Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund
London is a shameful tale of two cities. In the richest capital in Europe almost half our children live below the poverty line.
These children and their families - the Dispossessed - are cut off from the life most Londoners take for granted. As London's paper, the Evening Standard believes it is important to champion their cause.
The Evening Standard Fund for The Dispossessed has been set up to fight poverty - and we want you to help to fight the causes behind The Dispossessed.
Make a donation
Donate nowHundreds of incredible charities across London are fighting the causes of The Dispossessed. Together they are tackling the grinding poverty that blights the city. But these charities need help. The Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund has already raised £9.3million with your donations and help from the Government's match funding to support the local heroes who lift people out of poverty by targeting education, crime, health, and unemployment. If you care about London, dig deep and donate!
Get involved by pledging money now.
Donations to the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund are being collected by Community Foundation Network (CFN), registered charity No 1004630. CFN will distribute monies received from the appeal to their partner charities who have agreed to use these donations to address issues identified by the Evening Standard's Dispossessed Campaign and to grant fund community organisations undertaking charitable work in London.
Closed for applications
Please click here for a full list of grants awarded through the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund (ESDF).
In November 2012, the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund received a £1 million windfall from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG). This grant is the second time a million-pound boost has been provided by BIG to the Dispossessed Fund and, like the last grant in March 2011, it is made as part of their People Powered Change initiative, which recognises that every community facing problems contains within it people and groups who can step forward as the solution. This aim of supporting community-led action in needy areas is an ambition shared by the Dispossessed Fund.
This latest £1 million grant is inspired by our Ladder for London campaign, which seeks to help jobless young Londoners into work through apprenticeships. The money will be distributed to charities and community groups that help young Londoners aged 15 to 26 who are NEET (not in education, employment or training) or at risk of becoming so, to overcome barriers and set them on the journey towards apprenticeship and employment. Grants up to £50,000, spread over two years, will be mainly focused on small and medium-sized groups.
The grants will be made to applicable groups already known to the Dispossessed Fund and BIG networks. We regret that we will not be receiving unsolicited applications for this particular programme, though we expect to do so again in the future under other income streams of the Dispossessed Fund.
The Dispossessed Fund was launched in July 2010 after a "call to arms" from Prince William, and following a harrowing investigation into poverty and communal pauper graves that lead to an unprecedented response from our readers. Generous donations from big business and ordinary Londoners have been match-funded by the Government, and the Office for Civil Society, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund have provided major additional financial support. So far £4.57 million has been given out in 649 small grants helping more than 100,000 vulnerable people across the capital.