A look back at 2025/26

These themes have long been central to our work, but they feel more relevant than ever at this moment when instability is the watchword. As we contend with a context characterised by disruption and turbulence we continue to balance our focus on longer-term work — that seeks to achieve deep, lasting change — with a recognition that the sectors we work in also face real and immediate needs. We are proud to support many incredible organisations who offer an antidote to division, marginalisation and isolation, a thread that runs through all of our grant-making.

As an independent funder, we have the privilege of being able to take a long-term view of how best to invest our resources to create social change. A key example of this approach is our Youth Strategic Investment Fund, which reached its ten-year anniversary this year. Started in 2016, the Fund was created to provide significant support for organisations that demonstrated a deep commitment to, and track record of, working with young people to make change.

As well as continuing our commitment to the youth sector, we have also looked to strengthen our commitment to place-based funding. We are supporting organisations with deep roots in their communities to create meaningful local change, including Camden Giving, Islington Giving, and Young Camden Foundation in our Neighbourhood Fund. Through partnering with these organisations, we’ve been able to support a broader network of grassroots and resident-led organisations than before. We have also made a grant to the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, supporting their community resilience programme in response to the changing nature and sharp rise of racist violence in Northern Ireland. These partnerships have allowed us to support causes that align strongly with our mission and vision through organisations who have a long-term commitment to change in their place.

As we contemplate a new strategic period, we are mindful of what steps we can take now to be a resilient and effective funder for the future. This has involved taking stock of how our current ways of working are serving us and the people we support.

As part of this, we reflected on the toll that social justice work can take. Change takes time, and supporting the wellbeing and longevity of the movements fighting for that change is paramount. With Trust for London, we gave funding to Lumos Transforms to develop a programme supporting organisations working in the migration sector. The programme builds on Lumos Transforms’ Resilience Toolkit, which identifies ways to build individual and collective resilience, and reduce the impact of stress and trauma. While we find ways to build resilience for the future, we also know organisations need support now to address immediate harms. As a result, we made 59 additional grants to organisations in the migration sector who had experienced significant challenges as a result of an increasingly hostile context for their work.

We are fortunate to have significant resources to tackle injustice — and yet we know these resources can be quickly eclipsed by the scale of the challenges we are trying to address. By working with others who share our vision, we are able to have a greater impact.

For young people, problems like isolation, feeling unsafe, and lack of opportunity are not easily solved. Rather than fatalism, however, we know that these issues can be tackled — with young people taking the lead. This year, along with eight other funders including BBC Children in Need and The National Lottery Community Fund, we established Lead the Change, a new funder collaboration supporting young people. The fund will aim to address the urgent need for investment in youth spaces, trusted facilitation, and genuine youth participation to grow young people’s confidence and leadership.

As well as collaborating with other funders, we have also found moments to bring the people we fund together this year. For the first time, our Ideas and Pioneers Fund hosted a ​‘Celebrate and Connect’ event, bringing together 40 people who are exploring ideas for social change, the majority of whom have never received grant funding before.

We also continued our annual tradition of holding a ​‘TeachMeet’, bringing together teachers from our Teacher Development Fund to talk about what they’ve learned from the programme. The event helped bring practice to life and shared the joy and difference the programme makes to school communities. Our annual Migration Residential brought together more than 130 people working in the field of migrant justice.

This grant-making is made possible by our dedicated staff and trustees, who have benefited for 23 years from the steady leadership of Jane Hamlyn. In December, Jane stepped down as Chair and was succeeded by long-standing trustee James Lingwood, who brings deep sectoral and institutional knowledge to the role. Jane has played a vital role in shaping the Foundation since its inception and guiding it through significant change. We are immensely grateful for her leadership as Chair, and delighted that she remains on the Board as a trustee. 

Finally, this year saw the loss of a dear colleague, Louisa Robinson. Louisa brought joy, generosity and kindness to her work and to everyone around her. Through our collective grief, we found ways to remember and honour Louisa, including by making an institutional donation to Future Dreams — a charity supporting those diagnosed with breast cancer which provided valuable support to Louisa and her loved ones. 

The turbulence of the past year has added to the pressures that many of the organisations we support are having to contend with on a daily basis. Despite this ongoing volatility, the depth of their commitment and the thoughtfulness of their work shines through. You can read our full annual report to learn more about our work and the people and organisations we fund.