This fund is now closed. Please sign up to our monthly grants ebulletin (opens in a new window) to stay up to date with our grants that are currently open.
We know that the cost-of-living crisis is disproportionately impacting women and girls. Organisations tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) are reporting an increased need for financial support for basic items such as food and travel, as well as rising costs of household bills and accommodation. The cumulative impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has also compounded the structural inequalities affecting women and girls, with increasing reports financial-related barriers preventing women from being able to leave abusive relationships and/or households, resulting in them continuing to be at risk of harm
The £1 million VAWG Cost of Living Fund, which we are managing on behalf of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), will provide grants to community-based organisations tackling violence against women and girls in London to help them respond to this growing need.
What can the fund support?
Themes
Organisations must be responding to the immediate impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on the women and girls affected by VAWG that you currently support, and those you will come to support during the course of the grant period. For example, supporting:
- food security
- essential items for women and girls, and/or their children
- emergency hardship grants
- supporting access to services (for example funding travel to attend appointments, access to technology such as smart phones or a computer)
- access to:
- legal advice
- financial advice
- welfare advice
- housing advice
- counselling and therapeutic support
As well as funding your direct support to women and girls, part of the grant can be used to support your organisation. This means some funding for core organisational costs, including but not limited to:
- salaries
- rent and bills
- additional staffing capacity to respond to the crisis
Please note that the core aims of this fund is to address the immediate needs of women and girls affect by VAWG, therefore we cannot fund applications for core organisational costs only. Core costs will be considered up to a maximum of 50% of the total application amount.
Priorities
We will fund organisations with a total annual income of up to £500,000 in the previous year.
We will first prioritise applications from specialist led by and for VAWG services working in the community to support women and girls who are likely to be disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis as a result of systemic inequality.
Priority will be given to specialist led by and for VAWG services supporting the following groups of people as their primary beneficiaries:
- Black women and girls and women and girls from minority ethnic backgrounds
- Women and girls with disabilities
- Neuro-diverse women and girls
- LGBT+
- Young women and girls
- Older women
- Women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
Some preference will also be given to organisations whose work addresses the intersectionality of more than one of these priority groups.
Location
Applications are welcome from organisations based in any London borough, whose services support victims-survivors of VAWG
Size of Grant
Applicants can apply for a grant of between £10,000 to a maximum of £30,000 to be spent within 6 months of grant award date: the short timeline reflects the fact that this is emergency response funding. Please note, we recommend that organisations do not apply for more than 50% of their total annual income.
Online Q&A
This March, we held two online Q&A sessions to answer your questions about the VAWG Cost of Living Fund, the application form, the eligibility criteria, priorities, decision-making process and more. You can catch up on both the first and second Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel or below, and you will find the Q&A presentation slides here, or at the bottom of this page. Please note that the content in both Q&A presentations is the same and questions asked have been collated into this FAQ document that we will continue to update during the application window if further clarification questions are received.
Q&A session 1
Q&A session 2
Deadline
This fund is now closed. Please sign up to our monthly grants ebulletin (opens in a new window) to stay up to date with our grants that are currently open.
All grant decisions will be communicated by WC 15 May.
Source of funding
Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC)
Contact details
Please do not hesitate to contact The London Community Foundation's Grants & Impact team if you would like to discuss your proposal prior to making an application, if you need help with completing the form or providing the supporting documents.
Application queries: applications@londoncf.org.uk
Prefer to talk on the phone: 020 7582 5117