in the crisis

by | 6 Oct 2020 | , , , ,

The best ideas are born out of necessity, and for St Giles that was finding a way to deliver the Peer Advisor programme during Covid-19. The programme trains people with lived experience of social exclusion, including many prisoners and prison-leavers, to become Level 3 qualified Peer Advisors who then go on to support others from similar backgrounds. It plays a significant role in helping people overcome barriers and move towards employment; research from Cranfield University found that...

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Bringing employability into the classroom

Bringing employability into the classroom

by | 5 Oct 2020 | , , , , ,

Our youth engagement work aims to take a practical approach in informing and helping young people, especially those at risk of becoming NEET, to make more informed choices about their future. One of the biggest barriers young people face when entering the world of work is adapting and settling into a working environment. By giving students the chance to meet employers while still in the classroom setting, we aim to bridge the gap between schools providing support for academic success and...

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You can’t be what you can’t see: helping all girls find role models to succeed

You can’t be what you can’t see: helping all girls find role models to succeed

by | 1 Oct 2020 | , , , , , , ,

Conversations with professionals and experience in workplaces is the single most effective intervention at changing stereotypical expectations about future careers. Helping young people understand the job opportunities available to them is something we’re passionate about at the City & Guilds Foundation. That’s why we’re proud to support The Girls’ Network, a charity that matches female mentors from non-graduate pathways with girls from the least advantaged communities in the UK. So far,...

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The Clink charity launches Clink@Home takeaway / delivery service

The Clink charity launches Clink@Home takeaway / delivery service

by | 20 Aug 2020 | , , , ,

The Clink Charity has launched a takeaway / delivery service at HMP Brixton called Clink@Home. This has enabled The Clink to keep the restaurant open during lockdown, keeping prisoners employed and allowing them to continue studying towards their qualifications. Great @BBCNews feature showing the impact @TheClinkCharity has on reducing re-offending. If you live within 5 miles of @HMP_Brixton please support #ClinkAtHome - you'll be helping prisoners to continue studying towards their...

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Essential financial support now available for social enterprises through £18.7m Covid-19 grants

Essential financial support now available for social enterprises through £18.7m Covid-19 grants

by | 14 Jul 2020 | , , , ,

Here at the City & Guilds Foundation, we’re incredibly proud to support UnLtd – a leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in and around the UK. Today, UnLtd have made an exciting announcement about a new Social Enterprise Support Fund. The Fund is directly responding to an urgent need in the sector to help social enterprises change the way they work, make their spaces COVID-secure, and manage liquidity during the next six months. There are five social enterprise support...

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Bridging the gap between employer and employee with MyKindaFuture’s Will Akerman

Bridging the gap between employer and employee with MyKindaFuture’s Will Akerman

by | 22 May 2020 | , , , ,

City & Guilds has been a strategic partner of MyKindaFuture for a long time. We’ve always been closely aligned with their belief that everyone should have equal power and opportunity to shape their future – wherever they come from, whatever their experience, and whoever they are. In particular, MyKindaFuture has focused on bridging the gap between employer and employee and helping them feel better connected and invested in each other. With businesses facing a huge variety of challenges...

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A commitment to the beneficiaries supported through the City & Guilds Foundation

A commitment to the beneficiaries supported through the City & Guilds Foundation

by | 9 Apr 2020 | , , ,

The City & Guilds Foundation, along with a wider group of funders, recognise that the covid-19 outbreak is an exceptional event that will have an impact on civil society groups, and want to offer reassurance that we stand with the sector during this time.  We wish to be as helpful as possible during the coming weeks and months so that civil society groups can focus on the vital work of supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.  We understand that there will be times...

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The City & Guilds Foundation supporting communities throughout Covid-19

The City & Guilds Foundation supporting communities throughout Covid-19

by | 31 Mar 2020 | , , , , , , , , , ,

No one is untouched by Covid-19, and we are humbled by seeing so many of our communities and partners responding with such energy and grace to what is a difficult time for people and societies all over the world. We know that people need support now, to help them get the food, medicine and essential supplies to survive. We also know that many people are concerned about their work and employment prospects as the economic impact unfolds and people face losing their jobs and livelihoods. The City...

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