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Trustee needed to advise on investments
A financially-minded trustee to advise on investments and asset allocation is needed by the City Parochial Foundation.
The Foundation, which was set up in 1891, has assets of about £200 million and distributes approximately £10m annually, most of which goes on tackling poverty and inequality in London.
To find out more, click below to download job description and read a piece in The Times about the position here. Please apply with a CV and covering letter stating why you're interested in the position and qualified to do it to Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive,
City Parochial Foundation, 6 Middle Street, London, EC1A 7PH.
Consultation Reponse to Safeguarding Children
Posted 2 February 2010
City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London have responded to the Government's consultation on guidance for Local Safeguarding Children Boards, which have responsibility in each borough for keeping children safe from harm. In particularly, we are encouraging the Boards to recruit members from minority and marginalised communities, and to ensure there are mechanisms in place to consult with all parts of the community. The response mainly draws on our experience of the Safeguarding Children's Rights special initiative, but also from our work on Female Genital Mutilation, trafficking and domestic violence. The response is available to download below.
CPF LSCB Consultation Response.pdf
For more information please click link below:
Read a first person account of Female Genital Mutilation in the UK and abroad
Posted 13th January 2010
City Parochial Foundation has just launched a new UK-wide Special Initiative in partnership with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Rosa (the UK Fund for Women and Girls) to fund community-based, preventive work to safeguard children from the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
You can download the article below for a first-hand account of FGM this helps to explain the need for this work. For more information about the Special Initiative click here
Maggie Baxter appointed OBE
All at City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London would like to congratulate our trustee Maggie Baxter on being appointed an OBE in the New Year's Honours list.
Maggie has been an active and invaluable Trustee of City Parochial Foundation since April 1989. She was the Vice-Chair from 1997 to 2005 and Chair from 2005 to 2007 and currently chairs the Grants Committee.
Maggie's extensive experience of the voluntary sector in London, understanding of governance and her approachable style that enhances both Trustee and staff participation are all exemplary.
She has also encouraged City Parochial Foundation to develop work in areas where other funders would perhaps not have ventured. These include work on modern day slavery and the trafficking of women, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, safeguarding children's rights over faith-based abuse and tackling the carrying of guns and knives among young people.
Maggie has worked in the voluntary sector for more than 30 years, including almost two decades in the grant-giving field.
She has been Deputy Chief Executive and Grants Director at Comic Relief where she was responsible for the allocation of all Red Nose Day income. Maggie was seconded whilst at Comic Relief to set up the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Prior to that she was London adviser to the Baring Foundation, and a grants officer in the Grants Unit of Camden Council.
She has also been a grant seeker whilst director of Dame Colet House Settlement in east London and, most recently, as Executive Director of WOMANKIND Worldwide. Maggie left WOMANKIND last year and is now undertaking consultancy work in the voluntary sector as well as having set up ROSA, the first UK-wide fund for projects with women and girls.
New 1 Millon Pound Initiative Launched to Strengthen Community Based Prevention Work on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
City Parochial Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Rosa (the UK Fund for Women and Girls), three independent charitable organisations, have collaborated to establish a new UK-wide Special Initiative to fund community based, preventive work to safeguard children from the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The initiative is supporting organisations based within practising communities - in particular, women's organisations. Approximately £1million has been invested in 15 organisations throughout the UK over a three-year period. The projects will start in January 2010.
Click here for press release
FGM Initiative Press Release.pdf
Former Trustee Lady Winifred Tumim, CPF Trustee 1989-2001
A memorial service for Lady Tumim will take place on 24th March 2010 at 11am, at St Martin's In the Fields Church, Saint Martin's Place, London EC2N 4JH to express gratitude for a life of voluntary service. If you wish to attend the memorial service, please email Teresa Scott.
Community Conversations - Building bridges between people from different backgrounds
In September 2009 Conflict and Change, a voluntary organisation that has developed innovative approaches to building understanding between communities since the 1980s and City Parochial Foundation hosted an event to bring together practitoners who are working on social cohesion and conflict resolution issues in London. At this event a summary document was launched outlining the lessons learned from the work undertaken by Conflict and Change to develop the community conversations model.
You can download the publication in pdf form below:
CPF-Community Conversations - Building bridges between people from different backgrounds.pdf
New Trustees/Co-optee to the Board of Trust for London and City Parochial Foundation
Posted 6 November 2009
The Board of Trust for London and City Parochial Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Trustees following an open recruitment:
• Loraine Martins became a Trustee from September 2009, having formerly served as a co-opted member of Trust for London Grants Committee. Loraine is Head of Equality, Inclusion, Employment & Skills at the Olympic Delivery Authority. Prior to that she was Head of Diversity at the Audit Commission.
• Naomi Eisenstadt will join as a Trustee from January 2010. She recently retired as the Director of the Social Exclusion Task Force in the Cabinet Office. Her previous roles have included adviser to the Secretary of State on Children and Young People's Services, Director of Sure Start, Chief Executive of the Family Services Unit, as well as posts at NCVO and Save the Children Fund.
Muge Dindjer, until recently the Joint Acting Head of Social Inclusion and Health at the Greater London Authority and a member of the London Child Poverty Commission was co-opted onto the Foundation's Grants Committee from October 2009.
London Social Justice Award Winner and finalists
Winners of the Sheila McKechnie Foundation Campaigner Awards were announced at a ceremony held at St Martin's in the Field on 16 September, please click link below:
Campaigner Awards 2009 Awards
The London Social Justice Award, sponsored by CPF and presented by Shami Chakrabarty, Director of Liberty was won by Renuka Bhakta of Southwark Mind for the 'Save Amardeep' Kindred Minds Project. More details of the campaign click link below:
The Amardeep Campaign
Effect (Foundation's in Europe Together)
Special Plenary Session
Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive spoke at the plenary session of the European Foundation's Centre Annual Conference in Rome in mid May. The session was focussed on the link between migration and poverty. It touched on issues including the social and economic impacts of migration, as well as the discrimination and negative attitudes faced by migrants and their descendants.
For the full article please click link below:
Special Plenary Session: Migration and Poverty.pdf
Influencing Change Supporting London-based grassroots and voluntary organisations to influence public policy
Influencing Change is an introductory level course on how to influence public policy to achieve social change, which is run by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. The course will focus on how local authorities, London and central Government and the European Union make decisions - and how to influence them. This is a four-day course spread over four months and includes group sessions and one-to-one coaching.
The course is supported by City Parochial Foundation and is suitable for London-based grassroots, voluntary and smaller organisations who wish to understand and influence public policy on behalf of their beneficiaries. Participants will have limited experience or training in campaigning and influencing public policy. Each participant will have developed a basic influencing/campaign strategy for their work by the end of the course. Priority will be given to organisations with an annual income of less than £500k, those with four or fewer members of staff, or that are made up of volunteers.
For more information about the course contact Ruby on 020 7700 8231 or Click Here
Achieving More Together
Posted 24 July 2009
The report Achieving More Together by Padraic Brick and Eleanor Stringer explores the opportunities for new philanthropists and established foundations to collaborate, the benefits of such collaborations, and the ways in which they might work. New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) when researching this report drew on its knowledge and experience of working with both new philanthropists and grant-making foundations including City Parochial Foundation, the funder of the report.
Click link below to download the report:
Achieving More Together - July 2009.pdf
Economic Impact on the London and UK economy of an earned regularisation of irregular migrants to the UK
Posted 3 July 2009
This report by Ian Gordon, Kathleen Scanlon, Tony Travers and Christine Whitehead of the London School of Economics, was commissioned by GLA economics and launched in mid-June 2009.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the GLA have stated their wish to explore the proposition of an earned regularisation scheme for irregular migrants in the UK. The report includes four main sections: an estimate of the numbers; factors to take into account when designing a regularisation scheme; assessment of the impact of regularisation on social welfare; and an estimate of the fiscal impact. The report notes that hard data are few and far between.
Click links below to download the report and summary:
•Economic impact on the London and UK economy of an earned regularation of irrgular migrants to the UK (Main Report)
•Economic impact on the London and UK economy of an earned regularation of irrgular migrants to the UK (Summary Report)
Annual Review 2008
Posted 1 July 2009
Nigel Pantling, Chair of City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London launched our latest Annual Review at our summer reception.
"During the last 12 months the worst economic downturn that most Londoners have ever known has reached every corner of the capital," said Nigel Pantling. "For many of those close to poverty, the recession has meant a further slide towards deprivation".
"In the current clamour for political attention, the poor of London need champions more than ever," added Nigel. "We believe that independent charities like the City Parochial Foundation have a duty to speak and act on behalf of the disadvantaged".
He highlighted a number of the Foundation's initiatives in 2008, including our support for the Strangers into Citizens campaign, which supports undocumented migrants to improve their rights; the launch of London's Poverty Profile, a new resource measuring what progress has been made in relation to poverty, inequality and social exclusion in the capital; and the development of a new programme on strengthening community-based prevention work on female genital mutilation.
These initiatives and our other work are outlined in the Annual Review, which provides a brief overview of activity under each of the Foundation's and Trust's funding aims and provides details of who we funded in 2008.
The Annual Review can be downloaded below:
Third Sector, evaluated our Annual Review. To read the article click link below:
Third Sector
New Briefing Paper launched on irregular migrants and the case for regularisation
Posted 16 June 2009
Migrants Rights Network launched a new briefing paper entitled Irregular Migrants: the urgent need for a new approach at the House of Commons on 2 June 2009. The briefing was written by Migration Work and Migrants Rights Network, and funded by City Parochial Foundation. The launch event was hosted by Jon Cruddas MP and included speakers from Kanlungan ( a Filipino Migrant organisation) and Nicola Smith from the TUC.
London's Poverty Profile welcomed
Posted May 21 2009
City Parochial Foundation and the New Policy Institute have launched a Report and Findings - 'London's Poverty Profile'. It is the first independent report to bring together such a wide range of indicators measuring poverty, inequality and social exclusion in the capital.
London's Poverty Profile was warmly welcomed at its launch on 19 May by the Minister for London and Minister of State for Employment & Welfare Reform, Tony McNulty MP, and Anthony Browne, Policy Director for the Mayor of London.
Anthony Browne described it as 'the best produced and best researched report by a thinktank in a very long time'. The Minister expressed the hope that the Profile would help to raise national awareness of the real deprivation within the capital.
The launch of the research was covered in the media including:
- BBC London on the lunchtime and 6 o'clock news, with a live interview with London's Poverty Profile co-author, Peter Kenway of New Policy Institute. You can watch the evening news package again at the link below.
- BBC News online
- ITN London Tonight, with three pieces including an interview with Mubin Haq, Policy and Grants Director at City Parochial Foundation.
- The Evening Standard
- The Guardian
- Dave Hill's blog on The Guardian online
- Inside Housing
- East London and West Essex Guardian
- New Start magazine
- Roger Evans blog
- Third Sector
- CAF Onine
- Urblog
All the research and anlysis in London's Poverty Profile is available online at www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk, from where the printed report and findings are also available to download. The site will be updated regularly to monitor progress.
New research reveals hidden picture of poverty and inequality in London
Posted 19 May 2009
London has the highest rates of poverty and inequality of any region in the country according to new research from the City Parochial Foundation and the New Policy Institute, launched today.
London's Poverty Profile is the first independent report to bring together such a wide range of indicators measuring poverty, inequality and social exclusion in the capital. It will be available on a new web site (www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk) and updated regularly to monitor progress. The report was launched at Shoreditch Town Hall on 19 May with speakers including the Minister for London and Minister of State for Employment & Welfare Reform, Tony McNulty MP.
The research analyses the latest available data to reveal patterns of poverty and inequality across the capital and how this has changed over time. It shows that:
• London is the most unequal region in England. There are more people in London with an income in either the top ten per cent nationally or the bottom ten per cent nationally than anywhere else in the country.
• A higher proportion of people of all ages in London live below the poverty line than in any other region in the country.
• Almost half of child poverty in London can now be found in households where at least one adult is working.
• Beneath the overall figures lie real differences within London. On many indicators, Inner London is worse than any English region but it has improved over the past decade. In contrast, although Outer London usually still does better than Inner London, it has been getting worse on a number of issues including child and working-age poverty. More of the capital's low-income population now live in Outer London than Inner London.
• Boroughs in the Inner East & South of London, fare badly on a range of indicators in comparison to London's other boroughs. This is particularly noticeable for worklessness and ill health. However, pockets of deprivation and exclusion can be found right across the capital.
• The proportion of households in London living in temporary accommodation is ten times higher than the national average and five times higher than the English city with the second highest rate.
continue reading "New research reveals hidden picture of poverty and inequality in London"...
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Special Initiative Launched
A special initiative to strengthen community-based prevention work on female genital mutilation (FGM)
City Parochial Foundation (CPF), Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (EF) and Rosa (the UK's Women's Fund), three independent charitable organisations, are collaborating to establish a new UK-wide Special Initiative to fund community-based, preventive work to safeguard children from the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in all its forms.
All three funders agree that one of the most effective ways of tackling FGM in the UK is by investing in community organisations based within practising communities, in particular, women's organisations. Applications are therefore invited from these organisations to develop a programme of work with young people, parents, faith leaders, and/or the wider community to raise awareness about this harmful practice and to empower communities to say no.
Closing Date 24 July 2009 by 5pm
Further details of the aim and objectives of the initiative and the criteria for applying for funding can be read by clicking here.
continue reading "Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Special Initiative Launched"...
Latin American community in London research
City Parochial Foundation and Latin American Women's Rights Service are working in partnership to commission research to assess the needs of the Latin American population in London. Following an open-tender process, Queen Mary, University of London has been commissioned. Dr Cathy McIlwaine, Reader in Human Geography at Queen Mary will be leading on the research.
The research will include data on the size, economic and social make-up of the Latin American population in London, provide a better understanding of the lives and experiences of the community, identify emerging trends and highlight the unmet needs of the community. This will be the first comprehensive research on the Latin American community as a whole in the capital. We hope it will help inform policy makers and others so that they can develop strategies and undertake work to improve services which meet the needs of the community.
The research is due to be published in early 2010.
Further information can be downloaded in PDF format below:
Strangers into Citizens Rally, May 4th 2009
CPF is funding a campaign called Strangers into Citizens, which is calling for a one-off regularisation of long-term irregular migrants in the UK. These are people who have no 'legitimate' status and are therefore highly vulnerable to exploitation and many live in extreme poverty. There are an estimated 500,000 irregular migrants in the UK, many living in London. They want to work, integrate and be able to contribute to life in the UK as full members of our society.
There will be a national rally In Trafalgar Square on Monday 4th May 2009 at 12 noon.
Strangers into Citizens is a national campaign run by Citizens Organising Foundation, and is asking for:
- A pathway to citizenship for migrants who have put down roots in the UK.
- Recognition that migrants remain vital to the UK economy and society, even in the downturn
- An end to limbo for people fleeing persecution who have waited on a decision for many years.
For full information please visit www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk
Or download the attached leaflet.
Strangers_eflyer.pdf
Professor Gerald Manners, OBE MA
Posted 17 February 2009
It was with great sadness that City Parochial Foundation received the news of the death on Monday 16 February of Professor Gerald Manners.
Gerald Manners was a trustee of City Parochial Foundation for over 25 years, being first nominated in 1977 by University College London. He was Chairman of the Foundation's Central Governing Body from 1996 to 2004. As the Foundation's nominee, he was also a trustee of other institutions that CPF had helped to develop. These included the Chelsea Physic Garden and Sadler's Wells where he was Chairman for nine years.
continue reading "Professor Gerald Manners, OBE MA"...
Living Wage
As part of its ongoing work to tackle poverty and the root causes of poverty, CPF has pledged approximately £850,000, over four years, to research and champion the implementation of a living wage across London. It is estimated that, in London: 400,000 people are currently living below the poverty line; and 1 in 7 of full-time London workers and almost half of part time workers are paid at a rate below the poverty threshold.
The campaign to promote a living wage in London has gathered steam since 2001 and seeks to improve wages and employment conditions for some of the most disadvantaged people in London. The Living Wage is strongly supported by the previous and current Mayor of London. Mayor Johnson stated: "Paying the London Living Wage is not only morally right, but makes good business sense too".
CPF will commission independent research on the longer-term impact and potential benefits to employers and employees of a living wage. London Citizens has also been funded to set up a Living Wage Unit to establish a dedicated team which will undertake monitoring, compliance and accreditation of the Living Wage Employer scheme.
continue reading "Living Wage "...
Funding campaigning & policy work: the philanthropy of changing minds
Posted 4 February 2009
In November 2008 City Parochial Foundation and the Baring Foundation convened an event for independent funders to consider the issues and challenges of funding campaigning and policy work.
There was general agreement that the issues facing society cannot be solved by charitable foundations funding service delivery alone. Whether our aim is to promote education, tackle climate change, improve housing, reduce inequalities or tackle poverty we need far greater resources than the annual £2 billion that UK foundations collectively distribute. This requires influencing the public, civil society, business and government. As such, campaigning and policy work is an important part of our power to achieve change. There were presentations from two key speakers:
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, gave a passionate account of why support from independent charitable foundations is so critical for campaigning organisations. She contended that funding campaigning is crucial to democracy because without independent voices, democracy is undermined.
Caroline Cooke, Head of Policy Engagement and Foresight at the Charity Commission, sought to dispel the persistent myth that the Commission could or should be a reason for charities not to campaign or funders not to fund campaigning. Charities can campaign and carry out political activity, indeed, the Charity Commission sees both as key ways in which charities make a difference. It is a legitimate approach, within the legal framework.
There were also workshops from Shehnaaz Latif from Charities Evaluation Service, Tris Lumley from New Philanthropy Capital, Catherine Howarth from Fair Pensions, Barry Knight from Centris, and Laura Cheeseman from the Cluster Munitions Coalition.
For a full report of the event please download this document.
Human Trafficking conference
Posted 8 October 2008
Working in partnership with Comic Relief and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, CPF held a discussion event on 29 September, which brought together independent funders with NGOs in the field to explore how to move forward policy and practice in addressing human trafficking in the UK. Speakers included Christine Beddoe from ECPAT UK, Klara Skrivankova from Anti-Slavery International, Denise Marshall of Eaves/POPPY Project, and Michael Korzinski from the Helen Bamber Foundation. A report of the day, including planned next steps, is available to download here
Human Trafficking: How can independent funders help to move forward policy and practice in the UK?
continue reading "Human Trafficking conference"...
Progress made in Tackling Modern Day Slavery
Posted 6 October 2008
CPF has published an interim report on its Tackling Modern Day Slavery special initiative, which collates the significant progress made by the five funded organisations in addressing exploitation in the UK.
continue reading "Progress made in Tackling Modern Day Slavery"...
London Living Wage Employer
City Parochial Foundation aims to help some of the most disadvantaged groups of people in London who are living in poverty. As such we are committed to working towards better pay and employment conditions for those that work in London who often receive unfair treatment in their place of work. We therefore support the living wage campaign and became a living wage employer in December 2007.
If you would like to know more about the living wage campaign or how to become a living wage employer please click link below:
http://www.livingwageemployer.org.uk/list.htm
Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also published a paper "A minimum income standard for Britain: what people think". You can download this paper by clicking the link below:
http://www.jrf.org.uk/
Young Offenders Academy
In May 2007, the Foundation was approached by East Potential to consider a grant towards a scoping study to explore the feasibility of establishing a young offenders academy in east London. The need for an academy grew out of a recognition by key agencies (including the Youth Justice Board, the police, voluntary and statutory providers of youth services) that existing interventions to tackle youth re-offending were not working. Evidence provided by NACRO through the GLA (2006), highlighted that the re-conviction rate of young people following custody was in the region of 80 per cent.
Part of the problem was felt to be that young offenders were seldom the recipients of an integrated, local approach that embraced education, life skills, employment, accommodation and social welfare. The academy would be a way of providing local and accessible continuity of support and linkage across all these service areas. It would also have a residential element for those in custody, day attendance for young people subject to supervision orders and would involve family and community members.
A grant was awarded in October 2007 for the study, with a contribution from East Potential and Henry Smith Charitable Trust. The aim was to explore the legal, social, financial and political viability of the proposed model. A steering group was established to oversee the research with representatives from the criminal justice system, voluntary and statutory organisations and key politicians and policy informers.
The study began in November 2007 and culminated in the publication of Young Offenders in East London: A New Approach. The report was launched at the House of Lords by Lord Ramsbotham (Chief Inspector of Prisons) in June 2008 and recommended the setting up of an academy as a pilot project. The second phase of the work is now underway and aims to progress the work by establishing a pilot academy. For further information, and to obtain a full version of the report click the link below:
YoungOffenders Academy Scoping Study Jun08.pdf
Further information about the Foundation can be found in a range of publications including annual Grants Reviews